Here’s the latest update from the last week or so.. - Routed the fuel lines in the fuselage - Tidy’d up the fuel lines with some zip tie and fuel line stand offs - Spliced an extended the fuel pump wire, it was too short to reach around to the other side of the pump - Added heat shield to the oil lines - Trimmed the windshield to fit and get ready for bonding In order to fit the windshield, I need to get the front fuselage cover on.
Since it's just held on by rivets, I could imagine some water getting pushed through this section, so I decided to add sikaflex for a solid seal. It's messy, but worth it. I did have some trouble fitting the parachute rocket all the way in since the cables that connect to the bottom of the rocket push on the housing. The trigger doesn't line up through the hole on the bottom. I gave up trying to do it while attached to the plane, so I took off the rocket housing and was able to fit the rocket easier. Scary nonetheless handling a live rocket. Glad that's done! I lined up the parachute blast skin and drilled the holes into the fuselage and canopy. The factory recommends that you use some PVA release agent and apply some clear silicone underneath the skin to prevent water seepage. Just doing some final riveting on the wings, attaching the fuel tanks since they passed the pressure test. I was going to do the Service Bulletin 14 - replacing the aluminum rivets with stainless steel ones on the spar carry through, but it seems that the factory already did that for me in my quickbuild. Note the darker rivets with rounded edges compared to the same size rivets nearby. It's been a while since I was able to work on the plane with summer vacation, family visiting etc... So I was happy to get my hands dirty again.
I drilled a hole for the outside air temperature sensor on the pilot side air scoop. It's good to get this done before you mess with trying to mount the avionics panel, as things get pretty tight. The modular panel rack system that MidWest Panel Builders provided requires that the top fiberglass skin be on to provide adequate support of the 'panel' rib. So I went ahead and used my nifty hole finder tool. Just plug it in the rivet hole and place the drill on the other end and viola! I couldn't imagine trying to get those holes aligned blindly. I'd highly recommend them! The only remaining metal pieces I have are the cowling strips that connect the fuselage and the cowling. It is a bit difficult to figure out exactly how they are placed based on the instructions, so hoping the close up pictures help others. It took me reaching out to a fellow builder to stop scratching my head! You take one skinny strip and one larger strip and line them up. The side with an angle will be at the bottom of the fuselage, the flat end on top. You then have to dimple the first 18 holes in each for the countersunk rivets on the fuselage. Make sure to fit the pieces to the frame before and label which side is which first - they only fit one way. You don't want to end up with a strip with dimples the wrong direction (almost made that mistake). From there, you'll fit the skinny strip between the outer fuselage skin and the firewall flanges. I used a rubber mallet to assist getting that in there. Then you can fit the larger strip on the inside of the firewall flanges. It helps to cleco from the bottom up as you go to make sure the holes align. Now that those items are done, I can finally start mounting my avionics panel! Before I begin my move to Colorado, I figure I get as many large components in the airplane as possible to help with the journey. I installed the seat rails and test fit all the seats and made sure they slid without catching any rivet heads.
Happy with a bit of progress, I brought my wife out to the garage to snap a photo of me in the pilot’s seat. ;-) While I wait for additional shipments, I decided to try and place the center console skins to check fit.
However, that means installing a good amount of rivnuts in the center console ribs and floor. Almost all of the rivnut holes had to be upsized to M4. I think at some point the factory switched from M3 to M4. Some places were a tight fit, so I used the angle drill bit to help reach some spots. The step drill doesn’t do the best job with creating a clean cut, so every hole also needed to be deburred pretty heavily. I began fitting the skins and built up the center console box that fits above the flap actuator. Things we’re going smoothly until I placed the bottle skin that fits along the main spar. It seems the space between the rib that holds the flap actuator and the main spar was too small for the skin. I emailed TAF about this and they said to check the alignment of the fuselage forward or the spar. This was a QuickBuild and the side skins were already on, so the alignment should be correct. I’ll be looking at what options I have to get it to fit. I might just have to move the rib a bit forward to get things to line up. One of the more taxing exercises I’ve had on the project so far is getting the control rods to move smoothly.
The vesconite bushings are a perfect fit on the control torque tubes, but when placed in the aluminum ribs and there a slight misalignment or misshaped curve, the result is a binded bushing. Which can be hard to find. I spent quite a bit of time using a flap sanding wheel to trim down the ribs to get a nice fit on the bushings. Then when in place with the brackets I had to find the rib that was slightly misaligned and sanded down the bushing a bit to get it unbinded. Once that was done, riveted the brackets in place and tested everything out.. minimal friction! After that was done, I decided to put the luggage floor Rivnuts in place and test fit the covers. Perfect fit! Now that the landing gear strut is in place, I went ahead and torqued the bolts in place. It was a bit difficult since I didn’t have any metric wrench that fit an M12 bolt. Luckily, vice grip pliers were strong enough to hold and get the required torque value.
I decided to give the canopy doors another shot. To get the lock mechanism to fit flush, I had to shave off a bit of the canopy resin with a dremel. The real challenge was trying to get the aluminum rod to fit inside the canopy. The curvature of the canopy is somewhat unique to each door. I was able to get one door done pretty easily with only a few slight bends. I used a table vice to grip the bar and get the bend where I wanted. However, the second door I bend the rod in different directions to try to fit the canopy curvature, it started to look a bit like spaghetti. I was able to finally get it to fit, but the angle of the cut that fits the door latch was off by about 30 degrees. Doh! I’ll have to straighten it out and give it another shot later.. It was a quick exercise, but probably one of the more satisfying tasks to date! I decided it was time to attach the landing gear. This bird has to learn to walk before she can fly! I supported the front and rear with adjustable sawhorses from Harbor Freight so it would allow me to adjust the height as needed. Once I was able to fit the gear under, I carefully moved the rear sawhorse backward so the fuselage would start to rest on the gear. It took a bit to get the right height and placement of the gear. I realized I couldn’t rest the fuselage on the gear right away, otherwise I couldn’t fit the bolt sleeves in. It’s not possible to insert them from inside the fuselage. Once the placement was good, the bolts went in quickly. Just took a light tapping with a hammer to drive them all the way through. I then removed the front sawhorse and rested the fuselage on the main gear! Now on to the nose gear! The bolts didn’t fit through the firewall very well, it took a bit of reaming to get them to pass through. I certainly didn’t want any ‘play’ with the bolts, so I took my time getting the fit just right. Now that everything was put together, the plane didn’t fit! I had to turn the plane around and rest the tail on the cabinets. No big deal moving the plane.. surprised by how light it is! Today I worked on installing the seatbelts. Unspooling the belts was a challenge since the locking mechanism is gravity sensitive. Meaning, there’s a ball in the spool that has to be oriented a specific way for the spool to release. Once I figured that out, unspooling the belt was pretty easy.
The kit didn’t come with the penny washers that are in the instructions, but did come with some M8 penny washers that seemed to be close enough. I also see there’s some seat belt centering bushings, but I’m not sure where those go. I have a question out to the factory. I also put together another floor panel that covers the flap and elevator controls torque tube assembly under the front seats. Now I just need to start installing the numerous M4 Rivnuts in the center fuselage, an item I’ve been putting off due to it just being a laborious task... Update 1/31/20: I received word from the factory that there is a steel bracket that is already embedded into the canopy. The CAD drawing of the bracket is below. I enlarged the hole a bit and finally was able to see the bracket. Just a quick update.
Installed the rear floor support channels. The skins bend in place if you press on them, so they definitely need them. I also secured the rear parachute cable to the airframe with the AN6 bolt and torqued to spec. I was missing some parts, namely the rear seat strengthening channel and one of the elevator torque tube brackets.
I put an order in for those parts, but it was holding up further progress on the fuselage. So I decided I might as well go ‘Old School’ and make the parts to save some time! I had the forward position rear seat channel handy, so I looked at the plans and it seems it’s the same part, just a bit longer in the back. So I trimmed off the end and it fit perfectly. I took a spare piece of aluminum and drew the outline of the elevator torque tube bracket, cut it out, shaved it down and drilled the holes. An hour of effort saved me at least 6 weeks of delivery time from TAF! Working on some odds and ends this week as I’ve had several items ready to be completed. Ideally I’d like to work on a single item and see it through to completion, but I either have a missing part, tool, problem to figure out, etc so I find something else to work on to move forward.
I received a shipment from TAF recently that had the autopilot pushrods, some misc parts and my joystick control assembly. Unfortunately, they only sent one, so I’m still waiting on the other. At least now I can finish up the control pushrods and test it out! I finished up the main landing gear, so it’s all ready to mount. I went with the AN4-26A bolt they provided and just added 2 washers under the head of the bolt to make sure the bolt ends don't hit the wheel spat. I now just have to lift the plane and see how it fits. However, I'm going to have to flip the plane around in the garage with the nose wheel on and angle it for it to fit in the garage. I've also attached the rudder springs. I had to get a flexible drill bit to enlarge the holes for the M5 Rivnut as the luggage floor prevented the drill from fitting. The nose gear took some time to get unbined. The vesconite bushing on the top of the gear was the main culprit, so I took some sandpaper and started sanding by hand and test fitting often. Once I was able to freely twist the bushing, I used a smoother grit to make sure the bushing was contacting the metal with a smooth surface. Next up I'll be finishing up the control torque tubes and connecting the pushrods.. more to come! I had my back seats cleco'd and ready to rivet, so I set aside the canopy door puzzle and decided for a quick win. I riveted the back seat base and attached it to the seat back.
The fun part was placing it in the fuselage and seeing it all fit! I did have to figure out where to install the back seat stops, as they are not mentioned in the instructions. After a bit of a game of tetris, lining up rivet holes and figuring out the positioning of the stop, I cleco'd it in place. I confirmed on another builder's blog of the positioning. However, the position isn't so easy to get to since I have the QuickBuild and it looks like I'll have to drill some holes in the fuselage ribs. I figure it's about time I climb in the plane and getting to work in there! I was feeling up for a challenge.. and man, did I get it.
I started working on the canopy door gas struts and the latches. There aren't any published instructions out there for the TSi, yet, but I was able to get a 'Work in Progress' instruction set from the factory to help move things along. First problem I ran into is that when I drilled holes through the support notches for the gas struts, I didn't drill them at the smallest point. I was thinking I'd want the hole to be a bit closer to the frame for additional support, however the supplied bolts are a bit too small. Not a big deal, but I'll aim the drill a bit differently on the other side. Drilling through the material, it is quite solid. I moved on to try to figure out the latch system. I had to size up the hole for the door handle and drill the two holes on either side to secure it in place. However, it seems the larger hole isn't exactly centered, so the bracket on the back side was catching on the interior frame. I'll just need to shave away a quarter inch to get it to fit snug. I was moving to assemble other parts, but I was missing some important tension pins. I asked the factory and confirmed the size, 3 x 10mm. I was able to source some at Lowes, but will need to shave down to length once inserted. I'm quickly running out of inventory on my shelves!
I'm kinda glad I pulled the trigger on the avionics, I just hope it doesn't take the whole 3-4 months of lead time to get everything in. That would mean some down time, unfortunately. I started working on the Throttle and Brake Controls to get them mostly assembled. I am keeping the center console channel undone for a while so I can run wires, but I figure I might as well get parts pre-assembled and out of bags. The brake and throttle went together easily, but it looks like I'm missing some parts. Of course they are small things, like one Castle Nut and one Bolt Bushing used for the throttle cable. Speaking of missing parts, I did get a shipment in from Aircraft Spruce with some bolts I needed to finish up the front seat and the rudder pedals! Nice to finally check those off my list. Started working on the back seat base. The instructions were pretty clear and things were cleco'd together in relative short order.
I did run into some alignment issues of the pre-drilled holes. Some I had to drill fresh, others I just had to ream out to get a rivet in. I've been chatting with MidWest Panel Builders about the avionics package and have made my decision.
At first, I was going to go with the full Advanced IFR Package, but after a bit of sticker shock and reevaluation of what my needs truly are.. I'll be going with the Basic IFR Package with only one G3X Screen. The GNX375 doesn't have a NAV radio included, like the GTN650, but the cost difference just doesn't seem worth it for something I will probably seldom use. I do have the VOR antenna already mounted in the tail, but I figure I can run the wires and have them handy if there's a future owner that has different needs. I checked all the airports that I plan on flying into and there's more GPS approaches than there are ILS, with the same minimums. If I do have an avionics or GPS failure, I could just use the Sporty's SP-400 handheld radio or similar to get a Localizer / VOR fix. I don't foresee too many other pilots in the right seat needing to fly the plane and I have been wondering where in the world I'd be placing my iPad since I use ForeFlight quite often. With a glovebox option, I can store important items, such as snacks, backup handheld radio, flashlight, etc.. For mounting, I can place a ball joint mount on that side and have the iPad floating in front of the glovebox. It also serves as an in flight entertainment screen for the kid. ;-) Initial deposit is submitted and it's looking like up to a 4 month lead time, which gives me time to finish up the fuselage and run some electrical wires. Now that that's done, the hard part is deciding on an N number! Avionics GARMIN G3X 10" SCREEN GNX 375 NAVIGATOR GAD 29 ARINC 429 INTERFACE GTR 20 COM RADIO GMC 507 AND 2 GSA 28 AUTOPILOT SERVOS GAD 27 FLAP AND TRIM CONTROLLER GEA 24 ENGINE MONITOR GMA 245R BLUETOOTH AUDIO PANEL DESCRIPTION OF WORK G5 BACKUP WITH BATTERY 2 - IBBS BACKUP BATTERIES LRU KIT INSTALL AND CONNECTOR KITS COM/TRANSPONDER/GPS ANTENNAS LASER ETCHED TOSTEN GRIPS GAP 26 HEATED REGULATED PITOT Harness, Rack and Panel CUSTOM MADE PANEL,CUT, COAT, ETCH WITH GLOVEBOX PANEL DESIGN AND BUILD AVIONICS AND ELECTRICAL WIRE HARNESS With the goal of clearing some inventory from the shelves, I picked up some components that were relatively quick to install.
The flap actuator is held on by two bolts, so I placed it in there and temporarily secured it. I am having some friction issues on the control tubes while secured in the frame.. will need to trim the brackets that hold the bushings a bit to make them move without much effort. Saving that exercise for another day. For the heater, I measured and drilled the mounting rivnut locations. Since I was drilling through the firewall, I measured and checked at least 5 times! Didn’t want an errant hole to plug up.. Drilling the 32mm hole for the bushings was made easy with a metric step drill bit I found on Amazon. Once done I just pulled the hoses through and secured the hose connector with some hose clamps. From there, I moved on to the front seat rails. Only a few components there, so I secured in place with clecos. I’ll be getting the missing rudder pedal bolts from Aircraft Spruce tomorrow, so I figure I cleco them in place. I’ll connect the pushrods and rudder cables as soon as the bolts arrive. The next stack of parts on the inventory shelf was the heater. This also has the newer style instructions, so it is relatively easy to follow.
After inventorying the parts and having enough to proceed, I went ahead and connected the brackets and hose to the heater. You have to cut the hose to fit in the valve, while trying to keep the hose ends parallel and the same length. The instructions call for creating some decent sized holes (32mm diameter for the hoses) in the firewall, have to get a metric step drill bit. Should come in shortly from Amazon. The Rudder pedals came with relatively few parts, so I thought this would be a quick one.
Unfortunately, I’m missing some AN4 bolts that hold the stops in place. While I wait for that, I’ll be priming the bottom plate and working on removing any friction from the bushings. There were 2 points where there was still some adhesive left from the tape when these were powder coated. Some acetone made some quick work of getting rid of that and there was much better movement in the pedals. I am working on reducing the inventory of parts on my shelf before I really dive into the fuselage. I decided to start on the seats and it was nice since there are the newer style color instructions available.
Putting the parts together for the seat was pretty straightforward, the only issue was that I only had enough parts for one seat. Missing some countersunk metric screws and a particular sized bolt for the seat mechanism. I got as far as I could and will just order the missing parts online. For now, I just put a list of missing items in a bag with other loose items and will be able to quickly finish it up when the parts arrive. |
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