Spent some time reviewing the unique arrangement and operation of the rudder pedals and brakes. The front pedals are supported by a floor mounted bar that pivots at the centreline of the fuselage. The front pedals thread into each end of this bar and each side has a tube that extends back, parallel to the lower longeron. Each tube passes through the main spar support, where the rear rudder pedals mount to the tube. The rudder cables simply connect to the rear rudder pedals. The brakes are heel operated and the master cylinder of each brake is mounted inside the previously mentioned tubes.
Of course, each of these pieces is unique and custom built for this plane. For example, the front rudder pedals are connected to the bar through beautifully machined brass fittings. Each side is threaded in opposite direction. That is, the LH side has LH thread and the RH side has RH threads. The brass fittings have been machined out of the centre so they aren't too heavy. The brake master cylinders are custom built as are the heel pads for the brakes. I'm going to see if I can rebuild these cylinders and reuse them. I'm hopeful they are operational and provide a suitable pressure and fluid displacement to operate the Matco brake callipers properly. We shall see.
A couple of interesting points. The rudder pedals have heavy rubber straps to secure your feet to the pedals. These straps are one of the few items, besides the engine and the instruments that were obviously outsourced. They were provided by Habasit in Switzerland. Habasit is a belting company that still exists.
Another interesting point is the design of the brake master cylinder. The tubing that makes up the rear pedal assembly appears to also act as the brake fluid reservoir. Brilliant! Except that the fitting to fill the reservoir is on the inside of the rudder pedal frame and making it difficult to access, and it's on a vertical section of tubing. So to fill the reservoir one has to either use a syringe with a flexible piece of tubing and some rags to collect the inevitable spillage, or one will have to orient the plane on each wingtip while one fills each side.