I added the air vents by custom fabricating some brackets out of carbon fiber. OK, so Send-Cut-Send did the fabrication, but I designed and installed them. I love the look of some limited (and functional) carbon fiber accents. The vents came from Stein, and were the ultra expensive aluminum versions, but worth every penny. Installing […]
It didn’t take long to start laying out the components in the plane. Looking at the subpanel, panel, and stack, I started to fit in what I could. This part is getting really exciting, thought the mess of everything is giving me anxiety. I don’t know if I’m more excited to get everything in so […]
Work on the harness continues with more wiring, labeling, and research. I’ve found it necessary to start a wire log, with each wire numbered and logged including to/from, gauge, color, notes, etc. In addition to listing the wires, the document also tracks all fuses with locations within the bus system, tracks all grounds and their […]
Just in time for my birthday, the airplane gets decorated. In an effort to figure out wire runs, I tried to create a mock harness out of wire. To be fair to myself, I did wind up with a very harness-looking mess of wire at the end, and several of the lengths of ribbon were […]
And in goes the GDU–the screens for the system. With these added this whole panel has to weigh 30+ pounds. It’s a beast. I’ll need to get the subpanel cut so I have have the racks tie into that. There’s a lot to do here, and I don’t know exactly where to put my energy. […]
I took a moment today to mount the G5. The flush mount looks slick. I know a lot of people will be critical of the mounting method, but again: the flush mount looks slick.
Well, the test brackets and avionics panel came in! The brackets look swell. Very happy. And much to my surprise, it all fits. Well, almost all. The racks fit very well with one exception on the trays. It seems Garmin wanted to make the flight director tray a little different in that the holes from […]
Well I put the skin on. I’ve heard this skin doesn’t fit, but I didn’t have too much trouble. What I did have trouble with was match drilling everything. In the end, I missed one bracket that will have to be addressed with final assembly. As it stands, I’ve not primed any of the smaller […]
Well, with some off-site-cross-country training under my belt, I’m hankering to get the plane ready for avionics. Not really knowing where I’m headed with the engine eliminates fuel systems and other components of the interior, so it’s not really out of order to hit this now… Parts fitting was, as usual, quite quick. Before that, […]