Rudder Pedals and Oshkosh HOBBS 750.0 hrs

Heading to Oshkosh in the morning, so this will be my last post until I get back. I'm pretty excited about this trip for some reason? I think its because I am going early rather than late, it will be a completely different perspective. This will be my 4th consecutive trip...almost getting to be an old pro...well, maybe not quite.

So I spent some time getting the fuel tank attach angle bracket and baggage side panels done, then moved onto the rudder pedals.

I bought this handy cutoff tool from HF specifically for all the angle alum you need to cut on the fuselage. It has been the best $30 tool purchase I have made, highly recommended.

This is an angle bracket you need to fabricate for the tank attach bracket. Pay close attention to this detail drawing...specifically the 4 17/32" dimension. I wouldn't have dimensioned it this way personally, and it surely tripped me up. I thought it was an overall length dimension and as you'll see its not.

This is what it looks like if you do what I did...my match drilled hole ended up too close to the edge. I ended up redoing this puppy. I have plenty of this angle in the shop so no big deal except for the time lost.

A pic of where it installs...click to enlarge...

And this is the steel fuel tank attach bracket that it will attach to.

Trimming the baggage side covers to the appropriate geometry.

Baggage side covers installed...looking good, starting to look like a finished airplane...kinda...

Seat floor pans cleco-ed in place...not sure why, just b/c it looks cool? ;)

Getting the rudder pedals fabricated and ready for attachment.

Matco master brake cylinders...these are the 'standard' for Van's kits. I probably will swap these out for a higher end version from Grove. Matco's are low-end and have issues with sticking. Some guys put springs on them to alleviate this. Others just upgrade to Grove, which are markedly better from what I've heard. They're not cheap however, each cylinder from Grove runs about $165.

Four pedals...almost ready to go, need some more prep work. I am, as you might guess, doing dual brakes on my plane so you can fly from the right seat if needed. Also note, I looked everywhere through my parts trying to find the second set of rudder pedals. I finally looked in the dual brake kit that I ordered as an option...and that's where I found them...duh, sometimes I wonder how I got through Engineering school? Save yourself some time...look there first! :)