Category: Everything Else

Rear Fuselage Close-out

For the past week I’ve been preparing to install the upper skins of the rear fuselage, which will close out most access to this section. Although there is an inspection panel mid-belly, I decided it would be easier to install the GMU 11 magnetometer before closing out, so earlier...

New Skill Acquired: Powder Coating

Just before this whole pandemic thing started happening, I had purchased a powder coating gun to experiment with. I knew it would be more work than spray paint, but the resulting finish is nicer and more durable. My first attempt was with the updated bearing plates in my previous...

Update to Rear Torque Tube Modification

In my last post, I documented a problem I found when joining the center and rear fuselages. The modifications I made to the rear torque tube didn’t account for the clearance needed for the rudder conduit fittings, which are mounted very near the torque tube, and were butting up...

Rear Fuselage Structure

I took a short hiatus from building the Sling to work on a few adjacent projects. One of my other interests is 3D printing, and given some of the parts I made recently for my plane, I decided to make a few upgrades to my 3D printer. I’m completely...

Bundling Wires with Lacing Cord

It’s a minor detail that you don’t usually see, but I like the finished look of neatly-bundled wire harnesses. While zip ties are convenient, they can damage the wire over time – under vibration, the edge of the zip tie chafes the Tefzel jacket, and eventually can cause intermittent...

Fuel System Routing

Now that I had all the parts I needed, it was time to begin routing the fuel system through the center fuselage. I am deviating from the TAF instructions, the following is a summary of the changes: Relocating the fuel valve body to slightly below and behind the dash,...

Center Console Work

I’ve been pretty quiet with blog updates for the last 2 weeks as I’ve been doing a lot of research and planning for upcoming tasks: running wires, fuel lines, and brake lines. I wasn’t planning to have this all figured out by this point in the build, so this...

Rear Elevator Torque Tube Modification

I decided to modify how the rear/short elevator torque tube is held in place on the floor ribs. After spending hours in previous weeks fiddling with the floor ribs, I just couldn’t find a fit that allowed the tube to turn smoothly. The floor ribs that support the torque...

Flush Rivet Process

EDIT 8/5/2020: the AK41H rivets identified below won’t work. See my later post regarding the side skin install. Among other things, this past weekend I came up with a tool to dimple the holes where I intend to install flush rivets. I received my supply of AK41H countersunk rivets...

Acquiring Hardware

I haven’t posted in about a week, but I’ve been pretty busy acquiring a bunch of stuff that I’ll need in the coming weeks. I decided it was high time that I think about wiring – so I did, coming up with a few diagrams, wire lists, and connector...