Mar 01, 2022     Control Yokes, brackets and brakes - (20 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

Istalled the seat supports. Working on installing the control yoke. Bracket and base plate held in with clecos. Rudder pedals installed on their brackets. Used brackets, pedals, welded bars from a Grumman Tiger. All fits together like a charm. Pedal and brake acuators required clearancing to get full motion. At this time will only have brakes on pilot side. May consider slave cylinders later. See pics for details.

  Dec 27, 2021     Seat supports, seat adjusters and boat seats. - (24 hours) Category: Interior Finish

I have been following other BD-4 builders and their seat mounting schemes...the plans call for a short length of tubing with 2 tabs welded to the back and attached to the side of the C-channel. A slot is cut in the front halfway down the length of the tube. Another smaller piece of tubing is welded to the end of a pipe that runs the width of the cockpit. The seat rails sit on these two pieces of tubing and the seats sit on top of these. I have used 2 boat seats attached to 0.125 steel plate that have adjustable rails attached. I will get 7" of movement out of these seats. Cutting the individual pieces, deburring, welding, placing and ensuring the assembly is square and removable has taken considerable time. Here are a few pictures.

  Jun 18, 2020     Making Airplane Noises - (8 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

Early on in my planning, I was made aware of a gentleman who was selling a yoke assembly that he had removed from his BD-4 project. Intending on using a yoke on my project, I purchased it long before I had acquired my kit. I am now mocking up the cockpit, seating, landing gear and rudder pedals and placed some items temporarily in place to get an idea of how the pilot (me) will fit inside all of this. Here are few pictures. Overall, I think this will work comfortably.

  May 19, 2020     Seats - (6 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

I wanted to have automotive seats in my airplane, planning on 3-4 hour flights, I found a seller on Facebook Marketplace and bought a couple of seats out of a Nissan Juke. Initially, they felt heavier than I thought I wanted to use. There were explosive air bags, steel brackets, sliders, head rests, and height adjusters that weren't going to be used in my project. Pre-surgery weight 71 lbs each. Post surgery-35 lbs. I was able to retain the back adjuster. I ordered some low profile, light weight seat adjusters from a speed shop. I'm creating brackets to set the heights above the landing gear, I needed to start making choices about seat placement, installation of control yoke, rear seat supports and more. All before I install the exterior floor and begin the installation of the landing gear.