Windshield/Skylight Fit-up

In order to fasten the skylight, I needed to first install 3 support ribs onto the fuselage between the wings.  Here are the ribs being attached.  The ribs were snugged up to horizontal objects placed spanning the gap between wing roots, so that the skylight contour would match the wing contour.

Next the one-piece lexan windscreen/skylight was laid up and clecoed to the fuselage spar carry through tube.

Now began the trimming of the lexan so that it would match the boot cowl joggle and attaching the trim strips to hold the lexan down. 

The lexan is held to the fuselage side tubes by metal z-strips, which prevents having to drill into the fuselage tubes.

Lots of drilled holes and clecos are needed for this exercise.  Here is the lexan being drilled to match previously drilled holes in the ribs and then clecoed.

Final task was to fit-up the plastic wing cuffs which trim off the front wind screen corners.

Not shown were 4 trim/hold-down strips which were also match-drilled to the rib holes.  Now that everything is fit-up, moving on to the paint booth....

Wings Final Install

I got the idea for using a sheet rock jack to aid in attaching the wings, so I borrowed one from a contractor friend and duct taped my old wing spars to carry the load.

Worked slick, all I needed was my Dad to help me get the wings on the platform and I could manipulate attachment myself.

In order to the get the wing attach points level, I had to use a saw horse under the fuse and tether the tailwheel to the wall for fear of nosing over.

The spar is attached to the fuse as two locations.  Here is the connection at the leading edge spar.  There is a carry through spar from the fuselage that has a welded Tee on it in which the bolt passes through.  I had to cut off and file the front portion to fit inside the spar.  Once the front holes were aligned, I transfer drilled right through the back side of the spar.

Here is the connection at the trailing edge spar.  Both connections allow the wing to pivot up and down to apply dihedral to the wing.

Here is the front strut going on and is sufficient to hold the wing upright.

I then moved over to the left wing and here I am filing the "Tee-bone" fitting.

Now I've finally got something resembling a complete airplane.  WOOHOO!!  Major Milestone.

Wing washout (or reduction in angle of incidence/attack) of the outboard end of the wing will be completed during rigging. An adjustment is made to a threaded fitting inside the lower end of the aft strut.

Rudder Final Install

The tailfeathers are now complete with the installation of the rudder. 

Here are the tailwheel horns attached to the rudder horns by chains and springs for tailwheel steering.

Rudder cable to pedal connection.

Spring attached from rudder pedal to frame.

Guides installed to frame to align rudder cable.

Elevator Final Install

The elevators turned out to be quite a project to install.  The right one has an electric trim tab operated by a servo motor and rod.  I strung the line and wired a DB connector with pins for this connection.  The trim is operated from the control stick and the position is determined on an LED indicator on the control panel.

The trim tab bolts are safety wired to the tab.

  Here are the male pin connectors.

Next the female pin connectors.

The elevators were horizontally static balanced similar to the ailerons.  I used lead shot cast in Altoid cans again to make ingots.  The weights were filed until the elevator lifted off the aft end onto the hinge line on the leading edge.  Here is the right elevator which required more weight to offset the mass of the trim assembly.

 Here is the balance left elevator.

The elevators were then attached to the horiz stabs.  The elevator hinges were then oiled to remove friction.

The elevator horns were attached to the control stick push-pull assembly.  I'm encountering friction in the fore-aft stick direction and will need to trouble shoot.  Will try applying lithium grease to the push-pull tube next to see if that alleviates stick forces.  Final installed painted plastic fairings.

The trim tab is fabricated from two pieces and joined at this middle connection.

Horizontal Stabilizer Final Install

Rather then move directly to the wings, I decided to begin at the tail and install the control surfaces.  First off, was installing the horizontal stabilizers.   The tangs for the wire brace connections needed to be deflected to specified angles.  I got this tip from Rans for forming the tangs.

Remaining pics show H. stab installation.

"Feathering the Nest"

After the moving the fuse and wings, I then spent the weekend moving all the remaining parts and a high percentage of my tools.  This particular hangar was outfitted with a lot of shelving, which helped in organizing the remaining parts.