09 Jun 2005 Starting on the canopy
Most of the talk on the list about the canopy is how difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating it can be. There are a few hints, like make sure you work with the canopy when it is...
Fuselage
27 Apr 2005 Rudder Pedal modifications
From ship: Hi John, You're more than welcome to DIY...
15 Apr 2005 SNF’05 Landing Gear Fairings
Here are some pictures of some nicely done landing gear fairings that I shot at SNF 2005: ...
26 Mar 2005 Wheel pants and Grove Gear legs
Here are some pictures of how nice I *hope* to make my wheel pants. I got these from Mike Stewart's site: http://www.mstewart.net/super8/deletesoon/paulspants.htm I'm snagging them because he has "deletesoon" in the URL, which sounds like he might...
26 Mar 2005 Canopy Latch Handle Modification
This tip came from Danny King: I cut the D off flush with the flat plate, and then cut about one inch out of the D. I re-welded the D back on with my gas torch. (acetylene...
20 Mar 2005 Getting the Pitot tube into the fuselage
Here's how I got the pitot tube from the wing into the fuselage. I couldn't find anything in the manual about this, so I just improvised. Seems to have turned out ok. Here's the view from...
09 Mar 2005 wheels and brakes
I got the wheels and brakes on. This went just like the instructions say - nothing special. I had to run the brake line from the brake system to the bottom of the Grove landing...
05 Mar 2005 Getting it on the gear
Time to put the airplane on the gear. Normally the gear is installed much earlier, just after you drill the gear leg holes, but I decided to wait as long as possible so that working...
05 Mar 2005 Brake lines at top of landing gear legs
Here are a couple of photos of the brake lines installed in the top of the Grove gear legs. Here you can see how cozy it is in there. Here I've drilled a nice big hole in...
04 Mar 2005 Another adhesive for gluing on the canopy
I've mentioned Sika as a recommend adhesive for gluing on the canopy, and one of my glastar buddies told me that they use something called GE Silpruf. I bought some from these guys: http://mall.igfarm.com/store/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=airlinktech&Product_Code=899-0047-0003 and I...
28 Feb 2005 Canopy Rails – Anodized
I got my canopy rails anodized. Most RVs I have seen don't bother anodizing or painting these, but the ones I have seen painted seemed to have a lot of chips and wear. I thought...
13 Jan 2005 Front control stick and grip
I installed the stick grip onto the control. Here are some photos. This hole is for the grip cabling to exit near the bottom of the stick. The exit is actually just at the place where...
11 Jan 2005 Mounting the Heater
Update 20210918: I didn't install the Eggenfellner Subaru engine, so any post that references that can be ignored or used as a cautionary tale about how to avoid wasting many years and $50k. The Eggenfellner Subaru...
15 Dec 2004 Floor cutout for control column mount
The plans show that the floors have to be installed before the control column mounts, which is not really very convenient. I decided to make a little brace for the floors next to the control...
09 Dec 2004 The rear seat detail
Here are some pictures of the rear seat. Notice that I added an extra rivet at the extreme left and right to help hold the aluminium down better. Here is how I did the side support,...
22 Nov 2004 Experience Using Sikaflex for Canopy Installation
Gluing the tip up canopy on my 9A has been a real learning experience that I'd like to share with everyone. Several builders have sent me questions about the procedure since a note that I posted...
18 Nov 2004 Matco Parking Brake Valve
I bought a used Matco Parking brake from e-bay, IIRC, and originally thought that I would not install it. This was because the various connectors that it seemed to require to hook it up was...
16 Nov 2004 Static air lines
I hooked up the static lines today. It was not a big deal at all, which was no big surprise. I had to use a heat gun to warm up the tubes so that I...
12 Nov 2004 Strobe power supply mounting bracket
I bought a strobe kit from http://www.strobesnmore.com/ which includes 4 strobes, 4 connecting wires, and a 6-head strobe power supply. Very nice setup for a decent price. IIRC, it was about 250 USD. The wires that...
24 Oct 2004 EZ Pilot Autopilot servo installation – Part 2
Continued from the first article on installing the autopilot. Here are some more pictures of the Trio Avionics EZ Pilot autopilot installation. This is to clarify that the moment arm on the tab attached to the...
19 Oct 2004 Flap Position Switch cover
I got an excellent template for a cover from Kelly Scott for the Showplance flap position switch (FPS). Looked like it was designed on a CAD station, and it fit perfectly. http://www.rv8.ch/files/FlapActuatorCover.pdf If you prefer CAD...
15 Sep 2004 F-840 Elevator Pushrod binding
When I moved my control stick from side to side, I got a little binding at the extreme end. This turns out to be caused by something that is not in the plans. I had...
11 Sep 2004 EZ Pilot Autopilot servo installation
I decided to install the Trio Avionics EZ Pilot autopilot servo inside the fuselage, just under the pilot seat, on the left. Here is a view from the front. Here are all the parts that I...
11 Sep 2004 AOA Flap Limit Switch
I found this on Larry Bowen's site http://bowenaero.com/mt3/archives/2003/10/flap_limit_swit.html Here's how my installation looks: http://www.rv8.ch/article.php?story=20041208204446995...
04 Sep 2004 New tank attach brackets F-863
The original tank brackets didn't fit, as you may have seen in an earlier article. Not sure why, and neither was Van's. The solution was to make some new ones, and luckily for me, Van's...