Lindy
5/2/2009
Phew! LOOOOONG day! I started off with a 5:30am wake up to cook at the chapter breakfast this morning, then as soon as breakfast was over, I got my group of helpers together to move my wings to the airport! My dad, Terry Wendling (RV-7A), and Steve Clifford (future builder of something), were able to lend me a hand for a couple hours to move them in Terry's enclosed trailer one at a time. I forgot my camera on the first run, but here we are at the hangar with the second one...
I had to snap a pic of the crew! Terry, my dad, and Steve...
After I got back home (and after mowing the yard), I spent the afternoon and evening wrapping up the last of the wiring behind the firewall, and doing some firewall forward stuff. First I finished the mag wires with terminals, then I installed the oil pressure and fuel pressure senders.
Then I installed the oil temp probe (still have to safety).
Next I finished the ground wires on the LED lights (no pic), and then did the pilot side push to talk. I'm using a simple single button grip (Ray Allen 101)...here's the inside after I soldered the leads...
And jump ahead a bit, I have the grip, button, and the wires installed.
The rest of the day and evening was spent cleaning up the wiring behind the panel with zip ties. I had envisioned some super duper clean wiring bundles with waxed lace, but when it came time to do it, I just want it done. Almost everything is labeled, and the few wires that aren't are kept track of on several diagrams and spreadsheets. Here are several shots of my work to clean it all up...
The buss area isn't quite complete (recog lights, smoke, etc...), so that will get cleaned up a bit more.
Still have to plug the AHRS and compass in to the Enigma, as well as the ELT remote, but for the most part, this area is done.
All done here as well...
Here is what I have left to do tomorrow before we move the fuselage to the airport in the afternoon...I took ALL the ground wires off the ground block to redo the wires that are WAY too long. Shouldn't take all that long, but there's a lot of crimping and heat shrink to do...again.
I'm actually feeling a bit sad about moving this tomorrow. It's been a long gestation, and I already have the feeling of an empty nest of sorts. I knew the day would come, and I'm really excited to get it to the airport, but there's still gonna be a hole at home...I do plan to make the back half of the garage an RC workshop tho...
6.75 hours