Switching back to the fuselage for a bit; I’m ready to install the canopy, but before I do that, I need to install the interior side skins. My interior side skins didn’t come pre-drilled with holes for the rear-seat vents. Although I’ve heard they don’t work great, I still...

It’s a task I’ve put off for a long time, but I finally have a headliner attached to the canopy. I’m super pleased with the results. Although it wasn’t particularly difficult, it was manually-intensive, detailed work and took me most of the day Sunday to complete. First, I had...

In light of my last post regarding the heat barrier, I realized I made a mistake in materiel choice for the patches I made for the firewall. I used aluminum sheet stock, whereas I should have used galvanized steel to match the material of the firewall. Aluminum melts at...

This kit uses a sheet of galvanized steel as the firewall and is further covered by a heat barrier to insulate the cabin from the engine heat (and noise). The galvanized steel is good as a fire protectant (per FAR 23.1191), however, I have seen several other builders dismiss...

Quite some time ago I decided to put in a headliner on the canopy, mostly for aesthetic reasons. The material I chose is a foam-backed suede material from Automotive Interiors and Accessories, Inc. This was one of the only vendors I could find that made any statement about flammability;...

One minor issue with my engine was that it came from the factory fitted with an optional cooling baffle. This baffle is primarily for installation in an aircraft with a pusher prop configuration, but since my plane is tractor config, I need to remove the baffle to ensure proper...

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...

I started mounting components to the firewall. There is a little bit of extra work for me to do since my firewall was pre-punched for a Rotax 914UL engine, but I’m installing a 915iS instead. This means I have some new holes to drill, some holes to cover up,...

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...

My recent job change has me traveling out the Mojave CA about once a month. I took advantage this trip to make a visit back to where my airplane building journey started – the Sling dealer in Torrance, CA. My reason for visiting was two-fold: to get some flight...