Sat Apr 26 20:14:57 2008 - Finishing up the canopy frame and associated channel. The plans called for AN426-AN4-7's but I used AN426-AN4-8's instead. The -7's just didn't extend through as much as I like to see.

Sat Apr 26 20:14:17 2008

Tue Apr 1 21:59:46 2008 - Plenty of holes to run wiring around.

Tue Apr 1 21:59:38 2008 - The strobe power supply is ready to be riveted into place. I've yet to understand why 1/4" bolt holes are used on the mounting tabs of the unit itself. They sure don't want it to go anywhere, that's for sure. Anyways, the idea here is that power and any other wires will run down the tunnel. The wing strobe wiring will then loop around and travel forward via the blue conduits which exit right by the wings. We'll see how well this works.

Tue Apr 1 21:59:27 2008 - So here's the problem with the bolt sizes and the landing gear mounts on the 7A. These are torqued down but there just doesn't seem to be enough thread showing. I swapped out one of the washers with a thin one and that didn't help as much as I would have liked. So, it looks like I'm going to be ordering Qty 12 (6 on each side) of AN4-13A's since the 12A's are just a tad too short. And while I'm at it, I may as well order Qty 6 of AN3H3A bolts for the TruTrak servos so that I can safety wire the bolts. I definitely don't want those coming loose.

Tue Apr 1 21:59:16 2008 - I've been _very_ busy lately. So many little things to do now that the fuselage is painted and coming together. Static ports installed; strobe power supply brackets ready to rivet in; tail strobe wire run (still need to punch a hole is aft-most bulkhead for the wiring); rudder cables run; snap bushing galore installed; flap rod and motor installed; control column installed; landing gear mounts installed (noticed an issue with bold sizes, however - grrr); fuel lines routed; brake lines routed; and finally vent lines routed. Whew!!

Tue Apr 1 21:58:48 2008 - After wrestling with the landing gear mounts, bending my nice fuel and brake line aluminum tubing and cutting the wrong fuel line for the AFP purge line, I broke down and ordered a pair of Bonaco fuel lines for an Andair valve setup. Very nice and complete kit including split snap bushings. Looks like I'll be running a dedicated purge line to one of the tanks sometime in the near future (which is the recommended method for new installations).

Sun Mar 16 16:31:16 2008 - After roughening up the areas to be painted, vacuuming out the interior several times, and cleaning with surfaces with lacquer thinner until the rags came clean, I painted the interior with 2-1/2 cans of Rust-Oleum Almond Satin (#7758).

Sun Mar 2 20:12:07 2008 - And a shot of the front. Next is to prep, clean, and paint...

Sun Mar 2 20:11:55 2008 - It occured to me that before I get to involved in the canopy frame, I'd better get the interior painted. I've just about gotten all the little parts (side covers, tunnel covers, flap covers, seat pans, fuel pump cover, etc) painted. I chose Rustoleum Almond Satin as the color of choice. Aniko ordered some samples from Classic Aero Designs and we've chosen the interior colors (blue and dark blue for the seats and medium gray for the front carpet). Looks like we're going to start out with their "Sportsman Cloth Basic Package" and work up from that as needed.