Category Archives: Fuselage

Electrics, Ian Daniels, Painting, Registration, Sensors, Wiring

Tuesday 16th July 2019

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Music: Gerry Cinnamon, Doves, George Ezra

Getting close to finishing now so some small outstanding jobs to do including wiring starter solenoid protection, a stuck starter indicator connection and external level button on each stick top hat. I also trial fitted the registration and polished the fuselage ready to apply it.

I received the registration vinyls on Friday so today I need to ready the fuselage for them to be applied. Just a case to working out the best placing for them. Along the line of paintwork line or along the rivet line? that’s the question!
I’ve bought a polishing machine to make the job easier with some G6 cutting liquid cutting compound. It takes a bit of getting used to using it but it makes a good job it. The paintwork needs to be de-greased before I can apply the registration letters.
When I sent the aircraft for spraying they noticed that one rivet hadn’t been squeezed on the trailing edge of the wing. So Ian brought his rivet squeezers in with a special head for this type of rivet.
A little more wiring to do. A diode is placed from the starter solenoid to earth to kill any spikes caused from the contacts releasing when starting the engine. Also I’ve wired up a contact on the Dynon screens to that will show a ‘stuck starter’ situation. I was a little worried that a higher voltage may find it’s way back to the EFIS so I’ve protected the connection with a diode to prevent spikes and a 1 amp fuse.
Rear Windows

Monday 15th July 2019

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Music: Elton John

A short day again as I needed to travel over to Palmers Farm to get the correct colour rear windows from Bristell. Unfortunately it’s a 5 hour round trip so took most of the day. The only thing I got done in the end was to fit them but another job ticked off.

The correct colour Plexi Glass!
Trial fit with Clecos to make sure they fit properly.
I ran a bead of clear silicone around the edge of the window and sandwiched it between the fuselage and rear window support.
It took a surprisingly long time to do both sides and I could of done with a second person helping as it would have made it easier. Just need to let the silicone set and I’ll be able to trim off the excess.
Glare Shield, Waterpump

Friday 12th July 2019

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Music: 10cc, Gerry Rafferty.

I’m expecting the registration to arrive today and some G6 cutting liquid. I’ve also designed and ordered the stainless steel identification plate which will hopefully be with me on Monday or Tuesday.

Today’s the day to refit the water pump, it’s had plenty of time to cure so fingers crossed that it’s sealed properly this time. I’ll also finish fitting the glare shield.

Also Bristell have been in touch to say that they have a pair of rear windows in the correct colour so I need to pick them up at some point soon…

I’ve cleaned up the gasket ready for the refit.
After running a thin bead of Wellseal around the pump mating surface it’s bolted back on and the bolts are torqued up.
The radiator is remounted…
…and all the pipes reconnected,
The water system has been refilled and I’ll leave it for the weekend to see if the reseal has been successful.
Next is to finish fitting the glare shield. It’s a tricky job as there is only a very narrow band to secure it too but it has to be done ‘blind’. I’ve decided the best way to do this is to position the glare shield and use a very small drill to drill a pilot hole and just mark the fuselage skin. Removing the glare shield reveals if I’ve drilled in the correct position. If so I can open it up and fit the Rivnut.
Seven screws are used to secure the glare shield and I’m considering using a couple more to secure the shield to the instrument panel. That’s a job for Monday.
Internal Trim, Rear Windows

Thursday 11th July 2019

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Music: Black Eyed Peas

A couple of things to do today including fitting the rear windows, ordering the stainless steel identification place and fitting the glare shield.

Unfortunately my hay fever was so bad/annoying that I really couldn’t get into the grove today and wasn’t very productive at all.

These have been locked away in a cupboard to make sure they didn’t get broken or damaged. The only problem is that when I unwrapped I found they were the wrong colour :-{ Very annoying and I’m not sure who’s fault it is. I’ve sent a note to Bristell UK to ask if they have mine and they’ve given me someone else but no response yet. How frustrating…
The colour difference is very obvious.
To fill the time and between wiping my nose due to bad hay fever I thought it would be easy to fit the centre console. It’s retained with 10 screws and…
…a leather trim is fitted over the top. It’s only a temporary at this stage. I’ll fit properly once the test flights have been completed.
The glare shield is next. I’ve marked the end of the ‘ledge’ that i can mount it to but after drilling one hole my hay fever got the better of me and I packed up for the day.
Carburettor, Registration, Seatbelts, Seats, Waterpump

Wednesday 10th July 2019

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Music: Lightening Seeds, The Beautiful South, Gerry Rafferty

Feel like I’m going backward as I need to do some remedial work to the water pump and replace the carburettor floats. But I have a few other things that I’ll do today which will get me back on track. I will o order the registration vinyls (that I have left far too late) and I’ll also be fitting the seatbelts.

The order that I’ve been waiting for was an 18mm x 1 fine pitch die to cut a little more thread on each water pump pipe. Fairly easy to do but I make to make sure that the die went on perfectly straight otherwise it might start cutting a new thread!
All done and sealed with Loctite. I’m going to leave it in position for a couple of days to fully cure before touching the pipes. Hopefully this will ensure I won’t have a repeat of the leak.
Now onto the floats. I spoke to CFS aero who are the importers for Rotax engines and they sent me a full set of new floats to replace those that were in my carbs. This is really a precautionary measure as I don’t know if the floats fitted are defective or not but I didn’t want to find out on the first flight!
To get to the float chambers I have to undo some of the work that I’ve done previously. First off are the carb drip trays…
…revealing the float bowl retaining clip. This is prised off to allow the bowl to be removed.
The flaots sit in the bowl and rise and fall on pins to retain them. Brings back memories when I used to play about with motorcycles when I was younger.
When refitting must make sure that I don’t damage this mechanism and ensure that the seal is seated correctly.
Then a refit of the carb drip trays before repeating the procedure on the other carb.
All done and back to home it was before my intervention.
Next on the agenda is to fit the seatbelts. Three bolts and nyloc nuts are used to secure them.
The top hole in the retaining mount is opened up to 11mm before the bolts can be fitted.
The top retaining strap is fitted first and tightened to pinch the fitting and then just eased off slightly to allow for some movement in operation.
The bolts with a ‘shoulder’ are then fitted to to the left and right seatbelt retaining brackets.
The top strap is too long to use as is so the seatbelt webbing needs to be modified by cutting and running through the retaining adjusters.
To stop the webbing flying in service I’ve sealed the ends with superglue. This may work ok but if it fails after some use I’ll seal with heat instead but this seemed a good solution.
With both side now done is was time to try out on a ‘real’ pilot so Pilot Pooh was given first go…
Canopy, Gill & Steve Lynn

Friday 5th July 2019

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Music: Stereophonics

Didn’t do a lot today as I was expecting a couple of special visitors but I did want to revisit the canopy release mechanism as I thought about its operation and how I would open the canopy if the mechanism didn’t work.

A visit today from Kilo Sierra and…
Gill and Steve Lynn to visit me and see the progress on G-MLSY.
A bit premature to put the cowlings and spinner on but Steve was taking some photos and I thought it would be good to see it all dressed up.
After a great catch up and some fish and chips on Tankerton slopes it was time to make their way back to Dunstable.
The cabin release wasn’t quite operating as it should so I shortened the operating wire so that it acted earlier in the operation.
Canopy, Centre Console, Engine, Fuel System, Internal Trim

Wednesday 3rd July 2019

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Music: Reverend And The Makers

Short day today so just a couple of items. The first thing for today was setting the trim speed so it falls within the acceptable stop to stop time limits for the LAA followed by fitting the fuel pipe between the wing tanks and fuselage and finishing off by driving the holes for the LEMO plugs for the Bose headsets and fitting the rear trim panel. Also called CFS to see if my floats for the Rotax engine need changing as there has been a fault that’s been affecting them for 5 years now. You’d think they’d have sorted it out by now eh?

The starboard wing has a single pipe that runs from the fuel tank in the wing to the fuselage. It’s quite a tight fit so need to make sure it doesn’t kink and it’ll need protecting with some sheathing.
The Port wing fuel tank has two pipes one for supply and one for return. When starting the engine it’s important to select the Port fuel tank as any surplus fuel is returned to that tank. If it’s already full it will overflow. Must make sure you don’t get the supply and return mixed up!
The feed and return pipes from the fuselage. The bottom one is the return.
I’ve already fitted the centre canopy release mechanism so all that is required is to drill and shape the two holes for the LEMO headset sockets. They fit from underneath so they can be fitted with the sockets already attached.
Last job of the day is to fit the rear trim panel. I decided to make the panel removable so Rivnuts and screws are used to secure.
Electrics, Instrument Panel, Landing Lights, Lights, Strobes, System, Wiring

Friday 21st June 2019

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Music: Fleetwood Mac and The Pretenders

Wiring continues! Most of the time it takes is making sure that the routing will work for the circuits concerned, keeping it tidy and labelling the wires. Hopefully I’ll be finishing the landing lights, nav lights and pitot circuits if my delivery of wire arrives today. but most of its done now.

The documentation that came with the Rotax engines didn’t have the information on the soft start module. Luckily I’ve found some information on a web site that gives me the information that I needed. Unfortunately I haven’t received the wire that I’d ordered so I diverted on other tasks.I
I’ve had a proactive day, completing all the tasks that I’d set myself. The lack of photos is because there’s only so many pictures of wires you can take!
The power and ground distribution units are filling up nicely!
and all the switches apart from the Alternator switch have been wire. Work resumes on Monday after a day instructing tomorrow and a rest day Sunday!
Aerials, Autopilot, Electrics, Engine Controls, Instrument Panel, Panel, Radio, Sensors, System, Wiring

Thursday 20th June 2019

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Music: Gerry Rafferty and Daily Mix.

A lot to do today, as every day! When the delivery arrived I found that some of what I had ordered was out of stock. It’s not a big problem as there are lots of other jobs to do. So I’ll wire up the power side of the system and label, install and test the radio and transponder coax cable.

Time to wire up the power side of the electrical system. I’m reusing the wire that I have leftover from the other circuit wires that were trimmed back. There’s plenty to do the job although not a unified colour as long as they are labelled it will be ok.
My new friend. A Dymo Label Manager 200 that I bought some years ago. It’s been invaluable and luckily I managed to get some label cartridges.
The +ve bus with 11 of the circuits completed.
The circuit breakers connected, some tidying will be required but it’s mostly complete.
The complete panel powered up for the first time. The system shows a 7 amp power drain which is roughly what I had calculated.
My DPD delivery was a day late but got delivered at 10am so I could get on with the wiring of the Transponder and Radio with the coax.
The radio coax cable runs through conduit in the fuselage and is terminated with a TNC connector that I’ll do tomorrow.
With all the cables protected with sleeving or conduit and secured in place I can fit the interior trim.
The rear of the cabin. I’ve checked the radio/headset loom and it works fine so I need to mount the LEMO headset connectors and then I can fix the interior panels.
Right side of engine. All the sensors are connected except the Tachometer, soft start module, magneto wires.
Left side of engine.
Looks a bit busy but with a bit od tidying it will look a bit neater. Quite pleased with the progress so far.
Electrics, Instrument Panel, Landing Lights, Sensors, Sensors, Strobes, Wiring

Wednesday 19th June 2019

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Music: Spotify Daily mix

The wiring continues today with a couple of other items that I had put on the back burner. The tail strobe circuit was completed and wing strobe wiring started. One being the wiring of the extension wire for the elevator trim and the other the pressure plumbing for the G5.

After shimming the ADAHRS unit last night I replumbed the pressure system to make it tidier…
…allowing me complete the plumbing to the G5.
I thought I’d start on the trim motor wiring but unfortunately DPD failed to deliver the wire I’d ordered so will do that another day!
One of the jobs that I had been diverted from was the wiring up of the elevator trim so first thing is to solder them together and make sure that the colours match what I did for the aileron trim motor.