Music: Turing Brakes, Simply Red and The Magic Numbers.
A couple of tasks for today including finishing off the cowl fasteners, fitting the canopy de-mist SCAT hose, and making the avionics equipment trays.
The Bristell has a shelf behind the firewall that could be used for mounting avionics but in reality it is too small so I’ve purchased some aluminium to make a couple of equipment trays.
The aluminium is quite flexible and although it will be supported on the shelf I was going to strengthen it with some aluminium angle riveted on to provide some stiffness. Ian suggested bending the edges to strengthen it instead.
Unfortunately the metal bender he has wasn’t quite up to the job so plan b came into operation. Clamping it to the edge of a table and using a nylon hammer to bend the edge to 45 degrees. The worked very well and save a little bit of weight too.
The shelf has a hole in it to run cable through it so I cut a similar how in the equipment tray.
Needed to work out the best layout to accommodate the plugs and cables that will connect to the units. Also the radio and transponder have quick release clips that need to be accessible got maintenance.
After positioning the equipment they are lightly clamped so I can mark the holes.
Using a centre punch to mark the hole a pilot hole is drilled first and then opened op to 6mm to accommodate a rivnut.
The 4mm thread rivnuts are installed.
Once installed I can protect from vibration with rubber grommets that conveniently fit over the rivnut.
The populated equipment trays ready for fitment when ready to be cabled.
They fit perfectly on the shelf and support bracket. Tomorrow I’ll put the retention system in.
Ian insisted on finishing the cowl fixings today despite having a lot of work on himself. Unfortunately I don’t have a rivet squeezer so he did the work for me which is very kind of him.
The oil cover also has quick release screws so these were done to however the cover is made from very thin material so extra care needs to be taken.
Once done the quick release screws are screwed flush before being set…
which is done by removing this pin…
… a final small turn is made after the pin is released which allows the locking tab to engage.
The final engine cowl now completed apart from needing a clean!
The 2″ SCAT supplied with the Bristell kit is too small. Ian came to the rescue again as he had a piece of 2 1/4″ SCAT which worked a treat. An adapter is required to ‘pad’ out the connector on the screen de-mister side but that can easily be made from fibre glass.
Today we welcome a newcomer, Pilot Pooh. Kindly donated by my Cuz’ Anne. Pooh will be overseeing the build from now on and will accompany me on all G-MLSY’s flights.
Farry confirmed that all was painted and ready for collection from his farm. Tony agreed that Thursday 17th Jan would work for his so the date was set.
Starting out at 07:30 I expected a 2 hour, busy but easy journey towards Horsham but that wasn’t to be. An accident just after junction 5 on the A2 meant that I sat stationary in traffic for over an hour. They reopened the road but with the associated delays on other roads it doubled my travel time to 4 hours.
I finally arrived and inspected the work. Overall it was good with a couple of areas of orange peeling. Farry said that it will require a polish and diamond cut later closer to when it will fly and any issues with the paint will be dealt with if I bring it back at some point in the future. There’s a few items outstanding including the wing join covers, noseleg fairing and wheel spats which still need to be painted but don’t impact on the build.
Loading it onto Tony’s trailer and secured, it was time for the journey back to the airfield.
The journey back to the airfield was very straightforward and I managed to pick Karen up from home and still have time to unload in daylight. Ian Daniels was also on hand to help unload the fuselage, wings and engine.Gallery
After seeing the Bristell at Air Expo I arranged to have a test flight with Farry. So Karen and I travelled to his farm to get a test flight in the aircraft before ordering.
Handling was sublime and it was very stable and well harmonised in the turns. Farry knows the aircraft very well and made some manoeuvres that were slightly outside of my comfort zone but only because I don’t know the aircraft very well.
Once we landed I asked Farry if he could take Karen for a quick ride but with only gentle manoeuvres. Karen hopped in and then she was off.
She came back telling me we could use it to go wine shopping in France. I think she was sold on it 🤣
After looking at a couple of Sports Cruisers I decided that they were in a bit long in the tooth and heavy. I had heard of the Bristell, it got very good reviews so I decided to go to see one. I travelled to Air Expo where I met with Farry who is one of the owners of Bristelluk who import the aircraft as an advanced build kit.
Farry showed me his aircraft, G-NGII which is an NG5 with a supercharged 912ULS engine producing 140BHP. It was stunning and was something I would be proud to own. He produced an order list and told me the options available to pimp it up. There was a base kit with options for wing lockers, leather seats, BRS parachute, toe brakes and loads of other options. He recommended the ones I should add and invited me for a test flight at some point in the future.
Following the build of my Bristell NG5 Kit No. 382 Registration G-MLSY
G-MLSY 