Rudder Fiberglass Tip
As I’m working on the elevators, I’ve started doing a little fiberglass work to get ahead since I have time before the fuselage kit gets here. I started with the rudder tip and spent way more time on it than I was expecting. Because this seals the counterweight in the tip, I threw a little locktite on the threads holding the weight and torqued the fasteners appropriately.
I first started out attaching the tip to the rudder using blind rivets. I countersunk the fiberglass and then riveted it on. Since there were small gaps between the tip and rudder, I decided to fill those with some micro. My first mistake was putting way too much micro on the first time. I ended up sanding for a couple hours just on the first pass to get the micro down. Then, I repeated this a couple times until I was happy with the shape. In between, I shot some primer on to see the imperfections a little better and then sanded it off. Another thing I should have done earlier was tape off the rudder because I ended up scratching up the rudder slightly where I didn’t want to during sanding. Ultimately it won’t matter cause I will be painting it eventually, but it just doesn’t look as good in the meantime. After I was happy with the shape, I shot the micro really close with shop air, which revealed some pinholes. I filled these with regular epoxy and then sanded it smooth, which worked pretty well.
Ultimately, it turned out pretty nice, and I learned a ton. Next time, I should be able to do it better and faster. Only use micro where you need it!
