Snapshots from the Zenith Aircraft factory rudder workshop, building rudder for a CH-701

If you order a complete plane kit, it comes pretty much like this!

A clekoed wing. Clekos hold aluminum sheets, ribs, spars, etc together thru the first drilled rivet holes, to keep things aligned while the rest of the rivet holes are drilled

BSing about the airplane biz with Sebastian Heintz, son of Chris, who designed the planes and started the company

shelves full of airplane parts

Preparing spar doublers, that add strength in the rudder spar

Doublers are in place, now drilling rivet holes with air drill

Rudder ribs are held in place with clekos while more holes are drilled

This is what the rudder framework looks like, still held together with clekos. Needs to be disassembled, holes deburred, corrosion protection applied, then riveted

Mexico, MO airport from the sky in a CH-701 while doing a demonstration flight

Just a couple shots from around the area

Using a rivet fan to space out rivet holes on the rudder skin

Marking more rivet holes

Getting a hand fitting front sheet metal in place

Marking for MORE rivets

Finally! Using the pneumatic rivet gun to assemble the rudder frame for real!

And eventually, it looks like this!