The avionics are one of the more costly parts of a kit airplane build. It is easy to spec out an equipment list that totals more than the cost of the airplane itself. One costly option I discovered is deciding to equip your plane for IFR flight. For a...

Over the weekend I started preparing the port-side outer fuselage skin for installation. There are a few steps to do before installing it: Lightly abrade the skin near rivet locations (for better paint adhesion under the countersunk rivet head) Dimple the forward rivet locations Attach NACA duct Roll edges...

On Monday I began the installation of the skins on the port side of the the fuselage. Like on the starboard side, I started with the interior skins. I found that the holes along the bottom of the skin were drilled differently than the starboard side, and supporting installing...

I purchased a few G3X components from Sling-focused supplier Midwest Panel Builders. Garmin ran a rebate promotion through the summer that I decided to take advantage of. I purchased two screens, a 10.6” GDU 460 and a 7” GDU 470, as well as a GEA 24 engine analyzer. These...

Today I worked on the nose gear a bit as well as continuing to rivet on the fuselage side skin. A recent Kitplanes article recommended using JB Weld with rivnuts, so I did exactly that for the towbar brackets that attach to the nose gear fork. In addition, I...

I’ve learned a few things as I tried to install countersunk rivets on my fuselage, which I’m capturing in this post. In summary, the rivets I originally started using (POP AK41H and AK51H) are not suitable for use on the fuselage, but I found an alternative part that’s readily...

For my first task after coming back from a week of vacation up at Lake Winnipesauke, I had to fix a problem with my nose wheel. Thanks to a tip from fellow Sling builder Rod, I found out I had not assembled the valve stem correctly. A visit to...

I’ve been working on a 3D model of my instrument panel. Although I’m still several months away from needing to buy avionics, there are some good rebates right now from Garmin, so I think I’m going to start buying some components, even if it means it will sit on...

I assembled the fork and wheel for the nose gear. The parts went together easily. I had to clean up the threads on the top of the gear leg, I was not able to get an AN4 bolt to thread in smoothly, and didn’t want to chew out the...

Per a comment on my previous post from Peter, here’s a few pictures showing what the antenna will look like on top of the rear fuselage....