When clecoing the rudder skin to the R-402, one of the pre-punched holes did not line up on the R-402 spar.  I went ahead and drilled the skin holes anyway.  A call to Vans, and some discussion about the measurements, resulted in a new R-402 being sent, no charge.  Vans was a little surprised about the error since the pre punching is done on CNC punch machines.  My empennage kit arrived in April 1997 and I read on Chris Goods web site that he had a similar problem with his R-402 in 1997.  Bad run of parts I guess.

Nothing new here, just the stiffeners cleco'd to the rudder skin.  I probably made the layout of these parts more difficult than it should have been.  I wasn't confident of my measurement from the leading edge so I took and idea from the RV List and used a wooden dowel as a gauge.  It worked great.  Just butt the uncut stiffener against the dowel and mark the appropriate length.  I think the leading edge distance is more critical than the 1/8 distance from the spar, so when installing, I just pushed the stiffener against the dowel, made sure it was 90 deg to the rib and drilled.  It worked well.

I chose to prime only the stiffeners and not the skins.

Here is my busy little workhorse doing her thing.  Beth and I work well together, especially when it comes to deburring.  You see, she has this handicap of being left handed, but it works well when working on some of the parts.

Rudder skeleton ready for skin

This is the rudder horn riveted to the rudder spar and reinforcement plate

Rudder in the jig ready for riveting.

Rudder Skeleton part primed and ready.

This is the end result of my R410 fabrication. It starts as almost a rectangle piece of aluminum with sides bent down at 90 deg.  You have to cut along the lines that are drawn on the plastic that covers the part from the factory, bend the flanges and cut the center hole.  Unfortunately I was in the driveway getting the parts ready to primer when the piece arrived.  Anxious to prime this part along with the others I was doing, I took it out, ripped off the plastic, prepped it and primed it.  Happy as a clam in the ocean.  "But wait!  That piece is not the right shape", says my brain.  Without the factory lines I had to draw them based on the plans.  The finished part looks somewhat like it's suppose to but the little triangle shaped tabs will not allow the piece to sit on the table and not wobble.  I don't think that's critical but I'll wait until it's installed on the rib and rudder horn (R405) before I decide.  When bending the flanges where the 410 will rivet to the rudder horn (405) and the rib, I noticed some cracking at the intersection.  I took a round file and filed the intersection to remove the cracks and prevent others from occurring.  The bottom picture shows the result.