After several months of work on high-priority household projects, and a lower level of physical effort on the new airplane, we finally got the chance to get back out to the hangar for more extended periods of time this weekend, and return to the serious work of building an airplane! We hadn?t laid off the RV-3 project by any means ? I was still working at least a little bit on every day I was in town ? but we were in a bit of a waiting mode for a number of necessary items to come together (both from a design and a purchasing standpoint). Oh, that design and thinking part ? it becomes more and more important when you finish the structure and head on in to the systems installation, especially with a kit plane. Most kits give you a structure when they are ?finished? ? the rest is up to the builder. It is important to mentally shift gears from ?I?ll do what the instructions say? to ?how do I want this done? when you reach this stage!
Now, with supplies finally in hand, and the design concepts firmly established, it was time to take the project to the ?next level? ? transforming it from a nice aluminum sculpture into a nascent airplane. It was finally time to begin work on my favorite part ? the installation of systems! Wiring and plumbing the airframe is like building a complex jigsaw puzzle because you really have to think about the sequence as you install the components. Even though I suggested that the structure is ?finished?, it?s not ? for instance, the turtle-deck is not yet riveted in place. This makes it wonderfully easy to install wiring to the tail (fewer caving skills are involved), but it means that if you are running those nice wires through an area like the baggage compartment, you need to paint that part of the structure before you run them, or the wires will be painted (I don?t like painted wires). But painting the area before you have riveted the top on means you?ll be driving and bucking rivets on finished paint, so there will be touch-up?.You can spend a lot of timing staring at the project, trying to figure out where to jump in to this continuous circle!
Regardless, the best way I have found for me is to eventually just pick a spot and start wiring. Paint as required, drill holes as you need (with bushings of course), and string cables. When I bought my RV-8 QB back in 2004, the turtle-deck was already riveted in place. This made doing really nice tail cone wiring difficult. Having the access this time allows us to do nice Adel clamps, neat lacing, and an overall better wire routing. In the wings, we found some neat little conduit clamps (courtesy of a long-ago post here on VAF and Home Depot Aviation Supply), and that made the installation of thin-wall irrigation hose for the wiring quick and easy. It is really fun to see wires hanging out of the airframe components, because it means we are once again making visible progress. This also gives me a kick in the butt to finish little details on the interior custom work ? finalizing rivet holes for the side consoles for instance.
Aft Fuselage Wiring and Static Plumbing:
Wiring undel for pitch servo:
Wing conduit with wiring in place:
Stein?s quick-connects make static system plumbing a snap!
Call me old fashioned, or call me lazy?.it?s a pop rivet!
Roll Servo ? JUST fits (without a back-shell on the connector):
This is oftentimes the point where builders stumble and projects stall ? that time when they are faced with so many choices, none of which are clearly directed by the kit manufacturer. It is a time when you have to let your own originality and design sense kick in, and it is clear that you are not building a canoe ? you?re actually constructing an airplane!
Paul
Now, with supplies finally in hand, and the design concepts firmly established, it was time to take the project to the ?next level? ? transforming it from a nice aluminum sculpture into a nascent airplane. It was finally time to begin work on my favorite part ? the installation of systems! Wiring and plumbing the airframe is like building a complex jigsaw puzzle because you really have to think about the sequence as you install the components. Even though I suggested that the structure is ?finished?, it?s not ? for instance, the turtle-deck is not yet riveted in place. This makes it wonderfully easy to install wiring to the tail (fewer caving skills are involved), but it means that if you are running those nice wires through an area like the baggage compartment, you need to paint that part of the structure before you run them, or the wires will be painted (I don?t like painted wires). But painting the area before you have riveted the top on means you?ll be driving and bucking rivets on finished paint, so there will be touch-up?.You can spend a lot of timing staring at the project, trying to figure out where to jump in to this continuous circle!
Regardless, the best way I have found for me is to eventually just pick a spot and start wiring. Paint as required, drill holes as you need (with bushings of course), and string cables. When I bought my RV-8 QB back in 2004, the turtle-deck was already riveted in place. This made doing really nice tail cone wiring difficult. Having the access this time allows us to do nice Adel clamps, neat lacing, and an overall better wire routing. In the wings, we found some neat little conduit clamps (courtesy of a long-ago post here on VAF and Home Depot Aviation Supply), and that made the installation of thin-wall irrigation hose for the wiring quick and easy. It is really fun to see wires hanging out of the airframe components, because it means we are once again making visible progress. This also gives me a kick in the butt to finish little details on the interior custom work ? finalizing rivet holes for the side consoles for instance.
Aft Fuselage Wiring and Static Plumbing:
Wiring undel for pitch servo:
Wing conduit with wiring in place:
Stein?s quick-connects make static system plumbing a snap!
Call me old fashioned, or call me lazy?.it?s a pop rivet!
Roll Servo ? JUST fits (without a back-shell on the connector):
This is oftentimes the point where builders stumble and projects stall ? that time when they are faced with so many choices, none of which are clearly directed by the kit manufacturer. It is a time when you have to let your own originality and design sense kick in, and it is clear that you are not building a canoe ? you?re actually constructing an airplane!
Paul
