Tip: Rick Galati's Plane Perspective
 

I know it is getting increasingly difficult to find novel ways of doing something different. I could be wrong but I am not aware that anyone has placed an OAT gauge here. With a flick of the switch, this Davtron unit displays either fahrenheit or celsius. My thoughts at the time were that the instrument panel was already finished and I did not want to shoehorn another gauge into it and ruin my original vision of "symmetry." I thought that noting the OAT at any given time is something only occasionally monitored. So how difficult is it to simply look over the right shoulder from time to time? I hid its remote probe deep inside the right side NACA vent.


Another feature of the fused 1/2 amp installation is that I wired it to turn on with the master switch. If I ever forget to turn the master off, the OAT gauge remains lit. In its obviously visible location, the illuminated gauge can be viewed in bright light and well away from the cockpit environment.

Placing the OAT probe deep inside the NACA vent turned out to be not such a great idea after all. Because of the probe's proximity to the firewall, it sensed engine heat and reported readings that were far too high. I recently relocated the probe well away from the engine compartment. This time I centered the probe on a rear fuselage inspection cover and gave it plenty of service loop. The OAT readings are now accurate.

Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla"

Adornment for retaining cowl hinge pins
 

I know this has been done from time to time and here is my variation. I took a triangular piece of .125 aluminum, beveled the edges, polished same to a high luster, then secured in a vise and twanged with a rubber mallet to conform to the cowls. I then took the hinge pin retaining "adornments" to "Things Remembered", a specialty shop at the local mall and had 160 HP etched into them.

Oil Door Options
 

I could not bring myself to install the kit supplied parts.....not for my Darla! To secure the oil access door, I went with a flush Camlock design ordered thru my (then) FBO from a C-172 parts catalog. Later, I discovered the same part can be had MUCH cheaper in the Flymart area during AirVenture. If you look carefully at the second picture, you can see where the cowl waste material was bonded to the kit supplied oil access door to stiffen it considerably.

Upper Nose Gear Fairing
 

An often overlooked detail....this Fairings-Etc. upper nose gear fairing was installed in such a way as to afford as smooth a transition as possible between it and the lower cowl. It nests inside a conforming recess of epoxy and flox and is held in place with screws and nutplates. The lower cowl/firewall hinge pins can be seen penetrating the cowl effectively capturing either side of the fairing.

Nice touches Rick!

That is what makes these planes CUSTOM!

:D CJ

GPS Mount and Other Details
 

My first attempt at bending metal to fabricate a custom part resulted in this simple GPS antenna mount. I started with a sketch of two full size cardboard patterns (representing the top and sides) folded to fit together till I was satisfied. I then reflattened and traced the patterns onto .032 stock. It is mounted to the firewall with 4 bolts and nutplates. Adding the lightening holes as an afterthought made it look like I knew what I was doing. The placard was generated by a Brother electronic labeler.

Above the mount, you can see many of the 24 floating nutplates installed on an .050 strap to accept #8 screws and Tinnerman stainless washers to fasten the upper cowl to the firewall. This inexpensive alternative to hinges has worked so well on my C-150 cowling over the past 17 years --not one has ever been replaced--that I installed them on "Darla" as well. It does help to use a power screwdriver though. The conventional hinge arrangement was installed everywhere else.