As happens to many builders, the closer to finishing, the more urgent I find working on the plane, and the less time I spend taking photos, blogging and logging work and hours in the builder's log. Not that I was all that compulsive about these things before, but I'm worse now.
 |
| Custom made (by me!) carbon fiber spinner |
I finished the spinner cutouts and mounting the spinner. I did rotate the prop to see that all was aligned, even though there is a caution about rotating too much and losing the lubricants from the cylinder wall. I drilled the firewall and added the FAB bypass cable (above yellow cable tie)
 |
| Cable to filter air box bypass gate |
Next, I started to work on the cowling to even out the areas where the top and bottom do not meet up perfectly. After this was done, I cut out holes for the piano hinge wire to exit. These are covered by a small oval of aluminum which fits exactly into the hole, and will seat against a layer of fiberglass. Also, I am starting to build up the cowling behind the spinner to be even all around at a constant 3/16 inch. Bottom done, top to be done
 |
| Piano hinge wire exiting from newly cut hole |
 |
| Showing built up bottom cowl even behind spinner. Top to be done next |
 |
| A view of the inside fiberglass support for the covers where piano wire exits |
The fit against the horizontal stabilizer by the empennage fairing was pretty poor. I cut the flanges off, and did my own. There is still a fair bit of sanding to go on the fairings, but they will look SO much better.
 |
| Flox and fiberglass on horizontal stab |
 |
| Starboard side view |
The center console looks just SO good. Here is how the FAB bypass cable is accessed. Since I don't want it to be confused with the pull for heat cable above and to the right of the fuel selector, I may paint this red
 |
| View of the throttle quadrant, fuel selector, flaps, cabin heat and FAB bypass controls |
 |
| Passenger side view, showing the tensioner for the throttle quadrant |
