Flight Controls part 10

Dropped back to install the nuts and washers on the bolts that I have installed so far on the flight controls.

The control sticks get castle nuts and cotter pins where they connect to the control column fork.  I guess they could have used regular nylon locknuts here because the bolt and bushing do not rotate.  I don't know why they went this route but I don't ask questions.

The aileron rod end at the control stick gets a nylon locknut and washer because the bolt does not rotate when torqued down.

The elevator control cable attach points get castle nuts and cotter pins because these are only finger tight so the spade end of the cable can freely pivot on the bolt in between the steel forks.

Bottom cable.

The inboard aileron control pushrod ends get nylon locknuts on the studs because the studs do not rotate after torquing.

Side shot to check that there are enough threads sticking out past the locknut.

The carnage to get all of these fasteners installed.  The DNA left on this airplane will definitely prove that I built it.

Flight Controls part 9

Got these bolts and other hardware installed with the aileron pushrods.  This is a total pain in the rear!  Those little spacer washers are the devil.  Access to the area is very tight for someone with big hands and forearms!  Washer wrenches were a life saver here as well as a mirror underneath to be able to see what is going on.  Took a couple hours to get the bolts and washers installed on these two rod ends!

Flight Controls part 8

Not much time to work on the plane today but I did manage to get the control sticks mostly installed.  Just had to remove the powder coat from the steel tube that the bushing slides into.  Had to hone the tube out a little bit to get the bushing to rotate freely and then finally only had to fine tune the length of one of the bushings to get it to go into the control column forks.

Flight Controls part 7

After the primer cured, I was off to installing these nutplates.

Then riveting these seat pan extensions in for good.

All done!

Then I riveted the brackets that end up holding the throttle control later.

Then I fabricated these aileron pushrod tubes and their associated rod end bearings.  Drilling and tapping these was a pain in the rear but I got it done.  Also make sure the bearing with the stud instead of a hole is inserted into the rod by the body NOT the stud!  There is a service bulleting about this because someone crashed and died because these were incorrectly installed the other way around!