Fuselage

Today I worked on installing the rudder brace in the center of the rudder assembly.

After trimmimg the center brace per the plans and carefully deburring it, I marked it for the 5 rivets that will hold it to the firewall angle. Then I clamped the brace to the firewall angle and the center rudder block. With everything clamped and situated right where it's supposed to be, I used my right-angle drill to drill the brace to the firewall. When it was all clecoed in place, I drilled through the holes in the plastic block to drill the block to the brace. Then I unbolted the side blocks and moved them aft to the next set of holes and bolted them temporarily down again to drill the center brace again. The process was repeated a third time, until all 6 holes in the center brace were drilled. This will give me 3 positions to choose from. These pictures show the finished installation after the drilling.

Next, I pulled the rudder brace out of the fuse for final trimming. The red lines show where I'll be able to trim off the excess length and trim the brace down to save weight. I will also be able to drill a couple of large lightening holes in the center of the brace. Then, this part will be finished!

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