Finishing the Rudder Stiffeners

Tonight I finished up the rudder stiffeners.  I filed down all the corners and smoothed the edges down.  After that I ran them over the scotchbrite wheel to get the edges completely smooth and burr free.  Once I had the edges and corners took care of, I moved on to … Continue reading

Fitting the Stiffeners to the Rudder

I started on the sections of the plans labeled “Building the Rudder” and more specifically, the sub-section “Fitting the Stiffeners to the Rudder”. The rudder is made of thin .016″ aluminum, so Vans uses tiny L-shaped brackets called stiffeners to help support the skin, and keep it from wobbling.  In … Continue reading