Before I attach the canopy for good, I wanted to see how much extra headroom I could squeeze out. I was thinking I could raise up the front edge of the canopy a little bit, as long as there was enough excess material on the windscreen – luckily, the...

I was about to spray adhesive for the Thermotec insulation I chose for the firewall, when suddenly I questioned how well it would insulate the cabin from engine heat (and noise). So, I performed a short test using 4” square test pieces of 26 ga. galvanized steel: one bare...

I’ve been fiddling with the instrument panel layout for at least 2 years now, but finally arrived at the final design. And thanks to the awesome team at Midwest Panel Builders, I now have the real thing in my garage! Steve at MWPB did a great job with the...

Between work travel, vacation, and family visits, it’s been a few weeks since I was able to put in some time on the plane. One of my recent trips was to Oshkosh, but I missed the arrival of the new Sling High Wing; I’ll have to find an excuse...

With the headliner install complete, it’s finally time to attach the canopy! While checking for fit, I had to sand down the port side rear edge of the canopy a bit, but otherwise the composite lined up well with the metal skins. I match drilled all the holes, installed...

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;...