I worked on the new rudder on and off this weekend. On Friday night I match drilled the stiffeners to the skins. (This was a mistake; taking the wife out on Friday night instead of working on the airplane is smarter and causes fewer difficulties.)
On Saturday I deburred and dimpled the skins, which was harder than it sounds because my DRDT c-frame tool was 50 miles away in coworker John's RV-9A workshop. Mary and I threw the skins in the car and made a day out of it, stopping at a couple other places and driving around in the country a bit. We also stopped by briefly to look at RV-7 builder Bill Gill's project – or rather I looked at the airplane, and Mary played with Bill's dogs. Everyone was happy.
After we got back to town, I primed the skins:
On Sunday morning I got up before it was too windy and primed the stiffeners too:
I spent most of the middle of Sunday messing with the air compressor – the "off" position on the switch has never worked since I bought it, and despite my best efforts today it still doesn't work. Then in the evening I back riveted the stiffeners to the skin:
The complete rudder is now clecoed together and looks like a rudder, all right:
The next step is to match drill the skins to the skeleton, deburr, and dimple, but I'm too wiped out from the gym. Plus I'm going on a week long business trip soon so I suppose it's in my best interest to pay attention to the Mrs.