Though not well documented in the Lancair 360 MKII construction
manual, the rudder is closed out with BID tape to one side of the ribs
but not the other.  Since this time Lancair seems to favor the
Capstrip for rib attachment.  Any feelings on this out there?

Does anyone have a good picture of the rudder trailing edge?  It
appears to finish as the elevator to a point unlike the aileron and
flaps.

John,

 

No feelings, but here are some facts:

 

There are many 200-300 series Lancairs currently flying where rib edges were filled with flox and formed against release tape on the final mating part, then later bonded to the mating surface with either a 2-part cement (3M or Hysol) or flox. Mine is of such construction and still holds together.  The later cap strip method certainly provides for a much larger bonding surface, making it stronger and less prone to error in the mating process although perhaps a bit heavier and more labor intensive. 

 

The cap strip method became the standard at Lancair and certainly becomes more noticeable in the later Lancair fast-build incarnations such as the Legacy where ribs are molded with L-flanges (rather than T cap strips) that provide for large bonding surfaces.

 

The 1/4" square aileron trailing edge (TE) can be see on many jet aircraft and its purpose was to give better controllability.  Flap, elevator and rudder TEs generally come to a rounded dull point, usually made by putting a small dam forward of the TE (3/4" + or -) to stop the accumulation of excessive bonding flox from moving forward when the TE was squeezed/clamped together, thus eliminating extra weight at the control surface TE.  The thickness of the TE is most often determined by angle at which the two surfaces meet.