Apr 26, 2007     Pivot Mounts - (8 hours)       Category: C16 Controls

Just about everybody recommends Dennis Oelmann's rudder pedals, so I bought those. They cost $350, plus $10 for shipping, and are supposed to be well worth it.

Installing the controls was relatively uneventful. There's a lot of tedious parts fabrication (metalworking isn't my favorite task, glad I'm not building an RV), but nothing really all that difficult. I toyed for a while with the thought of using ball bearing pivots throughout, but eventually just stuck with the plans and used the nylon FMN10 bearings and bronze firewall bushings. They work fine, and there's no play in the system. At the time, the Cozy Girrrls hadn't yet produced their lovely caged bearings. If I did it over, I'd probably use theirs, but I don't really regret the decision enough to change it now. The system is actually relatively complete, although I've removed some components to protect them while other steps are performed.