New years resolutions -1: Keep the blog up-to-date
2: Do more on the build this year than last.
I haven't done much over the last few months but there is a little to report. I'm getting the fuselage ready for covering which means I want to make sure any internal structures that are going to be difficult to install post-covering are in place (e.g. the static system shown in the first picture) . I also want to avoid a mistake I made on my RV9A build when I painted the interior late in the build which made it tricky to get a reasonable result.
So I have final painted (in white polyurethane ) all tubing which will be exposed in the finished
aircraft - door frames, front spar carry through, etc. I've also painted many of the aluminium pieces that will be installed. I'm now waiting on some decent weather to finish spray the fuel tank and to prime the control push rods. These all need installing before covering the fuselage.I've also trial fit the panel and this has resulted in some mods. First, although I had put the radio at the top of the stack to clear the top of the tank I hadn't left enough clearance for the cross member that runs above the tank. Solving this meant moving the radio and GPS up 1/2" and fabricating a filler panel at the bottom of the stack.
I also realised that the way I had built the power distribution on a tray but with the switches and fuses screwed through the panel would make it very difficult to wire and maintain. So I cut out the panel round the holes for the switches with the router and made a front panel for the power distribution tray with holes cut in this for the fuses and switches. To keep it neat I then also cut out an insert for the hole in the panel so that everything is flush. I programmed the router to cut
the insert with a clearance of 0.1mm all round to allow for painting (still to be done). As always I'm amazed at how accurate a MDF homebuilt system can work. The result of this work is that it will now be possible to remove five screws on the front of the panel and then drop the power distribution tray down to replace fuses and make any changes to the wiring.Third, I had installed a 3-digit seven segment display at the bottom right of the panel. This will be connected to the digital compass I have built for the aircraft. The hole was cut on the CNC router and a red lens cut out to fit inside it. This looks very neat and tidy but unfortunately I had located it 3/16" too low and the display was fouling on the panel support cross member. I solved this by slicing the cross member in half horizontally where the display fits, removing about 2" of the top above the slice and then welding a flat plate cap over the missing section. Once filed and painted this looks fine but it all
takes time. The other thing I've been building over the last months is various electronic bits and pieces for the aircraft - more of these in later blogs.
