Rudder Dimension Discrepency

[Shay King]

Just started laying out the rudder. There seems to be a discrepancy in the dimensions circled in red.
Also, the dimension circled in blue looks like 21 1/4” but that doesn’t work, 27 1/4” maybe?

[Kamcoman77]

I don't remember exactly what my dimensions were, but I'm pretty sure I followed the numbers shown at the trailing edge. I put my hinges where I thought they looked good. I have more hinges on my rudder than the plans show.

[Shay King]

Thanks again Keith,
The photos are very helpful.
That bottom rib on the rudder, that the rudder horn attaches to, is it strong enough with the standard .020 bent up rib? Seems to me that there could be a lot of pressure on it.

[Kamcoman77]

Great observation on the lower rib. I put a square stick of balsa inside my lower rib to add stiffness. My rudder horn is also not to plans. I made mine so the cable pull points would be in line with the hinge line, hence the slightly vee-shaped horn. Another thing that I, and several other builders did was to ignore the 1/4" side dimension on the rudder (and other) 0.020" ribs. I made my rib sides 1/2" to add more area for rivets and bent about 1/8" over at an angle to stiffen the ribs and remove the sharp rib edge so it will not cut the fabric covering.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I used a 4130 lower rib and leading edge because of the Verner. Probably not needed, but I read it some where, probably here.
that's on my build thread page 13. I also added a rib to the rudder and should have added one to the vertical fin because the fabric will deform the spars when shrinking.

[Shay King]

I’ve made the bottom rib for the rudder out of some .025 6061 that I had and formed the gussets as part of the rib. Does it look acceptable?

[Kamcoman77]

I'm no expert, but it looks good to me.

[Dan_]

I'm no expert either, but it behooves me that a nested rib could be bent to fit inside the plans rib and riveted.  Overkill and added weight I reckon...