Another benefit of attending the fly-in was the veritable cornucopia of great ideas put to work to overcome problems presented. The most timely and significant idea stolen was the installation of the strobe-and nav-light combination. The handbook calls for a molded piece of fiberglass, upon which the lights mount, to be sandwiched between the wing tip molding and the light lens. Owing to the poor fit of the mount to the wing tip, the result looked like a dog’s breakfast. Tried suggested method on both sides and there was little improvement on the other side. However, the solution presented itself at the fly-in. Some clever lad decided not to use the provided mount and built his own directly into the wing tip. I couldn’t wait to get home and try it. It worked out like a champ! Pictures below.

 The wings are finally close to completion so much time was spent on clean up and trim. The last wing was finally moved to the hanger.

Now work on the fuselage commenced in earnest. The first planned event was to put on the landing gear. It turned out that we needed a large countersink to countersink the large backing plates used to secure the mounts for the legs. We "special" ordered this and during the interim got stuck into other bits and pieces. Made an "attach" point for the autopilot by forming a 4 BID onto the aileron cross tube with a vertical piece to which the autopilot’s crank attaches. This assembly ultimately attaches to the cross tube with hose clamps.

Next was the mounting of the flap motor, toque tubes and cranks. This was a little trickier than expected (Big surprise here!) The bearings in which the torque tubes are supported have to be as close to 90 degrees to the torque tube as possible. Any deviation from the right angle introduces a significant amount of resistance to rotation. The way things stand right now it is less than ideal, but a little futzing later on will improve the situation.

One part that went together very smoothly was the plumbing for the pedals and brakes. This was really a fun operation, for once just assembling parts that went together smoothly.

I wish I could say the same for the fuel lines. Mounted the selector valve and installed the fuel lines. A lot of tube was used in this exercise, most of it landed up as scrap and it’s still not finished. Much patience is required and very small changes should be made. Stay tuned for the completion of this part. I ran out of tubing and need to order more.

<Insert fuel line stuff>

Finally got into the mounting the landing gear. Drilling the holes for the bolts was more difficult than expected as there is little room for the large holes. After a lot of cursing and sweat, we got the gear leg mounts in place and holes in the backing plates. The countersink arrived and did an admirable job. The rest of the gear assembly went smoothly. Inserted the legs, assembled the wheels and brakes. So, our little airplane finally stands on her own feet.

We decided that it would be significantly easier to assemble the leg fairings with the fuselage on its back. So we flipped her over and got to work. This was one of those fit, sand, fit, sand, etc. affairs--with a LOT of fitting and sanding. Finally, we completed the fairings, leggings and the pants.