Control stick mixer adjustment

Spent more time fine-tuning the mixer by adding various washers between the halves of the bushings.  Removed the mixer completely so that each bearing point could be worked on independently, which made it easier to tell which part was either too loose or was still binding.  Adding washers that have a slight wedge shape frees the mechanism and enables it to move freely, but it moved much too easily and had too much wobble, so more adjustment is needed.   Hours: 3

Installing control stick mixer

Test fitted the control stick mixer, with installation of nylon bushings (F-1310).  Reamed the holes and did a test install, but there was too much friction and the mixer did not turn freely.  Removed powdercoat paint, and tried adding additional washers between the halves of the bushing as suggested in the manual, but still had binding on the sides.  Found that by grinding a washer at a slight angle, we can push the arms of the bushings out slightly to help free the mechanism.  Work will continue to find the perfect balance so that parts fit snug and the mixer rotates easily.  Hours: 2.5

Control Stick Mixer

The builders with the control stick mixer

Closeup of the control stick mixer

Installed connecting rods and control stick pivots to mixer.  Spent a few hours fixing problems with binding, which was caused by tiny misalignment of parts.  Found that the ends of the control stick pivots were slightly angled out, so bent those straight which helped tremendously.  Once all parts were moving freely without any binding, they were greased and assembled.  Castle nuts and cotter pins were used to fasten these parts.   Hours: 3.5

Flying Wires

Flying wires hanging from hooks

Completed building the six flying wires for the horizontal stabilizer.

Flying wires installed

Just Highlander

This is a picture of a completed Just Highlander with nosegear.  Once completed, ours will generally resemble this.

Tricycle configuration with Grove Main Landing Gear

Finished Flying Wires for Horizontal Stabilizer

The two bottom Flying wires were constructed using the stainless steel cable, thimbles, and swag crimps provided.  Once the cables were completed, all six cables were temporarily installed on the rear fuselage.  Hours: 2.5

Horizontal Stabilizer Lower Flying Wires

Attached 3 thimbles and swaged sleeves to create the lower flying wire on the left side of the horizontal stabilizer (one thimble in middle, and one on each end of the cable) Discovered that one of the legs was about 1/4 inch too long.  We will have to remake the cable to correct this.  Hours: 1

Horizontal Stabilizer Top Flying Wires

The four top flying wires were constructed with stainless steel cabling, nicopress sleeves, and thimbles.  The swagged connections were dressed with heat-shrink tubing to protect the cable ends.  Hours: 2

Installing Horizontal Stabilizers

The two Horizontal Stabilizer parts (AF1000.0) were installed on the rear fuselage.  The mounting bushing had to be trimmed to the correct size before the parts would fit correctly.  Once the bushings were trimmed, the stabilizers were installed and the front mount points were drilled and eye-bolts were installed in holes.  The eye-bolts serve two functions, they hold the stabilizers and they provide a mounting point for the travel stabilizer bars.

Next, 12 flying wire attachment tabs (F-1110) were drilled out to 7/32" on one side and a Nicopress thimble was passed thru the hole.  The 12 tabs were mounted to the empennage as indicated in the manual.  Hours: 3

Rudder Pedal Brackets

One of the end rudder pedal brackets was not lining up with the other brackets  (part of the binding problem that is being addressed).  To fix this, the holes in the pedal bracket were closed off (using TIG welder).  These holes will be redrilled once the bracket is placed in proper alignment.  Hours: 1

Rudder work cont.

Rudder pedals still have issue with binding once they are fastened in place on the fuselage.  Tried adding a few shims to help with leveling, but this didn't fix the problem.  Combination of issues appears to be causing this... the rudder pedal assembly still has a bow, and the attach points on the fuselage are not level.  Made various shims from aluminum stock to try and level the assembly in place on the fuselage.  Hours: 2

Rudder Pedal Work

Still trying to get the rudder pedal assembly to operate freely. The pedals are secured at four locations. Getting the pedals to rotate freely when securing all four attach points is proving quite difficult. The assembly is binding up on one or more of the attach points. More "massaging" as the builders manual indicates is going to be needed. Hours: 3

Rudder Pedal work cont.

Temporarily installed rudder pedal brackets, shims, and rudder pedals, and found that they were binding.  Removed the pedals and noticed slight bow from one end to the other.  Applied heat on the center tube of the pedal assembly and then worked to persuade them into a better position.  After much work, the pedals now rotate more freely. (EB, MC).  Hours: 2.5

Rudder Pedal Work

Started fitting the rudder pedals to the fuselage attach points.  Had to trim material from each side of the welded rudder pedal dual unit (F-0800) to allow the two hinge ring end plates (F-0800.1) to fit correctly. (MC & EB).  Hours: 1

Glued Bottom Stringer onto Bushings

The bottom stringer was epoxied to the bottom bushings using Hysol 9460 epoxy.  After about 30 minutes, the joints were smoothed for better appearance. (MC & EB).  Hours: 1