Finishing? A long road!

90% done and 90% to go! This has been one of the most interesting and time consuming parts of the project. sometimes I wonder did I build a metal airplane or a composite? Juries still out on that one! Anyway there are a lot of pictures here. Remember by clicking on a picture it will enlarge it for better viewing.



These top pictures are of the required Service bulletin for the rear fuselage.

Moving day! After fitting the gear it was time to move it down to the "big shop." this is an old picture taken in the fall of 2008.

This is an older picture showing the fitting of the cowl and spinner. Since this was taken the cowl has been finished and the engnie baffles fitted.

Never could get the stock door seals to where I liked them, so I went with the McMasters seals other builders have used. Now the doors can be closed with one hand.

Interior Appointments

Through this project I have stayed with the motto "simple and light." (Well most of the time;) For the interior I went with a textured paint (Rust-Oleum) over the epoxy primer. Wood armrests in back and matching (but not pictured) wood door thresholds. Also not pictured are some aluminum covers that cover the fuselage side forward of the front seats. The seats are by Cleveland Tool. Seatbelts are stock Van's Aircraft.

Electrical Runs Under the baggage Floor

From time to time the question of 'how to run the electrical under the baggage floor' comes up. Well, here is how I did it. As you will notice I ran a total of 6 of Van's Aircraft's conduit under the floor broads. This may be over kill, but I have used 5 of them so far.

Panel Update

If one thing is the focus point of an homebuilt aircraft it is the instrument panel. I haven't said much about it, until now, but here are some pictures of the finished panel. I went a head and had Pacific Coast Avionics do the panel wire and have to say it is nice work. Also, I am including some shots of the sub panels from earlier in the build.

The panel includes:
Advance 3500 with AOA & ARINC module
TruTra DigiFlight II Autopilot
Garmin 396 (for weather & backup navigation)
Garmin 340 audio panel
Garmin 430W
Icomm A200
Garmin GTX327 transponder
Trutrak ADI with GPS
Backup ASI
Backup ALT
EBC 406 ELT