My Center Console

I recently realized I haven't really posted any pics of my center console, so here you go. A little eye candy. These were taken before my acro contest, solo, in my plane. I ended up taking second, by one measly point, in Primary to a gentleman in a Pitts. Not exactly fair, but no one said it was supposed to be fair. :) It was a fun time, I recommend it. Although, my plane is now prohibited by the IAC because I don't have the emergency canopy release installed. Oh well, it was a great experience to get to do it once. 

Hinge Pin Covers HOBBS 2234.0 hrs

I've been experiencing quite a bit of enjoyment lately with the build. Although I am no longer in the business of "predicting when the first flight will happen", its becoming clear its getting closer every day. These last jobs are time consuming, mind you, but I definitely get the feel that these are the finishing touches of a 4+ year journey because the punch list is getting shorter.

 

 

Getting the rudder cables hooked up and finalized. First order of business was lube the tailwheel with oil, next attach the control arm and then the actual cables themselves. Once this is done, you can then move to the cockpit and attach the other end of the cables to the pedals.

 

To do that, you need to fabricate these two cable links out of 4130 steel. DO NOT make these out of aluminum! I have heard of builders doing this, even though it clearly states to use 4130 steel. Aluminum is not strong enough and will be the weak link in the system. This thickness, in alum, will not be up to the task. If one of these snapped in flight, would it kill you? Maybe not...but I wouldn't take that chance. My links, just for reference, came out to 2.5" centerline to centerline...the drawing doesn't give a dimension, but scales out to 1.625"

 

With the rudder cables hooked up, onto the hinge pin on the trim tab. I still needed to finalize this bugger...and really wasn't sure how since I have a rather unique trim tab. I finally came up with what you see here...a hinge eyelet with an extender riveted to it. This should do the trick.

 

While I was back there, I pulled out my trim motor and checked the cotter pins one more time. Good to go. Looking at this picture just now, I notice I don't have torque seal on the all thread nuts...I would feel better if I had that even though I think they are tight, I will take this back off and make sure these are tight before first flight.

 

To finish up, I installed the last cotter pin on the link arm as shown here.

 

Also trying to finish up the last details on my center console. I installed a hold down clip to secure the front end. The back end will have one screw so the entire bezel can be removed by that one screw.

 

Screw and clip in place...looking good.

 

Envision the red leather pad, and a vinyl wrapped bezel that matches the side panels...gonna look HOT!

 

Now, attacking the cowl...I knew I had quite a bit of detail work to do on the cowl to bring it up to my standards. First order of business was the cowl pin covers. You can buy a set of these from Aerosport Products, but alas, I figured it would be pretty easy to do myself and decided to save the money for a change. I was not wrong, these were not difficult to fabricate and kind of fun to do. I started with a 1/8" thick alum bar...made a football shaped pattern and went to work.

 

First trace and cut the hole in the cowl fiberglass. Then, insert your slightly oversize blank into the hole pulled up flush...you want it nice and tight. Put some mold release on the inside surface and then glass right over the top of it.

 

After it cures...pop it out and voila, a perfect plug. Now cut the parting line back in to separate the cowl halves again.

 

I threw this pic in...just cuz...I think the SJ cowl looks sweet with those aluminum inlet rings and matching cowl pin covers!

 

Once I got both sides done...I then took my oversized football and carefully trimmed it down on the belt sander so it has a nice consistent reveal all the way around. Remember, you have to leave room for paint. You can see, I added a nice contoured radius to blend into the curves of the cowl. Looks really nice, I enjoyed this task very much and have already gotten compliments from my hangar mates.

 

After drilling and countersinking the holes, I had planned to epoxy on some retention features for the hinge pins. I used 5 minute epoxy. It worked like CRAP! Don't do this...they just popped right off under stress. I then thought, why do I need to retain them anyhow? They aren't going anywhere...they cant escape the inside of the cowl going forward or backwards, so I decided to just leave them off. If you were going to paint these covers, you could rivet them on...but I think I am going to leave mine polished aluminum, so no rivets for me.

 

And putting some finishing touches on the sanding. Squint your eyes and picture this with polished aluminum inlet rings and cowl pin covers, along with the finish paint...ooo la la, gonna be purdy. Until next time!

Console Bezel HOBBS 2208.5 hrs

 

This is a good picture to lead off this post. This is what happens when you get cocky and start making bets about when your plane is going to be done. I had a bet with a friend of mine that the plane would be flying by the time OSH started. As you can see, I lost...convincingly! haha! This is what I had to cough up...his favorite vodka. Now, of course, I was naïve when I made that bet...and I also thought it would take right around 2000 hrs to finish up. As you can see, I just passed 2200 hrs...so I was way off. My advice...don't make that bet, the "90% done and 90% to go" legend is real.

 

Ok, back to the center console. I wanted my center console to have nice blended curves...something other than the straight lines and hard edges that sheet metal has to offer. I also wanted it to blend in nicely with the cockpit interior. Here are some shots of my cosmetic bezel that will cover the quadrant.

 

I started off with some modeling clay, you can pick this up at your favorite hobby shop. Then unleash your creative side and sculpt it to the shape you want.

 

Do the best you can, but it doesn't have to be perfect since we will use micro filler to make it nice later.

 

I put some clear box tape on the areas I didn't want the resin to stick to. I also used my mold release (hair spray...because it works and I'm cheap).

 

 

Doing some test fitting with the fuel selector cover plate. Notice its a little rough at this point...and that's ok.

 

Now, I mix up some west systems filler...and start fine tuning it to shape.

 

I wanted to be able to remove the bezel without removing the fuel selector plate so I cut a hole in the bezel. The sheet metal will be painted black so it should blend right in with the bezel covering.

 

Next step was to cut the hole for the quadrant. After some careful measurements...make the cut, clean it up with some sanding and we are getting there. Its looking good.

 

I just laid the levers in there for this pic to see how it was going to look. Notice I am using a piece of gray fabric that I got with my Classic Aero Designs (CAD) interior. I plan to cover this bezel with black material, which I will get from CAD so it blends perfectly with my side panels. It also allows me to not have a perfect surface finish on my bezel....the fabric will hide the small inconsistencies. This has been a fair amount of work, but I think its gonna look pretty slick when I'm done.

 

A parting shot...one of our mutual friends, Scott Taylor, is the proud owner of a 1940's vintage Piper Cub. He needs a temporary hangar home so he is staying in our hangar for awhile. Never sucks to have a Cub in your hangar, its such an iconic airplane.

Nerve Center HOBBS 2170.5 hrs

The center console is turning into quite a labor intensive project, but I'm making progress and nearing the end. Some of the reason for that is it is essentially a 'nerve center' of cables, plumbing and levers.

 

 

A detail shot of the plastic latch and an alignment pin to get everything lined up.

 

My end cap riveted in place. This transition cap will be covered with some kind of 'wrap'...still TBD.

 

A piece of 1/8" thick UHWM plastic for the plastic latch and alignment pin.

 

A couple shots of the arm rest in place.

 

I added this wraparound flange to keep this 'wing' from being a catch point for my foot. This is the 'wing' that goes around the smoke pump.

 

 

So I started finalizing the control cables...throttle and mixture. I bought the powder coated steel bracket for the IO-360 from Van's. I knew it wouldn't work without modification, but figured it would be a good foundation to work from. I've seen lots of pics of what others have done and if you have a non-standard setup, they all seem to be a little different. Mine is no different. This is not a trivial exercise. #1, its vitally important for flight...it is a definitely a "safety of flight" issue so treat it accordingly. #2, it's time consuming to get everything just right...including cable lengths.

 

In this pic (above), you can see my first attempts at creating add-on brackets. I had a piece of steel sheet left over from when I fixed my elevator horns that came in handy. If you use alum, make it beefy angle. Also, notice in this picture I have a 4" threaded extension that I bought from ACS.

 

Cleco-ed in place for lots and lots of fit checking...moving the mixture lever back and forth, back and forth...making sure it was hitting the hard stops as needed before I committed to a permanent location and drilled it.

 

 

Cutting it down to size...making it look good.

 

Now over to the throttle side...this is how it started, before any modification. Notice this control cable is a little different, it doesn't have the threaded nut attachment design. Just a slot...more on this later.

 

I created a 'comb' style bracket to hold the cables in the center console...again, this will capture the slot in the cable and then I will safety wire it to keep it from moving.

 

 

Creating a template to cut out a support bracket for my throttle cable.

 

 

Match drilling it, getting it ready to rivet. Also notice the trim lines on the existing bracket. I will cut the bracket down later, it will look much different by the time I am done.

 

 

I bought this bracket from ACS for my control cables. Its pricy, $20, but works well. I added the hole for the safety wire. This is just a detente snap to keep it in place. In a vibration heavy environment like the FWF, that's enough for me.

 

 

Working on the plumbing details that will reside in my center console. The Andair fuel pump, filter (by the way, the filter is installed backwards) and fuel tank selector all need to be connected.

 

 

And lastly, onto some fun stuff. Adding a cell phone and glasses pouch to the side of the console. Again, just bought these at the local automotive store for cheap.

 

 

This does get in the way of my knee a little bit, but since its a soft pouch it will fold down when not in use. If I don't like it, I can easily remove it later. For now, I like the convenience and want to see how it feels.