It’s good to see the propeller back on the plane! I’m about 46% confident this will not need to come off again, but I couldn’t help myself. Seeing it on, with the cone, and the cowl. Just wow. We’re nearly there at this point.
Long on the list was finally mounting the ELT antenna. My chosen location, under the fiberglass tail fairing, is not without its drawbacks and controversy. Some will cite the proximity of tail surfaces or shielding by the fairing as reasons this provides inadequate positioning for the antenna. Truth is, there is no spot I’ve seen […]
Getting the wingtips on will not only give us an idea of the full span, but will also allow us to play with all lighting options! Unfortunately, fitting wing tips is more laborious that fitting wings. With about 40 nutplates each, and fiberglass that requires alignment and adjustment, (though I will note, the glass here […]
The plane was pushed out of the hanger for the first time since move-in. Seeing it out and fairly assembled really makes it feel like an airplane, not a project any more. A few short months and this thing could be airworthy.
The blister proved to be a lot of work, but now that it’s in, I’m very excited about how it came out. Redoing this area was the right choice. Once the part was created it was trimmed to include a flange. The outline was drawn on the cowl long ago when the plug was first […]
As much as I want it to be done, the cowl has a lot more work do be done before we fly. Luckily, a bunch was completed and shown below. First up: louvers The louvers used to be an optional kit, I believe, but are now included and from what I can tell, recommended for […]
Part of attaching the wings is attaching the control surfaces, including the flaps and ailerons. Cutting holes in a perfectly good fuselage feels just wrong, but the holes for the control rods came out looking nice and closely fitting the linkage. In addition, my flap skins align nicely with the fuselage bottom and cover the […]
A bit of a jump here: Wings are attached, fuel lines, fuel vents, systems wiring, etc. all hooked up. I’m now working on the wing fairings, which require a bit of fitting and bending, and a whole bunch of nut plates. All of this will be removed for installation of final attachment hardware and then […]
Well, it’s time to start to think about putting some wings on the plane, now that we have the space. There’s a lot of work to do to prepare the wings for installation, and then to finally install them. There will be a bit of back-and-forth on this one. Exciting to see this all lined […]
The project is finally moving out to the hanger. After over three years, I’ve outgrown my little garage and am looking forward to stretching out a bit. That said, the moving process is a big lift–literally. The fuselage had to be basically lifted up on the trailer because of the height–I thought I was doing […]