Firewall Part 2 – Gascolator
Continuing with mounting items to firewall. I had to make a decent-sized doubler (160x120mm) to cover all the holes originally provisioned for the 914 fuel pumps. Instead, the gascolator (fuel/water separator) gets mounted at this location near the bottom of the firewall. Meanwhile I’ve also started on all the...
Right Wingtip Work
For mounting the wingtip lights, my original concept for a upswept winglet wasn’t going to work – there is no place to run the wires out at the end of the factory wingtip. Therefore, I went back to the drawing board, and came up with a fairing that goes...
Winglet Mod
Yep, yet another mod, but this one’s pretty minor. My wingtips are the older design that lacked a good place to mount the wingtip light cluster. Therefore, I designed a small winglet to attach to the wingtip, mimicking the design of the newer wingtip seen on the TSi kits....
Propeller Arrived
My Airmaster propeller arrived! I now have all the parts needed to build up everything forward of the firewall, just need time 🙂 Thanks to COVID-related delays, including lockdowns and sea freight shipping problems, it took over a year for the prop to arrive (the normal lead time is...
Right Wing Closeout & SB0014
With the trim servo mods completed, I spent the last few working sessions closing the starboard wing. There are many hundreds of rivets to install, and sometimes the holes need to be reamed open for fit, so it’s just time-consuming work. I also had to carry out service bulletin...
Aileron Trim and Wing Electronics Module
This past weekend I finished up most of the aileron trim servo installation. My remaining tasks were to glue down the doubler, and to install the connectors for the wire harness. Before gluing down the doubler, I decided to increase the number of screws holding the plate from 8...
Aileron Trim Servo
It’s been a little bit since my last logbook entry, but have some great news to share. I recently made an exciting career change — I accepted an offer to work for a startup company called Merlin Labs and I’m helping create an autonomous flight system for retrofitting into...
Right Tank Pressure Test OK
After replacing the one bad rivet on Wednesday and letting the sealant cure, I re-pressurized the tank on Sunday afternoon. 24 hours later, the pressure reading was exactly the same, so the tank is good. As before, the zero point for the unpressurized tank was 16” WC, so I...
Right Fuel Tank Closeout and Leak Test
Over the past few weekends I worked on closing out the right fuel tank. I attached the last accessory bits (fuel pickup, vent) and then proceeded with applying the sealant for the back channel/cover. Having the wing turned 90° definitely made it easier to set the fuel tank in...
Refueling Options
As I’ve been building my second fuel tank, another thought has re-entered my mind: how to get gas to my plane. Leaded gasoline has been in the news lately, with a not-so-great spotlight being shone on aviation’s 100LL AvGas as being the last major producer of airborne lead emissions....