Well, I doubt that any airplane I own will ever be COMPLETELY finished when it comes to wiring (I always like to tweak a bit here, add something there…), but I am getting close enough to declaring victory on the -3 to post a few pictures. There are a few more temporary wire ties to replace with lacing, a battery hold-down to fabricate, avionics fan to install, and some final antenna wiring to be done, but I think that for now, we are going to put away the wiring tools and start planning on getting Junior on his gear and ready for an engine. With the prep work done (only need to drill firewall holes for the finished wire bundle and control cables), we should have things hooked up and ready to start slugging on the cowl and baffles in no time. A few pictures;
The best thing that Van ever did was redesign the -3 for wing tanks, leaving the old fuselage tank area free for avionics. Here is the “avionics bay from the starboard side:
Note the relay decks from Aircraft Extras – they really made a neat installation for trim and flaps. The Aux battery needs a capture strap, but that is where it fits. The cable bundle for the engine is just draped over the firewall for now.
Here is the Port side view:
The two Canon-style connectors are for the Caution and Warning and panel switches – disconnect those, a couple of pitot/static lines, and the D-Subs for the avionics, and the panel comes right out – about two minutes and its on the bench.
The top view shows just how little room is taken up by the G3X and Tru Trak boxes. And with them, the space they take up is mostly air. This is one LIGHT panel! (Yeah the avionics stack below it is not trivial):
These relay decks will make it really simple when we get the surfaces on to reverse wires to correct “direction of travel” issues with trim if required:
And oh yeah….I had forgotten that we were going to put in a rudder trim servo – and therefore we needed a switch! This was just about the only location I could find, and frankly, it works amazingly well! With the Fatboy grip, your wrist doesn’t actually ride where I put the trim switch, so it is an ideal location for not getting bumped, but being easy to find.
That’s the status as of now – I am sure we’ll do some work this weekend – I look forward to getting to something other than D-Sub connectors for awhile….
Paul
The best thing that Van ever did was redesign the -3 for wing tanks, leaving the old fuselage tank area free for avionics. Here is the “avionics bay from the starboard side:
Note the relay decks from Aircraft Extras – they really made a neat installation for trim and flaps. The Aux battery needs a capture strap, but that is where it fits. The cable bundle for the engine is just draped over the firewall for now.
Here is the Port side view:
The two Canon-style connectors are for the Caution and Warning and panel switches – disconnect those, a couple of pitot/static lines, and the D-Subs for the avionics, and the panel comes right out – about two minutes and its on the bench.
The top view shows just how little room is taken up by the G3X and Tru Trak boxes. And with them, the space they take up is mostly air. This is one LIGHT panel! (Yeah the avionics stack below it is not trivial):
These relay decks will make it really simple when we get the surfaces on to reverse wires to correct “direction of travel” issues with trim if required:
And oh yeah….I had forgotten that we were going to put in a rudder trim servo – and therefore we needed a switch! This was just about the only location I could find, and frankly, it works amazingly well! With the Fatboy grip, your wrist doesn’t actually ride where I put the trim switch, so it is an ideal location for not getting bumped, but being easy to find.
That’s the status as of now – I am sure we’ll do some work this weekend – I look forward to getting to something other than D-Sub connectors for awhile….
Paul
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