Twisted: Week 85 - Panel, parts building and Control column

Hours to date 863.5

I decided against the satin black for the panel. I did paint it that colour but it just did not look right. So I took Pete up on his offer to paint it with his fancy glider panel paint. £90 for a small tin!

It comes out with a texture almost like sandpaper, so no light is reflected off it. I went for the charcoal colour as that will match the rest of the cockpit interior.

Pete's 3rd Twister has still not taken it's first flight. The LAA required him to load test the bomb - and it passed with flying colours (no pun intended)

I helped him mount the motor and install a few accessories. A good learning experience for me.

I finished up the tailwheel bearing shroud. I just used a round file to shape the bottom part to fit over the cross member.

Fits good and should protect that bearing from all the muck off the tailwheel and it weighs nothing.

Onto my part making...

Pete was kind enough to lend me his moulds for the aileron pushrod shrouds and the wing pin retaining clips. These clips are an aftermarket mod by Pete - and I have to say I do like the idea of the wing pins being secure!

I used 6 layers of glass for the clips - which may have been a layer too much as they are a bit stiff - but they should still flex enough to get the pin in.

The aileron shroud is just 2 or 3 layers of glass laid up over a foam plug (with parcel tape to release). Dimensions are 430mm long by 95 high with a width of 70mm at the root end and 30mm at the control column end.

Actually I am finding it a real hassle to get the shroud to release from the plug - as I don't have compressed air in my garage so I can't use that - which is the normal trick. A blast of that down the sides and most things release.

I think I will use release wax as well for the next shroud to make things easier.

Onto the control column.

Part of knowing where to cut the holes for the aileron shrouds is having the control column in place first.

It's a fairly straight forward job to build up the control column.

I used my new heat gun to heat up the metal before putting the bearing in and it was so effective I really only needed the lightest of taps with a hammer and socket to drive it in.

Getting the bigger bearing onto the flange was also easy.

What became more of a mission was getting the other big bearing onto the part that the flange sits on (and the control stick itself is attached to at the other end).

Maybe due to the anodising that Pete had done on this part it was slightly thicker? Anyway the best thing is to get hold of a 24mm deep socket. I just had a normal one and used vice grips and an adjustable spanner underneath it to extend it's reach as the bearing was moved down.

The flange is then driven onto that other bearing and a locking washer is bolted in place with a locking pin as added security to hold it together.

I found that it was rotating perfectly until after hammering in the locking pin - this had the effect of tightening the play on the bearing and made it catch a bit.

The secret is to only do up the bolt on the end to finger tight and then after hammering in the pin you may have to pull the pin out slightly with a pair of pliers to get the bearing to rotate freely again.

Drilling out the coach bolts was a bit focusing! As you are drilling through the spar tunnel.

Nothing is mentioned in the manual about where these holes should be drilled. Luckily I measured Pete's twister while I was there and noted the gap at the base of the aileron actuator - which is only about 8-10mm. The distance down from the top of the spar tunnel to the top of the mount flange is 40mm.

As you can see below this puts the coach bolt at the very base of the spar tunnel inside the cockpit. A little Dremel work is required to make it fit nicely. I also used a small square file to shape out the hole for the square end on the coach bolt.

Fits very well now with no play. The lower bolt is easy by comparison.