Not a lot of action today as I was looking at the avionics kit to see where it can all be mounted so just mounted the VHF aerial.
The top surface just behind the canopy is already drilled for VHF whip aerial.
The aerial to be fitted has a BNC coaxial connection on it’s base that can be accessed from within the rear cabin.
The screws that fix the aerial onto the fuselage have cup shaped anti shake washers to hold them.
To ensure that water doesn’t make its way past the screws and down the threads I’ve used some silicone to seal them before tightening them.
The finished installation after running some silicone sealer around the base of the aerial.
To get an idea of how the avionics connect together I laid it out and connected it up. I’d already charged the backup batteries up so they allowed me to power most of the system up. The ADAHRS, Servos, Radio and Transponder can’t be powered up as it needs wiring but it gives me a good idea of how it can be laid out in the Aircraft.
A number of jobs planned for today. Complete the engine NACA ducting, install the clevis pins to the carb heat control and cabin heater, install the fuel pressure sensor, install the engine intake air box, install the MAP sensor pipe, adjust and set the cowl quick release fasteners and install the control stick torque supports.
The fuel sensor and adapter were left to set with Loctite 577 overnight so can now be fitted to the fuel hose that I had added for it.
The hose is secured with a hose clamp and fire sleeve is added which is secured in place with locking wire.
The sensor is secured against movement and vibration with a stand-off.
These are the clevis fittings that are used on the carb heat, cabin heater, screen de-mist and park brake.
Now the sealant is set, the air box is mounted on a couple of brackets off the engine mount. It’s secured with a couple of Nyloc nuts underneath. Two short pieces of sturdy rubber hose are fitted over the carburettor inlets and the air box and provide a flexible joint between them.
They are secured in place with jubilee clips.
The SCAT ducting is secured in place with jubilee clips to the air box intake and the starboard lower cowl side NACA duct.
The ducting to the port NACA duct is run to the rear of the exhaust and then into the centre inlet on the heat exchanger, secured with jubilee clips and held in position with a couple of tie wraps.
Port NACA duct.
Even with all the space that the Bristell has It can get a bit tight with all the hoses that are required.
The MAP sensor has already been mounted so just needs a pipe to be run and of course some wiring at a later stage…
I’ve used 5.6mm ID R9 fuel hose between the carburettor balance pipe and the MAP sensor.
The quick release fittings on the fuselage have been riveted in place and now require them to be adjusted and set. First thing is to screw them in…
until they are flush with the cowl.
Once adjusted the pin can be pulled that sets them into position.
They are released by a quarter turn of the Philips screw and the fitting stays set in place.
I still need to repeat the process for the top cowl and the oil inspection cover. Ian will be installing the fittings during next week. Unfortunately the rivets need to be ‘squeezed’ and I don’t have the tool to do it.
Now I’ve picked up the control stick torque arms I can start work on the control sticks.
The fittings need to be checked and secured although they will need to be adjusted when the wings are fitted to centralise them, set the limit screws and check aileron deflection are correct.
The torque arm is attached at one end using the bolt from the control stick bearing.
The other end is secured with a 4 x 15mm rivet.
Both torque support arms fitted, completing a fairly productive day.
I’m still not 100% sure on the layout of the screens and associated control panels so I thought it would be good to add the pilot seat so I could check different layouts.
Once the seats were installed I could sit in the aircraft as I would normally fly it. The panel here has most of the bits I need but is missing the flap switch, some warning lights and the air vents.
I’ve stuck the pictures on using glue dots that allow me to move the pictures about. I can then do a ‘touch’ test on the layout to see what works best.
Monday was set aside to travel to Chilsford Farm to collect some of the outstanding items from the kit. So today I could get on with a lot of jobs that had stalled because of the shortages.
On Friday I sealed the canopy perspex with silicone and left it to set. The waste material was removed with a plastic scraper.
And cleaned off with some methylated spirits.
The result is good but not perfect in a couple of places so will need some attention once the canopy is mounted.
Next up is to connect the NACA ducts to the various intakes on the carburettor and cabin heater.
The SCAT ducting for the air intake is secured with a jubilee clip onto the air intake.
The ducting is cut to size and attached to the rear of the righthand NACA inlet on the lower canopy.
The heat exchanger is positioned and secured in place with large jubilee clips.
A short piece of ducting is installed between the heat heat exchanger and the heater intake that runs through the firewall to provide cabin heat and a de-mist facility.
A long pice of ducting is connected to the heater control and will eventually connect to the glare shield that includes the de-mist vents.
The lefthand side ducting runs from the NACA inlet to the middle heat exchanger connection but it’s quite tight so it must be routed so it doesn’t come into contact with the exhaust system.
View from the righthand side.
A spring is cut and installed to ensure that the air intake is supplied from the cold air vent by default.
One of the items I picked up on Monday was the pitot mount. I’ve already taken delivery of the avionics so I can mount the pitot onto the mount.
Instead of drilling holes and using screws I’ve decided to secure the probe into position with silicone which will provide a neat solution.
Once filled with silicone it’s left to set overnight.
The carburettor air box has two ‘horns’ that the SCAT hose connects to. They require sealing with heat resistant silicone and secured with three rivets.
The finished air box which will be left to set overnight.
The cabin air vents are supplied with fresh air from NACA ducts in the side of the fuselage. They require installing in the instrument panel and then connecting up with some scat hose. So a temporary fit of the panel is required to get the hose length.
Two brackets are clecoed into position and the panel is secure by two screws each side.
With the panel installed it give me an idea of the space I have for the avionics and possible positioning. Tomorrow I will fit the air vents and hose.
One job left over from installing the fuel system is to fit the fuel pressure sensor. The sensor cannot be connected directly to the hose. A 1/8″ NPT female to 6mm barb adapter is required.
As it will come into contact with fuel Loctite 577 is used to seal the thread before fitting.
The pressure sensor and adapter before being screwed together. They will be left overnight to set.
The final job for today was to trim the cowl to ensure is doesn’t come into contact withe the water radiator.
Today I completed the installation of the right wing landing lights and strobe light and as it was quite warm today I decided to seal the canopy plexiglass with the silicone sealer.
The landing lights covers have to be a flush fit so countersunk M4 rivnuts are used to facilitate this.
When installing the rivnut it’s important to ensure that it’s not installed at an angle.
The starboard landing light and cover complete.
As it’s been a warm day I thought it would be a good time to seal the plexiglass. It has already had a first fit at the factory but needs sealing with silicone before it can be used in service.
The channel is filled in a similar way to sealing around a bath!
Once the channel is filled it needs to be smoothed. It’s suggested that the back of a spoon is used. If pressed hard enough it will leave two lines either side of the filled channel. This allows the waste material to be removed when it’s set in a couple of days.
The finished canopy. The waste material will be removed on Monday or Tuesday.
Next is to fit the starboard strobe. The cable need to be soldered and as with the port wing the wire colours are different so a record needs to be kept for the wiring records.
There is a flat section for the strobe but no definite location is marked so the strobe needs to be positioned to what looks ‘right’.
The holes are drilled and M3 countersunk rivnuts that I purchased this morning from DJ Invicta Supplies are installed and the light is secured with M3 stainless steel button head screws.
The starboard lights complete I’ll leave the wing on the stand ready to install the Pitot on Monday once I get the pitot mount from Farry.
Today was spent mainly wiring up the aileron trim motor, installing the port strobe before starting on the starboard wing landing light.
One little job to do today was to install an overflow pipe from the water expansion tank to the water bottle mounted on the firewall.
The aileron trim motor is connected to the wire installed in the wing. The ends are stripped and tinned.
Heat shrink tube is slid onto the wires before the soldering is done to make sure that they are well insulated.
The colours don’t match between the trim motor and the wing wire so that will have to be documented in the aircraft wiring diagram.
A heat gun is used to shrink the tube over the wires and then a bigger piece (yellow tubing in picture) is slid over all the connections.
The wire is kept in place to stop it moving in operation with a spot of glue.
The strobes are next . Very important to mount the correct one on the correct side. Red is being installed on the left wing.
The same method is used to solder and secure the wire joints.
The strobe position is not marked so it’s important to get the right angle. I haven’t got any M3 rivnuts so will have to get some and do this tomorrow.
So the right wing is put on stands and I can now start on the landing lights and strobes for this wing. The pitot/AOA probe is installed on this wing but I don’t have the mount as it’s with Farry. So a 5 hour trip is required on Monday to get that and the most of the rest of the outstanding items.
The spade connectors are crimped and inserted into the connector block.
The landing light is installed. It’s upside down as the wing is upside down!
The installed landing light ready for the cover which I’ll do tomorrow now as I’ve run out of time.
Finishing off the panel modification today and the start of the landing lights.
There were a couple of areas where I needed to use filler and then sand with fine wet & dry.
Primer is applied and is ready for painting.
Ian was back today after a few days away and gave me a hand to get a wing up on the stands so I can install the landing lights, wire the trim motor and fit the strobes.
The LED units are installed in both wings.
The wires are shortened and connectors are crimped and inserted into the connector block.
The unit is secured into place with M4 screws and then checked to ensure they work!
The light cover is secured into position with tape…
and six holes for the M4 countersunk rivnuts are drilled…
and countersunk. The rivnuts are then installed…
and the light cover is fitted and secured into place with countersunk stainless steel screws.
The interesting thing about building this aircraft is the number of activities and installations that need to be done that I’ve never done before. It takes a little thought to work out how to approach the task before starting but once completed successfully it gives you a great sense of achievement and satisfaction. The modification of the panel using glass fibre matting and resin is one such job. I knew what I wanted to achieve and now it’s complete I’m really pleased with the result.
This was how I left the panel yesterday. Now fully cured the fibreglass needs to be built up.
The area to be built up is wetted with resin and a layer of glass fibre is added and coated.
Once dried in around 30 minutes the area can be sanded down.
The rear of the panel ready is now complete but the front face needs to be filled with P38.
I used an Isopon glass fibre kit to bridge the gap and support the joins and P38 to fill and finish before painting with primer.
The filler is mixed using one golf ball sized ball of resin to one pea sized ball of hardener and mixed within 4 minutes. P38 sets in 20 minutes so you can’t hang around.
The filler is applied using a spatula and sanded smooth using 180 wet and dry. The process is repeated several times to remove any holes or dips.
The finished panel prior to painting. Apart from the different colour where the join is you can’t tell that it’s been modified. Very pleased with the result!
The panel supplied with the Bristell kit has a recess on the righthand side that is slightly angled towards the pilot. Although it could be useful it restricts the flexibility of the instrument layout. I decided very early on that I would cut the recess out and make the panel flat.
The rear of the panel showing the recess that will be removed.
I bought a rotary cutting tool from Lidl that has proved to be very useful for this type of job as you can easily get a saw into the tight spaces.
Once the recess is cut out the edges are cleaned up with a file.
The panel with the recess cut out…
Once the vertical bar is removed the panel can be readied for the fibreglass.
The panel that was cut out can be reused to fill the void but will need to be secure in place to make sure that it’s in line with the rest of the panel.
The fibreglass is cut to cover the sections that need to be filled.
The resin is made up from 10ml of resin to 1 pea sized portion of hardener.
The area that will be covered with fibreglass is ‘wetted’ with resin first to make sure that it will stick.
The fibreglass is laid on the area and the resin is dabbed on to fully wet it.
The fibreglass area after it’s been fully soaked with resin. It takes about 30 mins to set. Once fully set other layers can be laid up or the area can be sanded.
Some of the stiffness of the panel may have been lost by removing vertical bar so some strengthening may need to be introduced once the panel is cut to take the instruments.
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.
When the aircraft was painted the cowls fasteners were fitted however they weren’t fitted very well. I decided to remove all of them and start again. Having spoken to Ian Daniels my LAA inspector he agreed and said that he would refit them with solid rivets.
First thing was to use a parallel drift to punch out the hardened pin from the rivet.
Then the head needs to be removed with a large drill bit. Need to be very careful here as there is a chance that the hole could be enlarged which would cause problems when re riveting.
The fitting is removed and the old rivets are punched out.
Ian doesn’t lend his rivet squeezer out so did the job for me – saved me a job.
The result is much better, they are completely flush now and won’t rub on the underside of the cowling.
Ian in action squeezing one of many solid rivets.
The cowl is secured by quick twist screws which are held in position by spring washers. These are installed in the top cowl.
A little fiddly to install when you first start out but they are quite easy to install with the help of a small screwdriver.
The top cowl with the quick twist screws in place including the ones for the oil inspection cover.
The bottom cowl quick release fasteners are fitted, the ill fitting fasteners will be removed, re countersunk and the fitting secure with solid rivets as described before.
One final job was to replace the exhaust system spring wire locking I had applied as I wasn’t quite happy with the way I had done it. The wire should prevent debris being dropped from the plane and create FOD should the spring fail in service.
Following the build of my Bristell NG5 Kit No. 382 Registration G-MLSY
G-MLSY 