Travel Struts, Folding Wings, Trim Connector

Now that we have complete wings that are attached, we found a problem when we went to fold the wings.  There was some interference with the back of the root rib.  This was fixed by trimming the edge of the butt ribs and also trimming a little bit of the plexiglass sunroof.  The wings fold very nicely now.

Butt rib and plexi trimmed

Wings folded after interference fixed

Two rear travel struts were fabricated.  When the wings are folded, these struts pin the wings to the tail to prevent them from moving while towing.  Work has aslo begun on two additional front travel struts.  Brackets were made from angle steel that will attach to landing gear bolts and will be the lower attach point for those struts.

Rear travel struts (gray)

A 4-wire connector, located at the bottom of the tail, was installed on the power and control wires for the trim motor. It was secured with cable ties, which was not a trivial task due to the limited access.  Function was tested and the trim motor moves as expected when the trim buttons are pressed. 

Hours: 18

N-Numbers, Aileron cables Regulator heatsink

We finally put our N-number (N371EM) on the airplane.  These were vinyl letters that are the same color as the green stripe.  We also added the Just Aircraft logo to the tail, which was a decal supplied by the factory

Michael adding N-Number and Just logo on right side

Ed adding N-number to left side

Tail with N-number and "Just" logo

After waiting a few months, we finally received a new (optional) heatsink kit for our Rotax voltage regulators which we installed.  Several builders have issues with high temperatures from these regulators which can cause damage to the regulator connectors, and this retrofit (approved and sold by Rotax) helps with this issue.  We expect that this will solve any issues, but we also have the option of ducting cool air to the regulators if early testing indicates they are getting too warm.

New heatsink attached to voltage regulator

We assembled the aileron cables, using nicopress sleeves and thimbles at the attachment points.  A turnbuckle was installed on both the right and left cables behind the seats.  This is where the cables running from the wings attach to the cables running to the controls.

Turnbuckle connection for the ailerons

We also installed a turnbuckle for the aileron pass-thru cable that attaches the two down-aileron cables from each wing.  Hours: 15

Aileron pass-thru cable with turnbuckle

Turtledeck slots, Green striping

Slots were carefully cut into both sides of the the turtledeck at the location where the aileron and flap cables exit the fuselage.   The slot was cut thin at first, and then widened as needed after several trial fittings until we had decent clearance on all sides of the cables.

Slot cut into turtledeck

Cables passing through slot in turtledeck

More green vinyl striping was added, this tie along the side kick panels and the rudder.  Also, some anti-chafe tape was added to a few locations where panels overlap to prevent abrading the paint.  Hours: 3

Green stripe added to side kick panels

Green stripe on tail

Aileron, ELT, Pitot, Jury Struts, and Turtledeck

Michael installed the green vinyl strips on on the wings.  This allowed us to then install both of the ailerons.  Once that was done the control cables were re-attached at each of the control horns on the flaps and ailerons.

We had to obtain a new battery for our ELT since the original had exceeded it's expiration date.  A new battery was obtained and the ELT was re-installed into its cradle in the tail of the airplane.

New ELT Battery

Ed started working on the turtledeck modifications that are needed to allow the control cables to enter the cabin area.  A lot of precise measurements needed to be made before determining the location of the holes.

The pitot/AOA probe was installed onto its mounting stalk.  This required cutting down and deburring the probe tubes and trimming the hoses to the required length before connecting with air-tight push-on connectors.  The green hose is for pitot ram air and the blue hose is for the AOA probe.

Connecting the pitot/AOA probe

Pitot/AOA probe installed

The jury strut to main strut attach brackets needed to drilled and painted.  Once that was complete the jury struts were installed.  Michael tried various ways to  install the jury struts but found that installing them on the main strut first and then attaching them to the wing was the easiest method.  The jury struts were moved around until the main strut was straight (i.e. no bowing up or down) and then the bolts were torqued to their final value.

Left side jury strut installed

Right side jury strut installed

Starting to look like an airplane!

Hours: 8

Flaps, elevators, and jury strut

We brought more parts to the airport, and started working on various things.  The window on one door was trimmed a bit in one corner to eliminate some interference.  Green striping tape was installed on most of the control surfaces where the orange paint borders white paint.  We still need to apply the tape to the cowl and rudder.  The flaps were installed on the wings which was a nice accomplishment.

Flap installed on right wing (no aileron yet)

Michael spent a bit of time adjusting the jury struts and their brackets.  The brackets didn't fit our lift strut very well, so took some bending and persuading to fit better.  These brackets were then removed so that they could be painted white.

Michael working on the lift struts

The elevators were attached to the tail.  The two elevators are bolted together inside the tail, and are installed on their hinges with clevis pins that are held in place with cotter pins.  It felt good to get another control surface attached to the plane.  Hours: 20

Ed installing a cotter pin for the elevators

Wings attached!

We achieved another milestone by getting both wings attached to the airplane.  Rain was pouring down when we were about to hang the second wing.  We had to wait until the rain let up because the rain pelting the metal roof created so much noise that we couldn't hear each other speak.  But in the end we got both wings installed successfully. 

Wings installed.  Happy Builders.

We then installed an aluminum cap strip across the gap between the windshield and sunroof.  We had attached some thin neoprene gasket to the underside of the strip before installing to help keep it weather tight.

Next, we adjusted the newly vented fuel caps so that they fit snugly in the tanks, and inserted them into the empty fuel ports at the top of each wing.  Hours: 8

Vented fuel caps inserted