CHAPTER 9 - Working Outside

Working outside in Michigan is always interesting. One day it's cool and calm, the next it's hot and thunder storming. Still, I'm lucky enough to have a niche to work in. The patio is nice and large, but there's partial cover from a balcony if the weather turns bad.

In this photo, you can see the rudder/elevator jig, set up for the rudder, sitting on the table. The upper green object visible through the door is the vertical stabilizer's rear spar. The fin is leaning against the wall, but only the primer green shows up well. The lower green object is the tip rib of the horizontal stabilizer. The stab is stashed there along the wall, and a futon couch is in front of it.

I did all the rudder skin layout and drilling outside on the table. When the skin was drilled and the stiffeners fabricated, the whole thing was primed. Then I flipped the top sheet of particle board over so that I had a smooth surface to work on (no holes from skin drilling). Back riveting the skin took a single evening. Those neighbors who were outside or had their patio doors open could not fail to hear me, but I received no complaints. I think that the time of day helped, as does the fact that the noise is not constant, but comes in spurts. In any case, I had the noisy part done, and went on to finish the rudder in the jig.