Microlighters

Well I thought I would give you guys an update on the build so far.

Vertical stab installed, rudder installed, cables attached, tensioned, wire locked, and all castle nuts from the tail to the undercarriage checked, tightened and split pins installed (man are there plenty of those!!) every bolt replaced with brand new from Placo ( holy bejeeeebers 6 small packets of nuts, bolts, and washers cost over R6K !)

The ailerons connected, adjusted, tensioned, co-ordinated controls adjusted, lined up, springs installed, and fully functional. So all flight controls are installed and tested 100% awesome!!

Nose wheel with undercarriage checked, angles and movement 100%

Stanchions filled with nitrogen, oil and tested 100%

All bolts, and connectors with cockpit controls installed and marked, yokes installed to test alignment, 100%

Planes incline set with inclinometer

Wing tips, tail tips, elevator tips installed

That's alot of work for a first time build - anyways not much to go still.

- canopy installation
- hydraulic pipe work
- test hydraulics
- install glass cockpit (still to purchase....)
- start engine and fly the hell out of it!!

5 points... How hard can that be??? Hahaha and then my beer was warm....

Any progress?

Hey -- yes plenty progress. The plane has so many mods which are aftermarket and some carried out already, and some in the process still. There are fuselage to wing cowls which make the lady look very pretty, BUT require massive work to fit, the fuselage needs anchor nuts rivetted onto it, and then the cowl needs to be trimmed, and made to fit then bolted onto the fuselage - i have a guy called Ronald, who works for SAA doing this for me, which is holding up some other work on the plane, but we ned him to finish before we continue. These cowls will need to be painted once fitted and confirmed complete.

The glass is in, the lining in the canopy is complete, the roller mechanism that the canopy runs/rolls on is done, the rear quarter panel which fits inside the canopy is also done. The seats and other interior bits are covered with new leather and ready to go in. The instruments are checked and ready for installation. Just need the AH and DI sent in to someone for checking - Dart is mad with their prices .... so ill use someone else for this (need to find someone)

ALL and i mean EVERY LAST BOLT has been checked, torqued, ALL split pins checked and some redone to spec, from the front to the back of the plane. Hydraulics are 100% tested and working, there was a small leak at the reseviour, which is not sorted. The pipework in terms of hydraulics are all checked and working with no leaks - the landing gear retracts 100% - locks iln place, and all wiring for the strobe, port and starborn side are run and ready for connection. new throttle cables, mixture cables, etc in the cockpit are in and ready to be connected to the engine. Brian Clack will be doing the firewall forward for me, since he zero timed the engine - i would prefer him to manage the engine bay alone. Once this is complete and ready to start, then its install and connect avionics (which will remain old school) and install interior, install canopy and FLY!!!

Hey Turbo,

I am sure you are itching to get her in the air... but as with all good things, they come to those who wait...

Cheers
Craig

yeah but the PPL isnt even underway yet -- thats the next step.... gonna get that done once the plane is a bt further.

I wondered what the bed was for until I saw this

Ya she is real big inside!! It's a comfortable 4 seater and an uncomfortable 6 six seater...

Really a pretty aeroplane.... it has excellent breeding (Mustang P51... )

http://youtu.be/eCK8Gk_wHwM

Yeah John, wishing ad the big daddy mustang myself!!

Sooooo what's been happening her sir.....

Plenty progress on the nitty gritty bits and pieces which don't seems like a big job, but man are they time consuming! The guy helping me with the build has been out the country for two months now so not much has happened for two months. He returns on the 24th, and then the instruments and electronics are going to start. in the mean time, first thing i want to do is get an oil pressure and temp gauge connected install the prop and make sure pitch control is working, then start the engine.

Once this is done, I'm certain it should inject some motivation into them old bones again, and we can start drawing the project to a close.

I have the bars and stripes template, thanks to Jacques Richie, and will be using that to get the decals onto the wings and Fuselage. Regards paint, I'm in two minds, i prefer the polished look that she currently shows, but it dulls after time, and looks horrible. Who knows - lets see what happens. ill post pics once cowls are on, and she looks like something nicer than a stripped down aerie. Don't wanna post pics that won't give her justice if you know what i mean.

Well you know what they say, 90% done and 90% still to go!

Just had a look at the pic's again and this is going to be a good looking aircraft. Keep it as is just wash and polish on regular basis. Their is a Globe Swift, at Krugersdorp I think, that is polished with some blue if memory serves me and looks stunning and always shining.

Sterkte and can't wait for the pic's.

Thanks alot man - i will certainly keep that in mind. but i must say here is a pic of a REALLY NICE Navion, which has my brain ticking in the same direction....

No that's a clean design... I like it!

Thing is it might be considered an insult to some as the ARMY never used this plane in RSA - it was actually flown by Oom Willie (Mr Navion) to south west and back for dignitaries etc....

here is another design i also quite like - but cannot make a decision!