Caught making airplane noises!

Yep,  I was in the airplane making airplane noises today and got caught by my dad who happened to look at my remote security camera feed at that time.  I got a call while I was in the airplane, hmmm come to think of it that's a first in itself.  Anyway I spent the last part of the week and the weekend doing quite a few little tasks.  The most significant task being the installation of the Affordable Panels kit that replaces the stock Vans instrument panel with a model that has removable sections.  See the pictures and you will see what I mean.  I still have work to do on it but what you see took me all day today to get done.

The center rib has quite a number of parts that have to be fabricated and then installed on the rib before it gets installed.  You can see several cleco's and they are all holding some of the parts.

Here then forward top skin is installed for the first time.  You can see the frame for the Affordable Panels modular panel kit.  

This is what the airplane looked like when I was making airplane noises.  The seat was a little hard but that didn't slow me down.   Actually what I was doing was placing the templates for the G3X screens on the panel so I could see what needed to be modified to make it all fit.  In this picture you can see where I installed the left and right panels.  The center panel is not installed but thats where the radios and the autopilot controller will go.

I learned something I should have known already.  The bushings for the grips are two different sizes.  The passenger stick is smaller in diameter because it is made to be removable.

Oh yea, I installed the ends on both pushrods.  These are what connect the control stick to the elevator on the back of the tail.

One more task I completed was to prep both wings for riveting the bottom skins on.  Hopefully that will happen this week.

Half time!

Yep its halftime of the Superbowl and the Seahawks are kicking Denvers butt!  Sooo, its also a good time to update the airplane status.  Lots of time in the garage and very little visible to show for it but here goes anyway.

Saturday I went over to help Mark mount his wings on his Glasair.  Big difference between the RV and his Glasair but it was sure fun working on a 'glass airplane for a while.

I finally got my electric fuel pump mounted as well as the new Andair fuel valve.  The full pump is bolted to the cover and then reinforced under with some .063 angle trimmed to allow the brake lines and wiring run to go safely under the pump.  Slowly starting to look like a cockpit.

I decided it was time to mount the control linkages.  At first I thought I would just bolt them in but as I got to working I just kept going and finished them up.  I still have to cut the sticks down a bit and install the grips.  

In an effort to finish up a few tasks on the wings before I rivet the lower skins on I went ahead and installed the access cover on the bottom of the leading edge.  This cover is suppose to give you access to the stall warning sensor but I am not installing it.  Hmm, maybe I can rig up a camera in the same location?  

The garage is smelling pretty good

Yep, that is a really misleading title too!  I completed a potpourri of tasks in the garage tonight.

Travis came over last night and helped me move the wings back into the garage.  Its time to finish them up so I can mount them on the fuselage.

First order of business was to cut and prep the pitot tube mount on the left wing.  It still kinda crepes me out to cut into the wing skins.

Next on the list was to put some caulking on the joints where the plastic wire sleeves go through the wing ribs.  This prevents them from vibrating and cutting through the plastic...or so thats the plan.

The gold looking part here is the roll servo mount for the autopilot.  This was a pretty simple install since I only had to unbolt the old bracket and replace it with this one.  i guess I should run the servo wires before I button this bugger up.

This is the pitch servo mount ready to be riveted behind the elevator bell crank.  Had to drill out four rivets and then back drill the top rivets, then using my angle drill I drilled the lower four.

Taking a brake

Sometimes those titles can be a little misleading... I ran the interior brake lines as you can see in the middle two pictures below.

Sunday, after the work depicted in the pictures below, I knocked off a little early and went in to start working on the wiring diagram for the airplane.  Wow, another big learning curve.  Fortunately I can walk in the steps of people who have already blazed this path for the most part.  Nobody has exactly the setup I have but that's part of the fun of it all.

Im trying to take a photo of the fuel line I installed.  It seems a bit long but I will wait until the new fuel valve arrives before I send it back for a shorter version.  Speaking of the fuel valve, I got confirmation from Andair in the UK that the valve is suppose to ship today.

Here is a picture of the brake lines running from the weldment exit point to down the center of the fuselage and over to the manifold that is mounted on the firewall (see next picture).

...and here is the manifold.

For my final task of the day I went ahead and primed the inside of the control tubes.  Hard to see but if you look closely you will see the inside looks grayish.

Sunny Saturday fun

Today I spent some good time in the garage and make some progress.  I won't bore you with dialog, just the pics.

Here I am installing the static line and the ports on both sides of the fuselage.  Its hard to see the white static line as it arc's over the bulkhead but its there.  I decided to glue the static ports in because I see so many people having issues trying to rivet them.  I have read many a blog entry about people who have glued them in with great success.

Oh yea, I started the day out by getting the problem child gear weldment mounted.  I think I installed it at least three times this morning as I worked it for a good fit.  I was also able to get the fuel line run on this side but that was after I took this picture.

These are the fuel tank vent ports that stick out the bottom of the fuselage.  I had some fun with them by cutting the size of the "nut" down to about half the original size and then contouring it a bit.  I think they turned out pretty good!

This is the vent port again but this time I am epoxying some screen over the opening to prevent bugs from nesting inside.  Once the epoxy sets up I will trim the screen and clean it up a bit.

Here is the outside of the static line port.  Looks kinda like a metal eraser head sticking out.  A little hard to see with all the reflection so I put an arrow up to indicate the port.

This is what the other side of that port looks like.  I still have to clip the static line that goes forward to the underside of the longeron but I want to make sure the glue is set up permanently before I start tweaking those lines.

The world rights itself again

Ok, just a quick post to let everybody know that with the help of VAF and Harry I was successful in removing the leg from the weldment and in fact I almost got the weldment installed before it was time to come in.  On another note I got word from Aircraft Spruce that I can return the valve without a restocking fee.  They don't seem to have the correct valve and since I need an extension anyway I ordered a new valve from Andair.  The correct valve this time!

No pictures tonight.

Frustrated

Ok, I have to vent for real this time.  It seems the airplane gods are conspiring against me.  The gear leg is still very much stuck in the weldment and doesn't seem to want to move any further out no matter how much effort I put into it.  I posted to VAF in hopes that somebody there has a miracle cure but I am running short on hope. To top that off I found out tonight that the Andair fuel valve I ordered from Aircraft Spruce is the wrong one.  It has female connectors on it and that makes the new fuel lines I purchased useless.  So I have sent an email to AS to see if I can return it but again I am not holding out much hope for any "love".  I can order the correct valve from Andair but they are in England so who knows how long it will take to get the new valve. I guess I might as well bring the wings back out into the garage and finish them up....

This is as far out as I can get it...

Here is the whole shebang in a time-out in the corner until it decides to cooperate.  I expect this technique will work just about as well as it worked with the kids when they were younger.....not.