Forward Fuse

I went ahead and finished up some of the front fuselage items. I put the rudder pedals, and finished up the fuel line to the firewall. Then I riveted the upper structure you see here. The upper skin will be one of the last things that go on, since with it off, access to the subpanel and firewall aft side is much, much easier. And there's still all the electrical and other instrument panel-related stuff to finish. I also removed the aft top fuse skin (was just clecoed) and put in the static line, and fabbed and installed a bracket for the strobe supply. I bought some items including the strobe & position lights, and the Steinair aluminum vents. I didn't think I would be doing that, but when I took the Van's supplied vents out of the bag and looked at them, I just could not see those things in my panel.

I've spent alot of time lately searching for tools. It's frustrating to log an hour on the plane and know that I spent 20 min. of that look for tools. Mostly it's my own fault, in that the work area is unkempt, but I've also run out of places to put things.... So, I'm doing my best to help China's economy...


BTW, almost all the airplane parts and tools I buy are made in the USA...

Firewall and other things

With the canopy set aside, I got started on some of the firewall items that are easier to do now before the engine mount is in place. Here you can see the black battery box (w/o battery for now), and below that, the master relay and the starter relay. Just to the right of the relay is doubler that will soon have the fuel bulkhead fitting. I want to finish the cockpit fuel lines so I can go ahead and bolt in the rudder pedals and rivet up the forward fuselage stucture (except the skin). You can also see the brake fluid reservoir (upper left) and the manifold for oil temp and pressure and fuel pressure sensors (just clecoed on for now in upper right)
I also riveted in the baggage floors and the seat floors. They are pop riveted in place since there is no access for a bucking bar.

I also fabbed up all the aileron and elevator pushrods. Here are the two large aileron pushrods and the large elevator pushrod. The large aileron pushrods go from the control column to the aileron bellcranks in the wings. There are also two much smaller pushrods that go from the bellcrank to the ailerons. Likewise, the elevator uses a smaller pushrod from the control column to a bellcrank just aft of the baggage area, then the large pushrod goes from the bellcrank to the elevator itself. In the photo above the tunnel for the smaller elevator pushrod is visible between the floor skins.

canopy progress

There was progress on the canopy before winter took hold here. I made the big cut, separating the plexiglass bubble into the fixed windscreen and the sliding part you see here. I stopped working on it in Nov, it is cooler and it's best to work on the plexiglass when it is warm. It's more pliable and less likely to crack. The next step in the spring is drilling the plexiglass to the sliding frame.

Canopy Start

Finishing kit parts in the house!?!
I took most of the fiberglass parts inside to protect them from the heat. Here they are with the wingtips and some firewall forward parts. Also the rudder and elevator bottoms are just visible. The greenish colored parts came with the finishing kit- wheel pants, spinner, and empennage fairing.

I got started on the canopy frame yesterday. Installed the roll bar last week as a precursor to fitting the canopy frame. The canopy process has been cited as the most difficult building step by many RVers. I've taken this to heart, and am moving very slowly, double and triple-checking measurements and plans before doing anything permanent. I haven't riveted the front fuselage parts in place yet since I wanted to get started on the canopy while it's still warm. The plexiglass canopy is more forgiving when it's warm.

Another view of the canopy frame. It's just setting in place, nothing has been drilled to the fuselage yet. The first steps are to bend the frame to fit the fuselage. It would appear at first blush that I've lucked out- the fit looks good. A little tweaking of the side rails, some adjustment at the rear and hopefully it's good to go... Wish me luck....

More Fuselage Stuff

Some progress in the last month- nothing big but lots of smaller tasks. I've bolted the landing gear weldments in place- the bolts that appear loose in the photo will eventually be special close-tolerance bolts that hold the wing spar in place. Also, I've run the aluminum fuel line tubing from the wing root to the valve, and the brake lines, and the vent lines. I haven't run the fuel line from the pump to the firewall, so the pump is not ready to be put in it's final place yet.


I went ahead and painted the interior- it turned out ok, but I think I will have to redo some areas. I wanted to do this before I started work on the canopy. I went ahead and final riveted the baggage area side panel you see here. All the unpainted areas still showing will be covered eventually with panels (that are finished.) I also ran the black wiring conduit down the center tunnel shown here. It is actually 1.2" polyethylene tubing for sprinkler systems, but it works great here as conduit from the spar carry-through to aft of the baggage area. The smooth walls will make it easy to run wiring for the transponder, aft lighting, and possibly other things such as ELT, strobe supply, and magnetometer.

Not shown, I made up some antenna doublers and drilled and dimpled them, one COMM antenna under the left seat and the transponder antenna just aft of the baggage bulkhead on the right side. I plan to use a wingtip NAV antenna. Also torqued the seat belt anchors. Forward upper fuselage parts are all drilled and ready to rivet- I'm going to wait a bit before finishing that up since it will get in the way for some firewall and rudder pedal installations. I also riveted the aft-most top fuselage skin- waiting on the forward aft skin until the canopy is further along.


FINISH KIT ARRIVES:
Huge box full of steel and fiberglass and plexiglass. Here is the box, showing the pink!? 2-piece cowling and the canopy. Other things in the box: engine mount, roll-over bar, fiberglass wheel pants and fairings, wheels and tires, and more. Coffee cup for scale, was not included ...

fuelage update

Since the last update I've drilled the landing gear weldments, assembled the electric flap actuator, assembled the seat backs, and started on the fuel line plumbing. Also many other small tasks that would take too long to describe...

I painted some of the interior parts, and decided to cleco some of the parts inside the plane to see what it will look like. I use rustoleum silver "hammered finish" and I kinda like how it turned out. I will still need to spray the fixed interior parts that will show in the end- so eventually no yellow chromate will show and very little bare Aluminum (unless you stick your head under the panel, since I don't plan on painting the forward area.)

Here is the painted baggage bulkheads clecoed in place- baggage floors are still unpainted, but the seat floors have been partially painted -- seat cushions will eventually cover the unpainted areas. The white bar across the bottom is the flap actuator weldment.


The flap mechanism clecoed in place- still unpainted- The motor is visible but the part that moves up and down is not. It will eventually be bolted to the weldment but for now it is in the way.
This is the Airflow Performance electric boost pump. This kit from Van's included the filter, pump, bypass valve, and pressure relief valve as well as the Aluminum bits and mounting instructions. This pump is required for the fuel-injected engine I plan to use. The fuel selector valve is just above it to the right and, once plumbed, will allow one to switch between left and right fuel tanks.

All covers in place over the flap mechanism and fuel pump, and with the seat backs in place. Not in place: control sticks (ready to bolt in but waiting on push rods and they get in the way), landing gear weldments (ready to bolt in but I'm leaving them unbolted until I run the fuel lines through them, hopefully soon), the rudder pedals are also ready to bolt in but I'm waiting until after the fuel, vent and brake lines are run first.

Fuselage Aft Top Skins

Lots of progress- aft top skins have been clecoed and drilled, and the baggage bulkhead has been trimmed and drilled, and the nutplates that hold it on have been installed. Also the baggage area floors and side panels are ready to go. I'm currently working on the forward floors and the seat backs. Lots and lots of smaller tasks have been completed and many more still to do.

I ordered the finish kit this week. Since the cowling and motor mount depend on the engine type, that decision has to be made before ordering the finish kit. I agonized a bit, and decided on an IO-320. Thats the fuel-injected version of the O-320.