May 01, 2024     Trim Motor - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed hardware onto trim motor and then installed in elevator.

  Apr 30, 2024     Empennage Additions - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Transported elevator to the airport from garage. Fitted the horizontal stabilizer.

More superfill work on wing rivets.

  Apr 29, 2024     Rivet Filling - (4 hours) Category: Fuselage

More rivet filling on wings

  Apr 28, 2024     Rivet Filling - (5 hours) Category: Fuselage

More filling wing rivets with superfill.

  Apr 27, 2024     Rivet Filling - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Lots of rivet filling over the past two days. Finished the top/bottom of HS and elevator. Had to clean up some left over pro-seal on the right bottom wing and filled those rivets with superfill. After between 12-24 hours, used the dremel with a polishing wheel to lightly sand off the excess on each rivet without damaging the metal.

  Apr 24, 2024     Misc Fuselage - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Did the final connections of the fresh air ducts for front panel and side channels. I wanted to get this done before the panel/avionics go in to ensure clearance for everything.

Began the process of filling rivets with superfill. Experimenting with a few techniques for both filling and sanding off the excess once it has dried.

Test fit the rudder before riveting the top fiberglass piece and front skin.

  Apr 15, 2024     WIndows - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continuing to work on front and rear windows. Lots of on/off cycles with windows and doing hand block sanding to get a good fit.

  Apr 09, 2024     Left Window - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Started to cut the first window for the left front side door. I am using a dremel with cutoff wheel made for plastic materials. The cutting process creates an amazing amount of dust so there are several stops to clear some of the material from the dremel, etc. Taped the uncut window over the door opening and used a sharpie to mark a line that left plenty of margin on each side for the first cut. While cutting I used some large clamps to hold the window to limit the vibration when cutting. After the first big cut, made a few smaller cuts to sneak up on it so I don't accidentally overcut any side. The next few cuts will get the window down inside the door frame. Future cuts should go faster now that am getting used to working with the window material.

  Apr 05, 2024     Doors - (25 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Over the past week have spent several days working on both the right and left door. The left door had a fairly good fit from the factory, so it was just methodically going through the steps and measuring things multiple times. To compress the door seal material, I put a strap around the front and back of the door around the fuselage and ratcheted it down (tight but not too tight). I then aligned the latch pins and adjusted until the door hooks made contact at the same time on front and back. I marked the top outline of the roller bushing with pencil against striker plate and began drilling through the bushing as a guide - ensuring it stayed centered on my mark. The left front latch hole drilled through the canopy was centered well on the channel, but I drilled the left back latch hole a little higher than I would have liked. It still works very well after all of the adjustments, but would have preferred it to be a little lower. Both of the left latch hooks capture the latch pin well and the door is tight. Unlike the instructions, I decided to reverse the direction of the latch pin through the canopy with the bolt head on the outside and used a castle nut on the inside - this was to limit the protrusion under the door seal material on the outside. The front latch hook impacted the door at the front before it opened fully, so had to notch out the fiberglass slightly so that it could open more fully.

The right door was very different in terms of fit. There was a significant twist in the door which made the bottom back kick out that you could almost stick your finger through. I did the same approach as before with strapping down the door around the fuselage to compress the door seal rubber to get the desired placement of the latch pin drill points. I pushed the plane out in the sun and covered the left canopy top, leaving the right side exposed for a few hours to get heat soaked. This allowed the slight reforming of the door to remove some of the twist to get the rear lower back gap to be cut almost in half. Once this was done, I could place the latch pin where the rear hook would really pull that part of the door downward. The right door worked out very well and closes with a good "clicking" sound as the latch pins hit the bottom of the curved seat on the hook.

For the front latches on both doors I used some washers with square centers to fit over the door handle bar stock. This got rid of the slop that existed because the square bar stock of the handle stuck out too far. These unique washers were found through the McMaster-Carr website, seems like they have everything.

I made some custom sized washers for the rear hook attachment bolts on both doors so that the back hook didn't bow out so much. The inner diameter of the washer fits over the small portion of the roller bushing that stuck out through the hook and contact the bolt head. In addition to using blue loctite, I added a locking washer to these bolts as well.

I ordered some longer P-clips for the middle of both doors so that the connector bar was not pulled down so much with the stock P-clips from the kit.

I started trimming the cover for the left door but need to finish that one and the right side one.

Tested both door locks with the keys and they work well.

  Mar 28, 2024     Center Heat Ducting - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Decided to run the 1 inch ducting from right below the heater down the middle and stack them on top of each other so that wire bundles coming up from the center channel can get around it a little easier. Since the center channel boost pump will be replaced with the wing root boost pump solution, it left this center area free to run the heat ducting. Ordered a flat piece of 1/8 ABS plastic to create some brackets to hold the ducting in three places along the channel. The goal is to stay away from the wire bundles, rudder cable, and fuel lines to create a middle tier to run the ducting along. Added edge protection and ran ducts out the needed holes behind the main spar for connecting to the eyeball vents for rear seats. Probably 1/3 of the time at least was spent determining how I wanted to run the ducting and considerations for other parts and 2/3 doing the actual install.

  Mar 11, 2024     Parachute - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Received clarification from the factory on whether it should have 1 or 2 lifting plates - they clarified it is only 1. After shortening the top tie strap, finished installing the rocket tube. Ran the parachute pull cable from the back, down the center channel and to front awaiting the panel installation. The actual rocket motor won't get installed until closer to first flight.

Because there are several things to work on inside the cabin, I decided to temporarily rivet the rear floor and seat back close out skin with a few rivets for strength. The boards I had on top of the ribs just seemed to flex them too much for my liking so adding the floor skins with boards will make it easier to move around the cabin with less concern of damaging something.

  Mar 10, 2024     Parachute - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Unpacked the parachute boxes and reviewed contents/instructions.

Put the rocket tube in and fished the washers/nuts down the channel to get them on the bolts. There is some conflicting information that I had to send a question in to factory on - the manuals say there is only one Rocket Tube Lifting Plate that goes on the bottom but the Sling/Evan videos clearly point out there are two for both top and bottom. I tend think there should be two as the angle of the rocket tube seems to point too closely to the parachute box wall if the second lifting plate is not included. Awaiting clarification from factory.

Changed the support bracket for the pull cable and prepared it for routing through the fuselage. Added the needed rivnuts to the dash attachment bracket.

  Mar 08, 2024     Door Gas Struts - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

It took a good amount of time to get the doors aligned to open the same amount. The instructions call for a 50mm gap between the doors but doesn't call out where to take this measurement. The most logical place seemed to be a relatively flat spot towards the top middle of the doors. I happen to have a box that was exactly 50mm so I used this to wedge the gap during taping. Getting a level measurement was not consistent when trying to do it on the inside of the door windows (each door is slightly different) so I ultimately used a long level and sat it across the very top of both doors. Lots of going in front of and behind the plane to ensure the doors were equally open based on where I drilled the holes in the canopy for the gas strut bracket.

Once both struts were installed, I bled the gas a little at a time to get to the 3KG pull force described in the manual for the version of strut in my kit. I used a strap and hand scale to measure the pull force the strut was producing with each small adjustment.

  Mar 03, 2024     Misc Items - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Trimmed the back edges of the top front skin.

Sanded the inside of lower edge of the top front skin so that it would blend better with the side fuselage skin.

Had to remove one of the firewall rivnuts that started to spin when inserting M4 bolt. Removed and reset a new one.

Test fit fuel lines from selector to firewall, unfortunately one of the lines had the incorrect clocking of the fitting (my fault) - will need to get it revised.

Changed the two top washers and locknuts on the engine mount to have more threads showing. The stock AN5-10A bolt length barely has one thread showing when using a normal AN5 washer, I changed to a thin AN5 washer and replaced the locknuts since they had been on/off the bolts a few times. Now the bolts show 2 threads. I hooked up the engine hoist again while doing this to help remove some of the weight on the bolts until torqued.

  Mar 02, 2024     Cowling Strip Camlocks - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Added the camlocks around the engine cowling strip and gear leg. On the two lower holes had to upsize to use regular size camlock and also had to grind down the back of the camlock slightly so that it would not contact the engine mount.

  Feb 03, 2024     Front Top Skin - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished drilling the top skin holes and test fit the glareshield with the front window.

Over the course of several work sessions, a mini-project developed to resolve a bolt in the gear channel accident. One of the door latch bolts fell down into the gear and lodged itself along the back crevice with only the head of the bolt showing. The curvature to reach the bolt and the gear leg bolts through the composite piece made it a real challenge. Attempted wire claw, tools with double sided tape, drilled out some rivets on the bottom for the gear leg cover, etc, etc. Was finally able to use a small wire to get it dislodged enough to get. I didn't want to leave it in there for concern over time it may chafe against the composite gear leg. One of those time thief activities but back on track now.

  Jan 31, 2024     Front Top Skin - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Over the past several days have been working on the top skin area. Prior to moving forward with the top skin, I had to deal with the most forward top 4.0 rivets that go into the cowling strap. On both sides the holes were really far off on the side skins versus the multiple layers of firewall flange, cowling strap, etc in that area. After considering options, decided to enlarge the hole to a 4.8 countersunk rivet.

The next item to consider was the 3.2 mm hole on the top of the side skin. It seemed like it would be helpful to install a rivet there so the top skin fiberglass was holding all of the pressure down to form that corner. I considered upsizing the hole to 4.0 so that it would match the other 4.0 countersunk rivets over the top of the firewall but the edge distance in that area was too tight. I decided to put a few small shims behind that skin and use a 3.2 countersunk rivet. There was no pre-drilled hole in the firewall flange in that area so had to drill through the stacked layers behind that hole. The front top skin will go over this 3.2 flush rivet. I will also drill another 4.0 hole in that area now that the top skin is on and I can place the rivet in the same line as the others across the top of the firewall.

Trimming the front of the top skin was the next step by fitting and using some fine line tape to get the shape needed when it was strapped down. The front edge came more as a convex shape when it really needed to be more concave on the edges to follow the curve of the firewall. Some dremel cutting and sanding were done to get it shaped.

The next issue was that the right side of the front top skin as it went back toward the canopy was much higher on that side than the left side. Luckily the weather has been sunny and warmer so I set the top skin in the sun for a few hours to heat it up so the fiberglass would form better with cracking. I used a long level across both rear sides and added some significant weight on the right side to hold it down to as close to level as possible. Where the rear of the top skin meets the canopy there is a small bevel on the canopy that seems to be the approximate correct spot vertically so that the top skin side section is level along the side of the fuselage. I drilled some of the holes on the top of firewall and both sides of canopy with a hole finder where needed. The right side was wanting to deform slightly due to the downward pressure, but with some additional heating and gently pressing it down as I went along that side with holes/clecos it seamed to form correctly along the side of the canopy. Still have a few more holes to drill and to cut off the excess on ends by the canopy.

  Jan 24, 2024     Heater Pipes - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished cutting to length and securing the coolant pipes through the firewall.

  Jan 22, 2024     Heater & Front Top Skin - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Determined the routing for the remaining three of four heat vents that come out of the bottom of the heat exchanger. Used zebra clamps on hose connections for a more secure fit.

Started to fit the top front skin to see what will be needed. The front edge on the firewall will need a good amount of block sanding as the front edge line has several waves in it.

  Jan 18, 2024     Heater, Upholstery - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Have been spending some time meeting with the upholstery business that will be doing the seats, sidewalls, carpet. I am finding it is an iterative process and am looking forward to the final product. Reviewed the seat foam buildup from version one and discussing some changes.

Installed the heater behind the firewall and began adding ducting. It did not seem like I could get enough gripping power with zip ties on the 2 inch tubing to heater connection so used zebra clamps to ensure a solid connection.

For the two lower bolts on the engine mount, there is apparently little room to get a wrench on the nut for torquing so took a standard wrench and modified like they use at TAF build assist center. The width of the open end wrench is 31mm.

  Jan 09, 2024     Door Bolts - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Shortened all 8 door bolts on the canopy hinges using a dremel cutting wheel.

Started working on building a custom center console lid. The part shown on fuselage construction manual page 187 does not come with the fuselage kit but rather the upholstery. Since we will be using a local upholstery shop vs the Sling upholstery, I need to create this part.

  Dec 03, 2023     Nose Gear Axle - (1 hour) Category: Fuselage

Replaced nose gear axle bolt per Service Bulletin 0023

  Nov 30, 2023     Canopy Door Latch - Right - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

Worked with the factory to provide some data and determine steps to fix the right door warping that causes the bottom rear section to bow out. Got feedback from factory on next steps that included a spacer that fits between the canopy and the front hinge plate and putting the door in the hot sun when attached to canopy (will require waiting until the spring), to try and level the entire door out. So will put this step on hold for now as the latch plates and canopy latch holes really can't be drilled until the door is straight.

  Nov 29, 2023     Canopy Door Latch - Right - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Started working with the right door. The left door fit relatively well, but the right door is more challenging. The back lower side kicks out a good amount as the door has some twist built into it. Upon closing it kicks the back bottom out and the front bottom forward. I experimented with the latch travel, door attachment bolts and strapped down the door to compress the rubber seal. With it strapped closed it fits relatively well, but the issue is getting the latch to engage properly (and clear the lip on closing) so that it pulls the rear bottom in more. Work in progress...

  Nov 28, 2023     Canopy Door Latch - Left - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continued trying to fine tune the left door latch placement. On the back latch, extended the capture plate grove about 4mm on the top to allow it to be lower where the bushing placement would be on the lip. Interestingly, it looks like the short hook will be a better fit on the rear while the front longer latch is a good fit on the front.

  Nov 27, 2023     Canopy Door Latch - Left - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Did several steps in preparation for drilling the critical canopy lip hole for the latch bushing placement.

Shortened one of the lock base screws to allow the latch to clear when opening on the inside of door. Then torqued down both of the lock base screws to get it seated where it was going to be.

Temporarily installed the rubber door seal with blue tape. I did not use the stock rubber strips but instead went with the Midwest Builders recommendation of the slightly wider seals that have 3M adhesive backing built in (McMaster-Carr product #93085K485).

Then used ratchet straps and wide neck clamps to get the door compressed into its desired location to know where the front/back latches will be.

Drilled the striker plate pilot and then M4 rivnut holes for front and back and installed rivnuts with JB Weld.

Installed the M4 rivnut for the P-clip in the middle. I ordered some slightly longer P-clips so that it would not pull the latch connecting rod downward so aggressively as it did with the stock P-clip (McMaster-Carr product #8876T2).

  Nov 22, 2023     Canopy Door Latches - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Drilled out the rear door holes to install the M5 rivnut for the rear latch. There is a metal ring at the top of the hole that is more evident once drilling. In talking with TAF, they advised to use a small pick/screwdriver to clean out the hole of foam/fiberglass slightly so that the M5 rivnut compresses against the metal piece rather than foam/fiberglass. I used JB Weld also to give additional holding power.

Bent the latch plates for both left and right sides. It took a few iterations to figure out a good way to bend them so that they fit well around the canopy lip. The method that seemed to work was to draw the 6mm line as described in the manual and then also draw a second line at either 10mm (for canopy front) or 12mm line (for canopy rear). Then bend that second line first to get it started while the latch plate is still flat. Then bend the 6mm line to the needed 120 degree angle. Lastly put on the canopy and do the final bending there. The second line was the difficult one to get started if the 6mm line is bent first. On my canopy the front lip was slightly smaller than the back which is why 10mm & 12mm respectively.

  Nov 19, 2023     Canopy Door Latches - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Took the left/right doors off plane and began installing door latches. Used a rotary tool to enlarge the existing hole so that latch mechanism would fit in from both sides. The left and right door hole location was about 10mm different so on one side the latch (longer version latch) hits before opening completely, will probably need to remove a little fiberglass material there. It will be hidden behind cover so not a big deal. Drilled holes through doors for handle lock base. It took several adjustments to ensure the handle square shank end went far enough in and at the proper angle so that the locking mechanism turned and would seat correctly when applied. The latch covers on both sides needed a little trimming on the back end (about 3-4mm) to fit down inside the door seam edges properly. Once fit, drilled the M4 bolt and rivnut holes.

Next step is to put M5 rivnut in rear hole after upsizing and P-clip in the middle.

  Nov 04, 2023     Inside Skins Rear - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted inside rear skins

Determined placement and installed heat vents in rear seat floor kick plate.

  Oct 22, 2023     Front/Rear Vents - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Enlarged the holes on the inside skins so the Aveo eyeball vents would fit. Removed the backing nut that comes with the Aveo vent and used a 3D printed part to rivet to the inside skin. The part has threads so the eyeball vent can be screwed into the side skin after the side upholstery has been added. Added vents to glare shield.

  Sep 16, 2023     Center Console - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Put center console rivnuts in several parts and test fit center channel items.

  Sep 10, 2023     Inside Skins Rear - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Made four adjustments to rear side skins and got ready to rivet. Since the riveting will only take a few minutes, waiting to rivet until receive the rear eyeball vents in the next few weeks in case any adjustments are needed behind the side skin. The four adjustments were:
1) on the left side only needed to remove some material and put edge protection on the top rear so that the canopy wires I ran down that rear channel do not have abrasion. Instead of drilling more holes in the side lower longerons, I ran the canopy light wires down the small channel in the vertical rib.
2) the back two lower holes on the skins did not line up even closely to the existing longeron holes. Used a hole finder and put new holes in the side skins
3) the skins did not have any holes drilled to go through the rear seat closeout skin and support rib. Put the rear floor and closeout skin in place to get the proper placement of the holes to drill. From pictures of quick build kits saw there were 6 rivets rather than 5 so placed and drilled out 6 holes on the side skins
4) because I had made adjustments to the front inside skins, the front/rear skin holes no longer lined up where they met so just match drilled 5 new holes

  Sep 08, 2023     Inside Skins Front - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Final fitment and riveting of front inside skins.

  Sep 06, 2023     Fuel Lines - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Covered the fuel braid with some PVC for extra abrasion protection and ran the lines to the center channel. Leaving the adel clamp tightening until the wings are installed as the fuel lines run very close to the spar wing attach bolt holes. Once wings are on will just do some fine tuning of lines and tighten clamps.

  Sep 03, 2023     Fuel Lines - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Test fitting the fuel lines and determining places to secure lines with adel clamps. Using the AN 6D fittings on the side walls to connect wing tanks. Purchased teflon fuel lines from TS Flightlines to run from the bulkhead to the center channel fuel selector. These replace the stock rubber lines and I will use throughout the remaining build.

Because the stock side wall openings are for the stock rubber lines, had to come up with a solution to hold the AN fittings. Another local builder had a good idea to use custom aluminum washers to avoid putting more holes/rivets in the side wall. Given the fuel line hole proximity to the main spar I did not want to drill more holes there. Made some inside the hole washers and bonded in with sikaflex and then used larger outside the hole washers inside/outside to secure the AN fitting.

  Aug 31, 2023     Inside Front Skins - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Worked on adjustments to the right inside skins which initially fit about the same as the left side.

  Aug 30, 2023     Inside Front Skins - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Worked on adjustments to the left inside skins. The rear inside skin fit well, but the front inside skin had several challenges like many builders seem to report. I attempted different ways/orders to cleco the skin into position. When trying to start with the two middle longerons it made it essentially impossible to get the lower edge holes to line up at all with the floor skin. Next I started with clecos along the floor holes first and then worked up. This worked better but produced a bulge between the second and third longerons. To release some of this extra metal I decided to slightly oval the skin holes on the third longeron from the bottom (not the longeron holes themselves). Since the inside skins are not structural, I felt like this was a reasonable compromise. I had a cleco in every hole and used a reamer one hole at a time along that third longeron to get a much better fit. The other compromise with this approach is that it made the overlapping holes between the front and rear inside skin slightly off so will have to adjust there also.

Before riveting in the front inside skin, need to install the AN -6 fittings for the fuel lines as they come into the fuselage. Since I am using teflon lines instead of the stock rubber lines, installing these AN bulkhead fittings. The order of installation here is not mentioned in the manual, but before riveting the front inside skin it is much easier to access these fuel line holes. The back edge of the front inside skin is very close to where the fuel lines run so consideration is needed for how the fuel lines run there.

  Aug 29, 2023     Side Channel Ventilation Test - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

Hooked up an air source to test for any major gaps/leaks or any odd noises/whistling in both side channels.

  Aug 27, 2023     Side Channel Ventilation - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Spent a few hours preparing the materials to use in the side channels for rear seat ventilation. Naca duct ventilation air and heater air will be completely separate in this build.

With the need to split the naca between the front and side channels, there is a Y split with manual close off doors if more air restriction is required in addition to the eyeball vents that will be used. To determine the correct placement of the side vent channel, I had to temporarily fit in the glare shield. Since I put the channels further back I cut about 4 inches off them and then used sikaflex to put into place along with sealing along the sides. I also replaced the stock straight connector with an angled one.

  Aug 21, 2023     Baggage Door - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished attaching the baggage door. Added some weather seals on the inside door edges to keep out moisture. The latch mechanism on the inside is unclear on how to finish out - will need to spend some time on adding a catch of some type on the skin longeron.

  Aug 19, 2023     Throttle Quadrant - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Swapped out the parking brake shutoff valve with one that already had NPT threads. The valve model was basically identical except for the threads, however it did fit better/tighter in the attachment brackets and did not have any play in the assembly now.

Added the npt fittings and short brake line.

  Aug 16, 2023     Elevator/Flap Control Tubes - (40 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finally got the flap tube and front/rear elevator control tubes smooth. Most of the focus was on sanding the inside of the plastic bushings. The two inside front elevator tube bushings (that you can't remove) needed some sanding of the control tube itself - when received from the factory the tube would barely turn inside these two bushings. The tubes were in and out of the plane a countless amount of times with each small adjustment.

Riveted in the front/rear control tubes with locking ribs.

Connected the control sticks and the left/right aileron movement had way too much binding. With some tips from another builder found that the back L bracket that attaches to the spar with the four small bolts was slightly overbent causing binding on that back bushing. When pressing on it with a stick it became noticeably smoother. Removed and slightly bent that bracket. The second issue on both my control sticks were that the attachment points were slightly angled when riveted at the factory. I drilled out the locking collar so that I could move it and the bushing back slightly to be able to remove some material from that corner that was digging into the bushing. After a couple of cycles in and out of the plane with the sticks, got the left/right movement smoother.

Attached all the push/pull tubes (but did not torque them down).

  Jul 30, 2023     Engine Mount Bolts/Cables - (2 hours) Category: Fuselage

Wrapped the forward parachute cables with foam to prevent vibration noise. Installed cables in the tangs and torqued down all 6 AN5 engine mount bolts.

  Jul 29, 2023     Throttle - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled throttle quadrant. Experimented with swapping out the park brake valve but the model I ordered was a little larger and mounting it to the existing holes became more trouble than it was worth. For now, installed the stock valve but may still swap it out before adding brake fluid.

  Jun 29, 2023     Canopy Cables & Seat Belts - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed the rear parachute cables. Had to slightly enlarge the AN6 bolt hole to get it through.
Began installing the front seat belts. The top bushing that holds the seat belt away from the canopy and allows it to turn at the top was missing from kit so reached out to Sling to send. Also requesting a clarification on bolt/washer placement since the instructions are conflicting and the parts included in the kit don't match the instructions.

  Jun 26, 2023     Canopy Bonding Additional - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Once initial Sikaflex had cured for 24 hours, went back and added a 1/4 inch transition strip of Sikaflex between the canopy and side skin to ensure there are no gaps/leaks where water can enter. Also used Sikaflex to bond in the naca ducts and riveted.

  Jun 25, 2023     Canopy Bonding - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Prepared the canopy with progression of Sika products (Sika Aktivator 205, then Sika Primer 206 G+P then Sika 295 UV) and positioned the canopy into place with cleco's. Riveted canopy into place, then cleaned some of the excess squeeze out with acetone from the aluminum.

  Jun 23, 2023     Canopy Retaining Strips - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Added the metal retaining strips to the inside of canopy joggle. Spent some time confirming in plans and other builders that the front three holes get countersunk on canopy to 4.0mm and the fuselage side skins dimpled (top row holes 11-13 counting from the front).

Also with the parachute option there is a pre-drilled hole on the fuselage skin that looks like it does not get a rivet since the parachute cable in the canopy would interfere.

  Jun 20, 2023     Seat Rails - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Countersunk the holes needed on the seat rail components. Sizes included 4.8mm, 4.0mm and 3.2mm.

  Jun 14, 2023     Brake Lines/Pitot Fuselage Bulkheads - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

From the gear leg into the side fuselage, installed AN fittings and steel braided lines to go to the center T fitting. Will install the T fitting and center channel line later after removing the cross bracing jigs and can determine final run path through floor ribs. Rather than drilling additional holes for brake line inside fuselage, found some grommets that fit the lightening hole size and then used clear tubing to secure in middle hole.

Left a fair amount of slack in the outside line to account for gear leg flex on landing and to keep the bend radius larger so the line can flex over a longer section. The clear tubing on the outside brake line is not really for protecting the line but rather allowing it to flex up and down the sidewall more easily than the steel braided line by itself.

Installed nylo-seal bulkhead union on the left side for pitot/aoa lines to come into the fuselage. There are small inserts that go inside of the 1/4 tubing so when tightening the nut it does not collapse the tube and prevent sealing.

  Jun 11, 2023     Canopy Inside Painting - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Put a fog layer and two coats of Stewart Systems EkoPoly paint on the inside of the canopy, canopy doors and a few fixtures. Overall it looks good - a little orange peel and a little uneven in areas but wasn't expecting perfection. Waiting on Sika chemicals to arrive to bond it into the fuselage. On to the next tasks.

  Jun 10, 2023     Canopy / Brakes - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Ran wires through canopy for overhead lights and taped off in prep for painting. Installed AN fittings on the brakes - had to remove brakes to complete as the gear leg interfered with turning the AN fitting into the caliper.

  Jun 08, 2023     Canopy Inside Priming - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Prepped and taped the canopy, doors and locking mechanism covers for priming. Hand sanded inside of each piece and primed.

  Jun 06, 2023     Canopy Drilling - (4.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Did a few cycles of fitting and removing material to improve the fit. On mine there was no trimming needed on the horizonal edges, it was only the back edge that needed trimming/sanding. Specifically the lower edges on both sides and about 5 inches along the edge on both sides up by the cable tray. I used a rotary tool to trim off between 1-3mm in these areas and then block sanded with fine sandpaper.

Also at the right rear top of the canopy there was a sizable gap between the top of the canopy and the rear skin. I used some tubes/blocks inside to slightly push up the canopy edge in the back. This made the left top skin lay flat on the edge of the canopy perfectly, but the right side still had a gap. In speaking with another builder a few months ago, he mentioned using a shim on his to get the rear top skin to lay even with the canopy edge so I did the same. The right top side has a thicker shim for about 6 inches then a thinner shim for another 8 inches starting from the top. I just used old unused kit parts to cut out the strips.

On the horizontal sides, at each of the fuselage "bends" from front to back there were some gaps between the fiberglass and side wall skin. I used various items to push the lower canopy out towards the side skins before drilling the holes to ensure a good fit - in one area the 3-wood golf club came in handy with the right amount of flex.

I used some spacers between the bottom horizontal edge and the longeron to raise the canopy up along the sides so the side skin met up with the "joggle" line of the canopy correctly. Of course that joggle line is not perfectly straight on the canopy, so it fits better in some spots than others along the horizontal span. When the sikaflex is added it will help even out the line and ensure everything is sealed up.

  May 30, 2023     Canopy Test Fit - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Starting to test fit the canopy. So far have identified a few mm on the back edges that need to be sanded to allow the skin to fit up with the joggle/edge.

  May 27, 2023     Rear Air Flow Channels - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Experimenting with how to reduce friction and turbulence in getting fresh air to the back passengers and simplifying the connection to the naca ducts. The current plan is to have just one Y split from the naca that feeds both the front dash and rear side wall channels that will have eyeball vents for on/off. I need to confirm with tech support on placement but looking to install the rear guiding channels a little further back and use a new 45 piece in the guiding channel to route air to the back. Reducing the number of S turns in the ducting is part of the goal. This will take some more experimentation and will get finalized later in the build.

  May 21, 2023     Naca Ducts - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Drilled and countersunk naca ducts on both sides. Waiting for sika before riveting into place.

Added edge protection for front seat belts on both side walls.

  May 18, 2023     Seat Belt Bracket - (.5 hour)       Category: Fuselage

Installed front seat belt brackets

  May 17, 2023     Gear Cover Skin - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Added the gear cover skin on the bottom of fuselage.

  May 16, 2023     Gear - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Spent some time slowly filing the holes for the engine mount both on the firewall and the engine mount itself so that the AN5 bolts would fit through. The bolts are still a very tight fit and require a small bit of tapping to get through the holes. Have a question in to the factory about the top AN5-7A bolts as they appear too short once the parachute tangs are added. The two AN5-10A bolts for the other two top bolts, not through the engine mount, appear long enough with the tang.

Added the front nose wheel and engine mount.

Added the main gear legs and removed all supports except for supporting the tail. Getting the fours bolts in the main gear legs took some effort but eventually lined up. The order of steps was install top bolt on one side, raise gear leg on that side and add bottom bolt on same side. Then raise other side and put the top bolt in, then the bottom bolt. On the second side, through different approach attempts, it was ultimately the use of a jack to raise it to exact position needed that really helped. Trying to raise it by hand was difficult to keep it at the exact location needed to get the top bolt through. Throughout the process, kept both tires on some wood blocks so that gear legs would be somewhat level vs the second side hanging down completely without support.

  May 15, 2023     Firewall Prep - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Created template for firewall heat shielding, cut and applied to firewall. Installed some of the rivnuts while access easy before engine mount added.

  May 12, 2023     Main Wheels - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed wheels/brakes to the main gear. One of the four pre-drilled holes on the right gear side was not drilled very straight which required some adjustment. Other than that, these parts went together fairly easy.

  May 11, 2023     Front Nose Wheel - (14 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Spent many cycles of trying to adjust the nose wheel tube inside the upper and lower bushings to get it to be easy to turn. The upper and lower support boxes on the welded engine mount were very out of alignment - the tube would almost not turn when assembled at the beginning and required a significant amount of clamping force to even get the bolts/brackets installed over the bushings. After a dozen plus (lost count) of assembly/disassembly cycles where upper and lower bushings were slowly sanded with a drum sander on the inside it now has low friction when turning the wheel.

  May 01, 2023     Firewall Install - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed the firewall. For the side skin, had to put a small/thin shim inside on the lower left curvature of the skin as the rivet was trying to pull the skin inward too much. The lower 4 rivets on both sides attaching the side skin to the firewall make the skin ripple a little but it is acceptable given all the parts coming together there and the curvature.

  Apr 26, 2023     Side Skins - (16 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted left and right forward side skins

  Apr 12, 2023     Front Wheel - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Began assembly of the front wheel. For the two main wheels, worked with Matco to swap out the kit brake assembly (from one piston to two pistons) and discs (thicker) to provide about 60% increase in brake energy per Matco. The weight penalty is about 1.5lbs.

  Mar 30, 2023     Rear Top Skins - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted rear top skins to fuselage

  Mar 15, 2023     Rear Fuselage - Static - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Did a little rework and changed how the 1/4 inch static tubing was run from the ports. Before the push to connect join was on the floor. Upon some additional research, it appears having the static ports be lower than the connection point that then runs to the front is more standard to help ensure water does not enter the system without the ability to drain. Moved the connection to the top of the rib from the side static ports.

  Mar 04, 2023     Center Fuselage - Front Seats - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Completed the seat latching mechanism for one side. Will need to order a replacement part for the seat pin assembly for the other side as one of them was defective.

  Mar 03, 2023     Center Fuselage - Front Seats - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted the front seats. Still need to complete the latching mechanism under each seat.

  Mar 02, 2023     Center Fuselage - Rear Seats - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled the rear seat base assembly and the split back rests. Waiting on a couple of clarifications from the factory on the hinge attachments before riveting the two together.

  Feb 28, 2023     Center Fuselage - Parts Prep - (7 hours) Category: Fuselage

Cleaned, etched and primed front and rear seat parts.

  Feb 24, 2023     Center Fuselage - Heating/Vent Layout - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Spending a good deal of time sorting out details of the fresh air vents and heating setup. There is a lot of feedback that the standard configuration doesn't provide very good heat/venting to the back seats. There are also several online videos (ex. Evan's) showing how they have modified the standard option that are very helpful. This is one of the few places I plan to deviate from the factory plans. Comparing notes with other builders as well to see what they are doing in this area. My kit had the older metallic butterfly shutoff valve so I ordered the new one that is depicted in the current manual as of Jan 2023 (part number B11-543-85C and bracket CB-BKT-014-X-X). I plan to use the Aveo Air Maxi eyeball vents rather than the stock ones from the kit for better flow control (still need to confirm these are drop in replacement sizes). Because I plan on separating the vent and heat flow paths, there will be eight eyeball vents total. Two heat in the front center channel by front occupants legs, two heat in the rear floor. Two fresh air in front panel from naca ducts and two fresh air in the normal spots in the rear inside skins. For the rear fresh air vents, I am investigating if there is enough room to run a 1.5 inch sceet tube down the side channel vs. relying on a perfectly sealed side channel. The sceet tube would be malformed in the run and the 90 degree turn to the eyeball vent may not be possible so this option is still being researched. It seems like this may increase the limited airflow to the rear with more directed flow but TBD.

I got the heat exchanger out to review and also opened enough to wedge in the bottom base plate for the duct tubing connections.

  Feb 20, 2023     Center Fuselage - Parts Prep - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Unwrapped and deburred the front and rear seats in preparation for priming.

  Feb 14, 2023     Center Fuselage - Parts Prep - (12 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Deburred, cleaned, etched and primed the center channel skins, rear floor skins, inside wall skins.

  Feb 03, 2023     Autopilot Servos - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed the aileron and elevator GSA 28 autopilot servo's while there is easier access without the side skins on. The Garmin supplied stop bracket has to be installed first on the aileron servo before installing servo on the spar. For the elevator stop bracket, it has to be installed after installing the servo on the the rear or it won't clear the support bracket.

  Jan 25, 2023     Control Torque Tubes - (12 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Spending a good amount of time trying to get the torque tubes for elevator and flaps to about 90% level before moving forward with skins install while access is still easier. Many cycles of putting on and taking off the tubes with very small adjustments to eliminate binding. Also had to take some material off the front elevator tube control stop arms (both forward and back) so they made contact at the same time on the control stops.

  Jan 01, 2023     Center Fuselage - Connection To Rear - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Added the remaining jig supports to ensure alignment between front and rear fuselage components. Raised the rear fuselage to ensure proper angle for riveting.
Riveted the center fuselage to the rear fuselage. Began test fitting side skins.

  Dec 26, 2022     Center Fuselage - Rudder Pedals - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Missing a few parts on order to complete the rudder pedals - installed all parts available. Rudder cables and nosewheel steering components get installed at a later point.

  Dec 23, 2022     Center Fuselage - Floor & Spars Connected - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Joined the front floor and the front/rear spar carry through together. For the stainless steel rivets, Eck was used as the corrosion inhibitor.

  Dec 21, 2022     Rear Fuselage - Luggage Area - (12 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished installing sound proofing / insulation foam in the rear fuselage. Riveted the luggage floor, luggage extension box, parachute box and cable tray. Finished placement of top com antenna wire.

  Dec 16, 2022     Center Fuselage - Front Floor - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed sound proofing / insulation foam and riveted floor together. My placement of the transponder will be at another location in the bottom skin so riveted small cover plates over the existing holes in the lower and upper floor skins. Riveted on the center console forward support.

  Dec 11, 2022     Center Fuselage - Front Floor - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted front floor channels

  Dec 10, 2022     Center Fuselage - Center Channel - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Upsized all the holes to accommodate M4 rivnuts, added rivnuts and assembled the center console/flap actuator support channel.

  Dec 09, 2022     Center Fuselage - Floor Ribs - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Added front spar auto pilot brackets. Riveted floor ribs to main spar, gear box and rear spar (cleco'd bottom skin to ribs to ensure good alignment).

  Nov 27, 2022     Rear Fuselage Wiring - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed left and right side static ports in the tail with standard 1/4 inch tubing and a T push to connect join. Used a heat gun to soften up the end to make it easier to push onto the barbs. Will be putting a small amount of RTV on connection when received (backordered currently with aircraft spruce). Utilized the Van's static port kit and the 75mm down / 110mm forward placement where the rear lower skins meet (based on other TSi owners placement experience). Later the plan is to have an alt static port source behind the panel also with a panel switch.

Ran tail harness for gmu 11, tail beacon and trim along the lower left longeron. Ran the VOR antenna coax and static tube along the lower right longeron. VOR coax, trim and beacon have quick disconnect adapters.

  Nov 20, 2022     Seats - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Test fit front and rear seats. Found a few small parts issues so got order in for replacement parts. Countersunk holes on sides of front seats. Began looking at upholstery/carpet options and got my better half involved for input on some of the finishing options.

  Nov 19, 2022     Rear Fuselage - Magnetometer - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed the Garmin GMU 11 Magnetometer

  Nov 18, 2022     Rear Fuselage - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Had to notch the top com support bracket so that 4.0x10mm countersunk rivets would clear on both sides. Also dimpled the five holes to match skin dimpling for parachute option (was not in instructions).

Took some material off right side rear seat belt attachment bracket so that it would not protrude out and interfere with skin. The left side had plenty of clearance.

Took some material off both right and left seat belt support mounting plate so it would not protrude out and interfere with skin.

  Nov 13, 2022     Rear Fuselage Skins - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted the lower front rear skins. Cleco'd top skins in place to ensure alignment.

  Nov 08, 2022     Rear Fuselage Skins - (4.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted the left and right rear skins.

  Nov 06, 2022     Step Support Channel - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted left and right step support channels and brackets. Because the plans called for 4.0 and 4.8mm stainless steel rivets, used Eck for additional coating to prevent corrosion.

  Nov 05, 2022     Gear Mounting Box - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Added rivnuts to gear box and some ribs. Riveted angles and stiffeners to gear mounting box

  Nov 03, 2022     Rear Spar/Brackets - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled rear spar and added auto pilot and seat belt brackets.

  Oct 16, 2022     Parachute Box - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled parachute box

  Oct 15, 2022     Luggage Extension - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled luggage extension box

  Oct 14, 2022     Rear/Center Fuselage Misc - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Prepped and primed bulkhead skin, luggage floor, rear seat shoulder harness attachments, luggage extension box, parachute box and parachute cable tray.

Test fit ribs and brackets to front/rear spar carry through and gear mounting box.

Worked with midwest panel builders and received rear fuselage wiring needed for tail harness (gmu 11, tail beacon, trim) and coax runs (VOR in tail, com1 top, com2 bottom, gps 1, gps 2/xm combo (x2), transponder).

  Oct 01, 2022     Rear Fuselage Test Fitting - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished the installation of the rudder cable. In the spirit of test assembling ahead as far as possible, added the bulkhead skin, luggage floor, rear seat shoulder harness attachments, luggage extension box, parachute box and parachute cable tray. Overall the fit was very good. There was one undefined part in the instruction manual and some bulkhead holes that did not line up for the parachute box I will need to confirm, but pleased with how easily it went together. I am waiting on one part for the step reinforcement before I can permanently rivet the forward skins into place. In the meantime will be deconstructing the test fit parts and priming in preparation for final assembly.

  Sep 29, 2022     Rear Fuselage Misc - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Cleco'd right back rear skin and began test fitting both forward rear skins. Researched cable run approach for strobe, trim, VOR antenna, com and nav antenna's. Laid out rudder cable assembly for initial fit.

  Sep 28, 2022     Rear Ribs & Skins - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted remaining ribs to rear fuselage. Zip tied in the longerons for stability. Began test fitting back left skin, it took a couple of attempts of attaching and starting over with cleco's to get the holes to line up correctly.

  Sep 25, 2022     Bottom Skin & Ribs - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Cleaned, etched and primed bottom skin, longerons and ribs. Riveted longerons, rear assemble and rib 5.

  Jul 10, 2022     Rear Fuselage - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Test fit rear fuselage ribs, floor assembly and lower longerons. Found one part mislabeled (got two lefts of RF-LGN-901-L-C-1 and no right version). A couple of the longerons had dents from shipping, will try to repair damage.

  Jul 07, 2022     Rear Fuselage Tail - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled 95% of the rear fuselage rib assembly. Waiting on one part (RF-BKT-005-L) from factory to complete.

  May 30, 2022     Rear Fuselage Tail - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Test fit rear fuselage tail section. Determined that RF-BKT-005-L was a mislabeled part and actually had two right parts.

  May 28, 2022     Fuselage Inventory - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Over the past two months, finally unpacked the fuselage fully and did the inventory. Only a few parts missing that were ordered. One of the kids moved back home to finish last year of college locally...so I lost my "in the house" storage for the empennage and it came back into the garage. Did yet another garage reshuffle to accommodate the fuselage parts while the wings are still being completed.