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Landing Brake

Today I finished the landing brake:

This is pretty much strictly by the plans, with a few minor modifications. I’ve never really liked the sorta squared-off look of the back side of the landing brake, so I created a more rounded look by sanding the edges of the foam down at the edges. I continued this contour all the way across the back of the landing brake.

I also used Jack Wilhelmson’s brake actuator. Installation of this unit it very simple, and requires almost no deviation from the plans. It also comes with some of the hardware described in the plans, such as the metal bracket that bolts to the brake. The only deviation is to move the mounting point on the front seat-back away from the brace a little bit. I bought the unit over the summer, so I just lowered the brake with the actuator attached, and marked where it hit the seat-back.

When installing the brake, I think I made my first real mistake. I mounted the hinge a bit too low, and now the brake doesn’t settle onto the bottom of the plane quite right. After closer examination, I think I also found a little low-spot on the fuselage bottom that needs to be brought up to flush. I think a bit of micro would do it, and I’ll add a bit of flox around the landing brake to get a smooth transition when the brake is raised.

At this point, I have to keep reminding myself that these small errors are not the end of the world. I recently left town for a few days and when I returned, the gap between the brake and the fuselage, which I thought was huge, really isn’t a big deal. At first, these things always look worse than they really are. I’ve found the best plan for errors is to leave them alone for a few days after you discover them, then take a fresh look. Otherwise I’m prone to over-reaction.

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Chapter 8 finished!

A couple weeks ago I finished Chapter 8 and immediately started Chapter 9. I did this before taking a proper set of pictures of the Chapter 8 work, but will do so when the plane is suitable for flipping back onto its side.

Chapter 8 was, again, very much by the plans. My biggest deviation was a very common one, where I put the nut plates into the shoulder rests before attaching it to the fuselage. This way I don’t have to cut the slits in the face of the shoulder rests.

I also punted on making the head rests. I’m planning to do a forward-hinged canopy, so I’ll attach both of those to the canopy frame. I’m also considering some off-the-shelf head rests rather than building the ugly triangle thing in the plans. But I’ll deal with that when it’s time to build the canopy.

Pics to come…

Shoulder Rest Installed

Here’s the shoulder rest after installation and glassing. I stuck largely with the plans, and put the 3 ply UNI layup over hte seatbelt attach points. I peel-plyed the entire thing in one big piece, and it came out super smooth and nice. Can’t want to sit in it to try it out!

In the back you can see my Vance Atkinson sight gauge installed. I put this in during Chapter 7. I deviated from the provided instructions somewhat. I never really liked how the sight gauge sorta sticks out away from the side of the fuselage when installed per the instructions. Just never looked clean to me. So I decided I’d mount mine mostly flush with the interior side. To do this, before glassing the exterior, I cut away enough foam from to attach the sight gauge to the back side of the interior glass. I also cut a hole in the interior glass for the sight gauge “bubble” to poke through. I then liberally floxed the sight gauge to the outside of the interior glass. When glassing the exterior I simply poked the metal tubes through the UNI, being careful not to plug them with excess epoxy.

I’m really pleased with the result. The sight gauges poke out just enough that you can see them from the front seat, but have a nice, flush look to them. I plan to leather the sides of the interior, and will be able to carry the leather all the way to the edge of the bubble.

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