With the rudder squarely in my rear view mirror, I knew the day would come again soon whereby I would be expected to roll some leading edges and rivet them together. This was a particularly challenging skill for me to embrace last time and I ended up drilling out a bunch of rivets, trying again, and in some places trying even a third time. The shape must really be as accurate and true as possible to ensure a solid fit that won’t stress the rivets too much. Therefore, this time I went out and got a couple of different diameter PVC pipe for rolling the leading edges with. And if I’m being completely honest, I hated them all. I just don’t think I’m meant to enjoy this task. Some builders fly through some sections while others struggle and vice versa. This has to be one of the few items I’ve come across and honestly just not been thrilled about. But I’ll show you my handiwork all the same, only seems fair.
For as much as I gripe about it, this one turned out really well. I rolled and rolled and rolled and even ended up hand shaping them the last few centimeters just to make sure the overlap was natural and unstressed under the rivets. You will also note the final row of clecos still in place on the leading edge here. Yeah…. about that. Remember above my describing drilling out and riveting the rudder leading edge a few times? Well, that will put you back a few rivets so I had to order some more. I’ll set this aside for a rainy day and finish up the leading edges shortly.
Total time today = 1.5 hours
Total time empennage = 122 hours
Total time aircraft = 122 hours