Cowling revisited again

So of course I managed to get the cowling fitting quite nicely after trimming the snout. I used some filler, sanded it back to a nice smooth finish and set to priming and prep for paint.

 The next little issue was to see if the hole I cut in the cowling for the exhaust actually lined up nice and snug. The hole in this pic needed to be opened up just slightly for a little more comfortable clearance but it was placed in the right spot so that did bring a big smile to my face.

A nice little red colour was applied as per the picture below. I managed to paint the wheel spats at the same time while I had some red in the gun. I actually had to paint one of the cowling sides twice as just after I had sprayed it, I stumbled on the air line and brushed up against the nice wet paint of the cowling. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. This fix involved rubbing it all back and applying more red. The second coat as well didn't come out anywhere near as nice as the first and this compounded the disappointment. I am just going to leave it for now with a nice orange peel look to it and worry later when I feel like repainting it.  Probably a few years down the track. 

I still need to final fit the wheel spats but I will do that after it is at the airport so I have something to tie the plane down to during transport. It is literally just a five minute job to take them on and off anyway. 

Long time no post

Well things have been ticking along in the background, just not on this blog. It has still been a very busy time for me in regard to building and flying, and things seem to be coming a little closer. After the first start of the engine I realized it wasn't that far away before I would finish the plane really, so I had to get into gear regarding all the other things I have been putting off.

On the Agenda firstly was a RPL and controlled airspace endorsement.

This proved to be a lot harder than I had initially anticipated. I have been doing my RPL conversion training with Kelmac Aviation in Geraldton and can't rate them high enough.

The training has been A1. Jandakot operations have been a real eye opener for me and I look forward to the challenges ahead.  I still have yet to finalize a few things however the majority of the work is done. In doing all this I can travel down the path of registering the plane in the VH category... Something I have had my heart set on from the beginning, but was just unsure if I was able to accomplish. My biggest hurdle to date has been the MPC maintenance course that is required to be completed before finalization. Thankfully the SAAA have helped me out and this seems to be coming to a positive outcome as well. All the stars are aligning as they say.  

Just on another non build related topic, the guys have been doing a fair amount of formation work in Geraldton lately. I just can't wait until I can get the Sonex all sorted and be part of the team :)

First engine start up.

So here it is...... The first start up.  Those mag switches really make a huge difference when they are switched on.  The secondary ignition sounds too far advanced I think as well. I had just done a rough setting during the engine build. I actually have it set to the normal setting for the aerovee and plan to change it, however I figured that just running it up wouldn't be an issue. I am waiting also to see what the factory releases in terms of information or if it will stick to the 10 btdc setting that is in the manual. Either way I can reset the timing when closer to final tuning and test flying. Just as a guess the tuning can't be too far off anyway. I had it pretty well ok when I removed it from the Aeropup and it seemed to run ok on first start up so it will probably just need a minor adjustment or so.

 I did notice the engine had a fair bit of vibration to it on this run. I expect that it is the prop as I have never flown with this prop and it has sat on the shelf for around 4 yrs. It could just be way out of balance. I can't wait till the correct prop arrives and I can fit that permanently. 

Setting the trim

So a little bit of trim was in order. I trial fit the trim a few times and thought I may have to modify the pilot side, but in fact had to modify both. I found both trims impacted the seat belt flow. I basically just cut a lower corner out of both side trims and re glued the trim to the main frame and that fixed the issue. This had to be done with the addition of the modification to the trim for the throttle quadrant and the flap lever assy. I had a few goes at getting the cut outs right and only trimmed a small amount each time to avoid excess removal of the backing. The pic below shows the end result of the trimming as it was laid out over night under clamps to make sure the trim glue has a good bond. I have not stitched it onto the backing yet but may do so if it pulls away over time. 

In the pic below you can see the small screw I have added to hold the trim in place. This just stops it from floating around and the radio jacks at the front inherently hold the front of the trim in position so I have held off from adding a screw there. As it happens with the modifications to the trim on the pilot side, I had to add two screws to hold it in place as the trim tended to drop a little . I simply made two little angle brackets for the trim retainers and counter sunk the rivets to avoid any interference from the canopy when it is in the closed position. 

I have had to remove the windscreen to fit the dash carpet in the end. I tried to fit the carpet a few times and found that it would be near impossible to do a nice job without removing the windscreen. I had plans to valcro it down and so on but in the end just glued it to the metal. It is not perfect as the gps antenna cable and bolts for the fuel tank level sender poke up here and there, but on a whole it looks great. I am hoping that no big air bubbles occur later. 

Pronounced view of the gps cable 

               

So here I am trying it on for size after the trim has all been fitted. I must say I like my black interior. I have noticed, sitting in there, that my left leg tends to lean against the flap lever assy and I think it will be a real problem long term. I think I will try to make something or some sort of small cushion I can Valcro on for long flights, to make it just a little bit more comfy :)  

Getting closer

Well the new pics of the cargo bay don't seem to reveal too much more detail. Still it looks ok so it will stay for the time being. 

The brake lever and flap lever are shown below in the on and off position for the brake. I had noticed yesterday that the brakes were a bit spongy when I applied them. It must have a slight air leak somewhere. They had been fine for ages and only have been a problem since I disconnected and fitted new olives, as I needed to add those rubber grommets where it goes through the firewall. I hope I just need to nip up the fittings a little. I'm sure that's all it will be. 

Park brake applied. plenty of room for the brake to be on and the flaps in the off position. 

So I finally added the Turbo blankey yesterday and wrapped the post turbo exhaust pipes. This felt good to finalize.  

Just for a little aesthetics and maybe noise cancelling I added some carpet to the floor. It looks really nice and adds to my black interior theme. I will add more to the sides later after the wings are on. 

I had been putting this off for a long time, needing to cut a hole in the cowling for the exhaust exit. This actually was easier than I imagined. I fitted the RHS cowling and used a 12" rule and marked the exit. I used a hole saw to cut the offending obstruction out and Wal ah ,, job done. Painting the cowl will be next I think.

   

Emily came and helped me do the two person job of fitting the gear leg fairings. Again I had been putting this off for ages and it turned out to be a 20 minute job all up. I am just amazed at how securely they are in position as just a piano hinge is holding them in place. Thumbs up for that design. 

All seat belts now fully fitted. Time for some trim I guess. 

I have fitted an old prop to test fire up the engine. It's a standard Aerovee prop made by Richard Sweetapple. Fantastic finish on it looking at it close up. It's a 54" x 46" . I initially tried it on my Aeropup when I was very naive about props, in fact I still am mostly but I have learned a thing or two :)  The correct prop is on order with Sensenich and I have ordered the cruise prop. 

I again had been putting off making these parts and I am not sure why. They were quite easy to make however I did a bad job in regard to bending the curve in the panel. I dented it everywhere in terms of very small dents. I will have to spend quite some time using putty and sanding it back to get a smooth look to it. There is no way I could just paint and fit them as is. It would really spoil the finish of the whole plane and I have come way too far for that to happen now. 

So at first attempt to fit these I had a little problem with 'plans to brain' recognition. The forward lip is designed to go under and not on top of the fuselage. Lol. Anyway I found it pretty funny at the time as I thought what a stupid way to make the panel. Until I realised I had it wrong. Ha ha.

Another day at the office

So the cargo bay turned out ok after all. Some work on the sides was done and then carpeted. The pics are terrible and I will try to replace them tomorrow. It was a very dark stormy day today so the flash went a bit overboard..

I bought a very lightweight and thin carpet from a local retailer and used spray glue to stick it down to the metal. It was a little bumpy around the corners and so on but not too bad. The carpet was dirt cheap so if I decide to change the bay I will not be too much out of pocket. I still have heaps of carpet just in case.

I fully expect, by the way I have run the fuel lines for the AeroCarb, that I will have the best Burping Sonex of all time. I had great plans to make the fuel lines straight, pointing uphill and well shielded. In hindsight I should have mounted the Gascolator in the usual location and I could have come close to achieving this goal. However I out smarted myself and thought that if I fitted it on the other side of the engine bay it would be well away from the exhaust and greatest heat source. I will probably keep the fuel lines like this at the moment and see if I can get it running in the near future. It will be just fine on the ground. I will have a look again at other options and fuel fittings to see if I can create a better and more direct route. The main issue is the fuel flow meter and incorporating it into the line. On a positive, the mixture cable and throttle cable fit excellently and work well. 

I will have to add a few more photos to this post tomorrow as today I also finalised and fitted the  brake lever and added the rubber grommets for the brake lines that go through the fire wall. I had to re bleed the brakes also.  I have had the brake and flap lever on and off the plane a few times in the last two days so that I could get the optimum bend on the handles and so on, so that they will not interfere with each other in operation. The way it is set up as well, will allow the brake to be set into the park position while the flaps are also in the off position. I'm not sure if I just got lucky with the configuration or Sonex have made the detent bigger to allow this option. Either way it worked out well. 

The canopy strap was also another little mission I carried out today. I was lucky enough to have some left over cable and swages from my old project and made the cable up. I had no AN525-10R10's in my bolt kit (again) so used the standard AN3 bolts to temporarily attach the cable and check for lengths.  In regard to the canopy today I also bought from bunnings :)  a 3" handle that just happened to fit perfectly for the inside of the canopy open slide. The threads, as an added bonus, also were an Imperial thread 8/32 and the correct counter sunk screws went straight in. It also looks good too. The canopy latch spring I also fitted to the canopy. This spring exerts force on the latch assy to keep the canopy normally closed.  A R-clip is also fitted to positively pin lock the canopy closed for flight operations. This was an easy fit today, by just drilling the hole in the correct spot with the canopy secured and closed. The clip will hang from the handle by a wire so that it will be obvious if it is not fitted during the run up checks before flight. 

Dash finalization and so on

After the instruments and radio were fitted I had to now paint the dash and rivet it into place. I had at first just temporarily placed everything to make sure it was all going to work out. It seemed to fit ok in the end. I am a bit disappointed however about the placement of the ignition key as it is ok with just one key, but usually you have a few keys on the plane key ring like the hangar keys and so on. As it stands at the moment these extra keys hanging will interfere with the trim control. I will have to get one of those detachable key chain devices I guess and store my other keys elsewhere during flight. A bit of a pain, however easier than making a new dash panel.  My next little mission will be to sort out the decals for the switches and circuit breakers. I am as yet undecided about how I will do this but I will give it some thought soon.

I have wired up the radio PTT switches and fitted the hand grips to the dual control sticks. I was so proud of myself with what I thought was such a great neat job until I tried to get the control stick boots over the top. Ahhhhhhh... they didn't fit.  The hole in the boot is not big enough by far to go over. I will need to slacken the wiring and hope I can get enough play out of the top to add a 2-pin electrical plug to both hand grip assemblies so that I can take them on and off when needed. Oh well, a small set back.