The flanges at the other ends of the ducts worked out well and are now finished.
I've made the decision to leave the installation of the nut plates on those flanges until after the fuselage lower panel is bonded in place.
I would never be able to line up the holes, so it's best to wait till it's bonded on and then just drill right through the fuselage lower and flange - then remove the ducts and attach the nut plates.
I've also started fixing up the hole made by the inside oil cooler fitting.
I started by filling in the space around the fitting with plasticine - then put a layer of Kevlar over that and onto the edges. This is followed by a large amount of micro to smooth out the shape and make it blend into the rest of the fuselage side. Micro is light and easy to sand so shouldn't add too much weight.
I spent quite a bit of time working the micro with my thumb (Nitrile glove on of course) and I think it gives a much better result as I was able to get a nice shape and it was pretty smooth overall - so this will mean much less sanding when it is hard.
I will finish up with another layer of kevlar on the top - the micro will then act as a core to the kevlar sandwich - giving the same strength as the rest of the cell.
I also did a little trial fitting of the hoses and as you can see from the below photo there is plenty of room for insulating them and making sure the heat from them does not get to the spar tunnel.
I've started the rudder pedal install but will leave that to another post next week.
 |
| Test fit before final finishing |
 |
| Everything in place - cowl flap closed |
 |
| Trial fit of hoses |
 |
| Loads of room for insulation here |
 |
| Flanges before final thin coat of gelcoat |
 |
| Ducts flanges all done |
 |
| Oil cooler fitting coming into cockpit |
 |
| First layer of Kevlar over plasticine in centre and before micro |
 |
| Micro to smooth out shape |
No comments:
Post a Comment