Rudder Pedal Paint

Painted Rudder Pedals

A few coats of the final paint color was added to the rudder pedals. Paint used was Rustoleum Gloss Enamel 7786 Smoke Gray to match the Fuselage Powder Coat.  Hours: 0.5

2nd Axle and Wheel Installation

As we indicated in our previous blog posting, we fixed the brake shoe rubbing the tire.  Originally, we had removed three spacers behind the brake disc.  This gave us the space we needed so that the brake disc didn't rub the Grove landing gear.  But this had the negative result of causing the tire to rub on the brake shoe.  After consulting the factory, and a little experimentation, we added two washers in the original spacer location.  This gave us sufficient space on the brake shoe and brake disc.

Hours: 1.5

Original Spacers vs Two 1/4" washers

Washer/Spacer location

Brake Shoe to Tire Spacing

Brake Disc to Grove Gear Spacing

Axle and wheel installation

Had an issue with the left tire rubbing the brake shoe.  After discussing with the factory, they suggested adding additional washers behind the brake disk which positions the wheel slightly further away from the brake shoe.  Experimented by adding one washer, but there wasn't much clearance, so added 2 washers to each of the 3 bolts attaching the disk to the hub. This provided sufficient clearance and the problem with rubbing was resolved.   We plan to duplicate this change on the other (right) wheel, too.  Hours: 1.0

Axle Installation

Axle installed on left side

Installed right and left axles to the Grove gear with right-sized bolts that just arrived in the mail.  Also did a test install of the tires.  With tires installed and inflated to 15 PSI , we noticed there is some very slight rubbing on one side between the tire and the brake shoe.  We will contact the factory to discuss this with them further. Hours: 1

Misc Work

 The fork assembly F-3570.4 has bronze bearings EF202424 inserted into both ends of the pivot tube.

Also sprayed the rudder pedals with self etching primer.

Hours:1

Landing Gear Reversal

Found that we had installed the Grove landing gear backwards.  The gear was reversed.  Had to order AN5-21A bolts for the landing gear as they were not included in the kit hardware.  While we wait for the hardware to arrive, we stared assembly of the nose gear parts. Hours: 2

Wheel assembly

Assembled the two main gear wheels, and the front wheel.  To do this, we placed an inner tube inside of each wheel (using some talcum powder to assure it slides inside of the rubber wheel), pushed the valve stem through one half of the wheel, then bolted the other half of the wheel to the first one (6 bolts at 100in-lbs of torque).  Main gear tires were inflated to 38 PSI, and front tire was inflated to 29 PSI.  Brake rotors were also bolted to the two main gear wheels.  Hours: 2.5

Front wheel and main gear wheels

Wheels, Brakes

We decided to start working on the main gear, but after looking at the parts in our kit, there appeared to be a problem with the axles.  It looked like the axles needed to be just a little bit longer so that we could bolt them on (using axle spacers from Just) without interfering with the brakes.  Because of this confusion, we contacted the factory, and learned that we do not need to use the spacers supplied by the factory.  Instead, we can get the existing axles to work by removing the brakes, and then removing small (about 1/2 inch) spacers that are behind the brake discs.  By doing this, we have verified that the axles provided will work just fine.    Hours: 1.5

Workshop TV

To make our garage workshop a little more "liveable", we decide to install a TV.  Bought a wall mount kit, and moved this 32" LCD TV from the spare bedroom to the garage.  Works great!

Workshop Entertainment

Additional Flooring Work

Rudder cable holes were marked and cut out from the rear baggage aluminum panel.  The hole placements were made using the rudder cable guide holes in the fuselage.

The two flooring panels between the seats and fuselage sides were drilled to final size and all holes and edges were deburred.  The flooring panel below the rudder pedals was also drilled to final size and then holes/edges deburred.  Hours: 2

Baggage Flooring

Trimmed and deburred the edges of the aluminum sheets that make up the baggage flooring and back of baggage bay. Additional trimming was done to allow space for the interior finishing fabric to pass between the aluminum sheet and the frame.  We also up-drilled the fastener holes for these sheets to the final size (1/8").  These panels are currently cleco'd in place.  Hours: 4

Rear baggage area with flooring

Elevator Push-Pull Tube

Installed the short elevator push-pull tube that connects the bell-crank (which also attaches to the long push-pull tube) to the elevator horn.  Had to bend the tube up slightly (about 0.5 inch deviation) in front of the front bearing point to alleviate friction. The elevators are not installed yet, so there is currently no connection to the elevator horn.  Hours: 1.5

Control Sticks Installation

Drilling Control Stick Bolt Hole

The control sticks (F-1380) were installed onto the control stick pivot assembly previously installed.  A pilot hole was made 1" up from the bottom of the control stick, the final hole size was made with a 3/16" reamer and an AN3-12A bolt was installed with AN960-10 washers and an AN365-1032 nut. (1 hour)

Control Sticks Installation Completed

Push-Pull Tube Installation

Installed Long Push-Pull tube, which connects from the control stick mixer to a bell crank in the aft fuselage.  The tube had to be bent slightly in front of the front bushing (about 1 to 1.5 inch deviation), and also slightly rear of the back bushing (about 1/2 inch deviation) to relieve binding at the bearing points.  Hours: 1.5

Bending the push-pull tube

Push-pull tube attached to horn on control stick mixer

Push-Pull tube attached to bell crank in rear

Bell Crank Installed

Bell crank installed

Installed the push pull bell crank F-1400 in the rear fuselage.
(0.5 hours)