February 9, 2021
Huge day! Cross off the first engine start. Boy did that feel great to have an near instant start and for her to run so smooth. Whew. Backing up, I started with installing the fuel tank vents, attaching the rudder cables to the rudder, and attaching the yaw damper cables. This is was engine prep time; flush both fuel lines,…
February 8, 2021
Guess what. I started the day with sanding. Knocked out of outside of both doors and lots of sanding on the windshield. Hours upon hours of bliss. Later in the day I put on, what I hope is the final fiberglass layer on the windshield. After sanding I’ll make a final determination. The big excitement for the day was getting…
February 7, 2021
Well the rear windows are sanded. That was a fun start to the day. Tomorrow the outside of the door windows and then I will begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Ha. Still have to sand/fill the door gaps for the McMaster Carr door seal. After that excitement I moved on to the continuing ER…
February 6, 2021
Boom two and a half hours later the right ER tank was installed. Of course it is a totally different position from the left or the first set of tanks. No surprise at this point. But after some monkeying I got it installed. Then filled it with fuel. Actually filled both tanks. Turns out they hold 14 gallons and not…
February 5, 2021
Okay first off, I didn’t realize how long it takes for the FAA to process aircraft registrations and I really painted myself in a corner. Hell I even forgot to enter the engine serial number requiring a second notarized form to be sent UPS red. But today my registration came through. Huge relief to know that my inspection/first flight won’t…
February 4, 2021
I have held off on this post until things reached a conclusion. My fuel tanks were about two months late but finally arrived back in October. The weld and metal forming quality was not good. I talked to a couple of other builders who recently bought tanks and one of they got replacement tanks. I have learned that the original…
February 4, 2021
I feel good about today, only because of what I got accomplished. It started with two and a half hours prep’ing windows and sanding the windshield. Still more sanding on the fiberglass tomorrow but I couldn’t take any more. I moved on to the poorly built Hotel Whiskey ER fuel tanks. Troy at Hotel Whiskey warranties them for life and…
February 3, 2021
Yep, still taping/sanding windows. I got the rear windows finished on the inside and I got some prep work done on the windshield on the inside. Put down another layer of fiberglass around the windshield on the outside. Of course this meant more sanding first. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy sanding? The replacement ER Fuel tanks arrived today.…
February 2, 2021
Wow baby, that was a bigger pain than one would think. Lots of nutplates – check. Metal forming – check, minimal room for riveting – fucking check. Only had to drill out two nutplates that interfered with the rivets to the fuselage, that would have been nice to note in the manual. Yep, I’m a little salty. Still remaining is…
February 1, 2021
So yesterday I spent over an hour trying to figure out why the brakes were dragging. Today I was committed to solving this drama. I took the brakes apart again. This time I found that the bolt holding the brake assembly to the axle had an interference issue. Why was this not in the manuals??? Still the rear pad was…
January 31, 2021
Oh I’m sure something will pop up but this morning I finished the wiring behind the panel and was happy to see the autopilot servos were detected, firmware automatically updated, and the looked good. I may have accidentally run the aux fuel tank pumps for a second, so I know those work too. I still need to wire the wing…
January 30, 2021
Ugh, I am tired of wiring but there is still work to be done. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish up the avionics/electrical. Notice no pictures, yeah it pretty much looks the same as before I started. Yes I am salty. But as a break from wiring, the flaps are now on and connected to the flap tube. That means time…