There's not much to show for progress today. I riveted the rudder skins to the spar and finished up as much of the top and bottom rib riveting as I could. The last couple of holes in the tips of the ribs are too tight for squeezing or normal bucking. I think I can get at those with some creative back riveting using the piece of 1/8" steel bar I bought at Home Depot for this exact purpose, but I didn't have the energy to deal with it tonight. This is one of those things that will take an hour to get the right setup figured out, then 5 minutes to rivet. That seems to be the norm, so I'm starting to get used to that approach.
I still have to attach the rudder control horn cover. From what I've read, the 8 or so rivets that attach it to the rib/skin are very difficult to get to because the only access is through a lightening hole. I may be able to get one or two with my squeezer, but we'll see. Worst case scenario, the plans do call out that blind rivets are ok for those holes, so that might be what I end up doing. We'll see. I'd rather use solid rivets whenever I can, but let's face it, nobody would ever know the difference and it doesn't make a bit of difference in terms of structural integrity. I have a feeling I'll make more and more of those tradeoffs as I continue through the plane. It's kind of silly to spend hours vs 60 seconds on a task for no real practical benefit.
