1ST QTR 2004           •   •   • 
DATE HRS TTD ACTION IMAGES
01/14/04 2.5 699.5 Took everything off the fuselage except canopy and front windshield so I can start welding more stuff on the frame.
01/15/04 1.3 700.8 Tack welded the rear instrument panel tabs onto the longerons at FS 59.3 (6.3 aft of the crossmember) Rear instrument panel aft bracket tack welded
01/20/04 4.3 705.1 Removed canopy. Installed rear seat rudder pedals, and did some more work with the adjustable reamer to get the hinge pins sliding in/out nice and smooth. Using This Picture as an initial guide I used some bailing wire to set the rudder and brake pedals in a neutral position. After comparing mine to the picture, I just realized that I need to rotate my master cylinder lower mounts downward a little to get them set up better. I'll do it later, good thing they are only tacked at this point. I then strung some more bailing wire to simulate the rudder cable and proceeded to weld on the first 4 fairlead tubes. I used a short length of wood and more wire to pull the fairlead tube tight against the fuselage tube and adjust its angle. I eyeballed the angles of the fairleads to split the difference between the fairlead stations. I'm not sure how many I'll need yet, but I've got 22 fairlead tubes cut ( 7/8 Dia. x .049 Wall x 3/4" Long 4130 tube) which then use Aircraft Spruce P/N 05-05600 3/4" X 1" Fairlead Assemblies. Wire is used to hold pedals in neutral position for test rigging First fairlead welded in under corner of aft seat
Second fairlead on left side tackwelded Right side #2 rudder fairlead welded
01/21/04 2.0 707.1 Welded the aft 4 rudder cable fairleads onto fuselage. Aft right rudder fairlead ready to tackweld
01/27/04 3.3 710.4 Adjusted wire to equal pedals at neutral position. With my master cylinders (MC) in the middle of their adjustability range, I discovered that the lower MC mounts were too high because at rest, my feet were pushing on the brake pedals instead of the rudder pedals. Tested Phil's taller pedals and found them too tall for my shoe size. I decided to raise my rear pedals just a little and also lower the MC mounts to look more like the Kimball fuselages. To make my pedals a little taller I cut most of the bottom hinge tube off one of the pedals and fit a new hinge tube on, raising the pedal about 0.2 inch. I also cut the tack welds and removed the lower MC mounts, then put a slight bend in them to allow full aft MC rotation in the mount without interference. A new lower hinge tube tack welded onto part of the old one
A slight widening of the mount tabs for more clearance
01/28/04 3.5 713.9 Finished cutting and fitting other pedal, then tack welded them. Installed pedals and tested various lower MC mount angles, various MC lengths by adjusting the top eye bolt in/out of the MC. I also tested various settings of the 510-30 adjuster plate before settling on a lower MC mount position. I then welded the pedals and and MC mounts in position. I also ordered the cables and other related hardware for fitting. I plan on sending them to Kevin for swaging. On my last layover, and based on measurements of a Kimball fuse, I made up a drawing of the Cables & Fairleads. Testing various rudder pedal positions Solid rod keeps pedals aligned during welding & reduces penetration inside
Lower master cylinder mounts welded Master cylinder mount detail showing extra clearance
02/04/04 3.0 716.5 Installed stabilizer and trim handle. Ran bailing wire in preparation of installing trim fairleads. Discovered that I could pull wires from just above the tail post and upper right longeron to locate the fairleads, thus allowing me to remove the stab for better access. Installed and welded up the trim fairleads as per Cables & Fairleads. Pulling wire tight to locate trim fairlead tubes Jigging top trim fairlead on tube 210-11
Jigging the 2nd trim fairlead on tube 210-12 Aft trim fairleads installed
02/09/04 1.0 717.5 Since I'm waiting for parts to arrive so I can work on the cables, I decided to work on mounting some tanks. I sorted out the 3/4" x .030 SS bands that came with the tanks and rounded / deburred the ends. I also marked the midpoints with a felt tip.
02/10/04 1.0 718.5 Figured out a way to jig up the 210-79 bushings for the smoke tank. See Smoke Tank Bushings Drawing. I clamped them flush with the edge of some rectangle tube and 12.5" on centers. Then I set the tube on the longerons with 1/8 thick spacers and aligned the bushing center with fuselage centerline before tack welding them on. Most of the bushing hangs below the tube so that the mount bolts go up thru the turtle deck floor to make installation/removal easier. Installing front smoke tank bushings Installing aft smoke tank bushings
02/12/04 1.7 720.2 Welded the smoke tank bushings. Closeup of welded bushing
02/18/04 1.2 721.4 Finally got all the needed hardware for the cables, so I installed the rudder and pedals. I then determined the rudder cable length I needed and cut it to length. Removed rudder and fin. Sorry forgot to take pictures, you can see it all later when I get the cables back from Kimball's with the ends swaged on.
02/19/04 1.7 720.2 Installed stab and used various methods to lock the trim handle and trim horn in position to determine cable length See Trim Horn Diagram. I then cut the trim cables down a bit and left a little extra to extend beyond the ball at the end. I then packed up all the cables and swage ends and FEDEXed them to Kevin Kimball for swaging. Trim handle neutral position for fitting cable Holding trim horn nuetral for cable fitting Cables ready to ship for swaging
02/25/04 1.8 722.0 Back to the smoke tank, I cut and taped some of the 1" felt to go around all but the top side of the tank. I didn't use the adhesive yet since I haven't painted the tank yet. I then bent the 90 deg bends for the bolts into the SS strap and then the two bends for the corners of the tank, keeping the center marks of the strap aligned with the center of the tank. l found some 1/2x3/4 scrap wood to use as a test spacer for the smoke tank, and did a test mount which was ok. Ripped some 1/2x3/4 poplar stock to use for the real spacers which will have a 3" gap in the middle for the aft shoulder harness to pass. Fitting straps to smoke tank Testing the smoke tank fit
02/26/04 4.0 726.0 Installed the turtledeck and drilled 1/4" holes up through the smoke tank bushings into the floor of it. Cut four of the wood spacers (4.4" each) and did some test fitting of the tank. Ended up sanding the wood down to .450 thick to get a good snug fit of the tank with the bolts pulling the straps up tight against the bushings. Moved on to the header tank, see Header Tank Bushings Drawing. Marked the centers of the two straps for it. Cut oversize a piece of 1/4 birch plywood to use for a tank floor, I'll trim it down to size after I get the holes drilled in it later. Located, tacked then finish welded the header tank bushings in. Note the top end of the bushings are flush with the tops of the tubes so the floor lies flat. Spacer blocks on top smoke tank Tack welding the header tank bushings
02/27/04 0.6 726.6 Located and drilled the 1/4" holes in the plywood tank floor. Also located and cut the 1.25 dia. hole in the tank floor for the tank drain. Underside of header tank floor showing drain
03/02/04 1.5 728.1 Taped the felt material around the tank and bent the 90° angles in the straps. Test fitted the tank and marked where to trim the tank floor board further. Cut the floor board to shape and sanded edges. Header tank floor cut Header tank test mounted
03/04/04 0.6 728.7 Started work on main tank mount bushings, see Main Tank Bushings Drawing. Measured and marked their locations. Jigged and tack welded the aft bushings. I used a 1/8" shim between the rectangle stock and the longeron, this put the 1 1/4" long bushing center on the 1" diameter longeron. Tack welding aft main tank bushings 1/8" shim centers bushing on longeron
03/08/04 1.8 730.5 Used cutoff wheel to cut notches in the upper engine mount sleeve for the forward main tank bushings. It was easy to determine how deep to go, as I just went until the 1" longeron inside started to show through. Jigged up and tack welded the bushings in. Cut a tack weld loose on the crooked aft one (see picture from 3/4/04) and straightened it out with another tack weld. Engine mount sleeve notched for tank bushing Main tank bushing tack welded
03/10/04 1.3 731.8 Welded up the main tank bushings. Maint tank bushings welded
03/13/04 0.8 732.6 Installed bottom straps and test fit tank. The tank didn't go far enough forward due to bulged front of tank, evidently from pressure test. To fix it I set it on some carpet and used a 2x4 to hold the front down while pushing down around the circumference of the tank front until the bulge was gone, and it actually popped inward a little. I'm sure this inward bulge will disappear as soon as the tank gets filled for the first time. I'll add some felt to the crossmember for the tank to push against later when I install the tank. Main tank needs front end pushed in a bit! Front view of main tank
03/15/04 2.0 734.6 Temporarily taped the felt around main tank to test fit the straps. Next I began work on locating the aileron stop bushings 210-105 by putting a .190 shim between the torque tube and the crossmember there, and using a magnet to hold the bushing with a bolt perpendicular to the front stick tower. Kevin said to set up the stops to get at least ±7.5 inches travel left/right (total 15) at rear stick top. Of course final rigging is done by setting AILERON TRAVEL not stick travel, this method only ensures enough travel is available. I then tack welded the bushings in. NOTE: The bushings get welded in at approx 25° instead of the 45° shown in the plans.  I wish I had done this BEFORE putting in the 210-66 belly former support tubes at FS 24.9, the welding will be more difficult now! Main tanks fits good now Measuring rear stick travel for aileron stops
Aileron stop bushing tack welded Aileron stops are perpendicular to torque tube face
03/17/04 1.6 736.2 Welded up the Aileron stop bushings. Note the reduced 25° angle in the picture. Aileron stop bushings welded
03/18/04 0.5 736.7 Welded up the edges of the fuel valve bracket.
03/19/04 0.5 737.2 Bolted the fuel valve into the bracket for test fitting. Jigged it into position so that the center of the bracket was 8 7/8" below the center of the top right engine mount bolt, which is slightly different from plans, but same as Kimball HP. Also I used a long tube to simulate the fuel selector extension rod so I could set the valve at the proper alignment. Used a clamp and 123 block to hold the bracket for tack welding. Fuel valve bracket tack welded in position Top view shows alignment with extension rod
03/25/04 2.0 739.2 Made a fuel selector handle by welding a stainless cap nut on a tube and turning it down to a point on a lathe. I then welded a steel ball on the other end. Fuel selector handle
03/31/04 1.6 740.8 Tack welded the fuel handle plate onto tube 210-9 and the side former there. Finish welded the plate and the fuel valve bracket. Ready to tackweld the plate Plate welded and handle temporarily installed Fuel valve bracket welded Fuel valve bracket welded
QTR TOTAL 43.8  
 1ST QTR 2004           •   •   •