Jul 27, 2023     Finishing up ailerons, flaps and controls       Category: Controls

This week I worked on finishing up the flight control bushings, rods, brackets inside the fuselage. I was waiting until the canopy was on just in case it tweaked the airframe just a little. The controls are very sensitive to misalignment so I wanted to play it safe. Also the control sticks in the left right direction were a little tighter than I wanted so I spent some time trying to determine where the friction was coming from as technical didnt want me to disassemble the factory assembled sticks so that I could sand the bushings. Both sticks were getting friction due to the rear bracket which was a little over bent. When I pushed on it the controls noticeably became easier to move but I also measure it with a spring scale. The pain was I had to completely remove the sticks which are fanagled in their pretty good.
After that I did the final assembly for the flaps and ailerons where you rivet the leading edge while constantly checking to make sure they have the correct twist to match the twist in the wings.
I did have one rod end bearing that is mismanufactured and needs replacement. A nut just will not screw onto the end of the bearing.

  Sep 12, 2022     Flaps       Category: Controls

I started assembling one of my flaps. I can only do the right side flap because I am waiting on some mounts that need to be riveted to the right flap. The one I received with the kit did not rotate freely so I requested new one. I also cant build the ailerons because there are some control linkages that the instruction manual says must be installed before the aileron is built but that the pieces come in the finishing kit and not the wing kit, seems a little wrong to me but ill just have to wait. Lastly I cant rivet the leading edge of the flaps or ailerons just yet as the instructions say to wait so that you can adjust the twist in the flaps and ailerons to exactly match the wings.