You are probably thinking, "when was the last time you posted something about building an airplane??" That is what this blog is all about, right? Well, you're right, its been awhile...and as you know I have been very busy with other stuff. But...don't fret, progress is being made in the shadows.
I am so obsessed with the finish line right now, that I have been forgetting to snap pictures and post about my progress. Whoopsy...hopefully you can understand? I am putting in more hours now than I ever have (19 hrs this week and I missed all day Saturday because of Pitts flying and a cocktail date with a young lady), so it makes for long days.
This first pic shows the finishing touches on my oil door. Adding the latch and the cross pieces for structure. Many guys put two latches on this door...I cant help but think that with some structure, one latch will suffice against it bowing in flight. Time will tell.
I mistakenly cut my rockrack switch holes too big in my carbon fiber panel. I was pretty upset that I did this as the switches had some play in them...and that was just unacceptable. My solution was to mix up a batch of flox with black dye, put a piece of box tape on the front for a barrier (not shown)...lay in the flox and back it with a piece of fiberglass tape for support. Voila...now I just need to re trim to size.
Re trimmed...and it worked like a charm, switches are nice and tight and you don't even see my patch job behind the bezel.
Now, focusing on finishing up my center console. I had bought a automotive snap latch and I needed to make this fit into the overall design. This is what I came up with.
Next I started playing around with the "feel" and size of the armrest pad. I didn't like it extending too close to the throttle quadrant as it made my hand/wrist feel cramped. So, I decided to design and create a fiberglass "cap" that will transition downward and give it a nice finished look. I used modeling clay to create the desired shape and then later laid it up with fiberglass tape...more on this later.
I have about five fiberglass projects going on at once. I do some layups and then move to the next one so I can keep them all in a rotation. Here is another one of those projects. Finishing up the rudder cap. Its now bonded in place, and here you can see I am adding some nice curved transition pieces...purely for cosmetic reasons. I saw it posted on VAF and really liked it. I used a piece of scrap left over from my cowling...bonded it with flox.
Add some fiberglass tape...or the seam will crack.
Followed by your choice of micro...this is West Systems 407.
Sand, sand, sand...until it looks nice
Lastly, as the fiberglass is drying on each of these projects I am filling my time with wiring. Mostly just coming up with routing strategies. Here is my wing terminal block...I went back and forth over a cannon connector or no connector...and then decided on just a terminal block. May not be the most elegant, but it will be robust and easy to troubleshoot if needed.
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