The putty/filler/goop/compound can't be all bad, as it evidently did an amazing job preserving the mahagony on the rudder. But ofcourse that may be a rebuild job as well (I mean it looks almost NEW!) - and no doubt crafted by an artist!
I was thinking the same thing. Faith is up on the hard right now, and I have spent a bunch of quality time with her rudder. It looks no where near as nice as that, but it does have the cut out (just like yours) that make them both seem original. I do notice that there is no seam in yours. Mine, and most I have looked at here have a fairly pronounced gap between the panels. Maybe yours is not open since the rudder was so well protected.