Category Archives: Center Section

Gear Leg Fairings

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Time: 4 Hours

After working a little on the windscreen fairing I decided to start the next project which will be the gear leg fairings and wheel pants. You start with the fairings which just cover the gear legs to give them aerodynamic shape. I made the initial cut at the 25 15/16″ length that Vans calls for but realized these where going to be way to long. They were hitting the brake lines both at the top and bottom. So I grabbed the intersection fairings, these transition the leg fairings to either the fuselage or the wheel pants to see how high the come up or down on the gear leg. After looking at these I was able to trim the gear leg fairing by two inches and still have a lot of length to go under the transition fairings. So I made the trim and put them in place to see the fit. 

I clamped the edge in several places to get a good fit and made some marks so that I could return the fairing to the same place when I remove them. The fairings get held on by a piano hinge which gets installed so that as the hinge pin is installed it pulls the two parts together squeezing the aft edge so it’s a nice tight seam. I drew a line down the length of both sides of the hinge and marks for the holes spaced out. The fairing is transparent enough so you can see the drill marks. 

I started at the top of the outside at the top and worked my way down the leg by drilling through the fairing then the hinge flange. I cleco’ed each hole as I went. After I finished the outside I moved to the inside and did the same process. I removed the clamps and found that I had a nice tight seam at the aft end. I will square up the aft end with a large block sander after I rivet the hinge in place for it final position. 

I repeated the entire process on the other gear leg and have two nice looking fairing. Next up the wheel pants. 

Side Panel Covers

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Time: 1 Hour

Along each side of the pilots legs is a side panel of sorts. There is a solid cover that goes on these areas. On the left the fuel selector valve is housed and on the right is just solid. I decided to add a cup holder in the right that I found on amazon for a few dollars. It’s black anodized aluminum and I added a layer of neoprene to the inside to help pad a drink. The holder was epoxied in place and then both panels screwed down. 

I added the cover and valve handle to my Andair valve and it looks awesome. 

Arm Rests

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Time: 1 Hour

In between fiberglass layups and cure times I find little tasks to complete to keep busy. I had Classic Aero supply the passenger arm rests in the stock shape and custom ones for the pilot’s. I had created a template out of card stock and mailed them to Classic when I put the order in. They turned out beautiful and are made out of the same leather as the seats. To attach them there is three platenuts built into them on the underside that will accept a #8 screw. To get the placement of the screw holes on to the aluminum arm rests of the aircraft I stuffed some small pieces of paper towel into the screw holes. I then used a sharpie pen to soak the towel with the ink. While the ink was still fresh I placed the armrest into position and pushed down hard so that the towel pieces would touch and leave their mark. This worked well and gave me a marking to drill through. I started with a #40 drill bit and opened it up to a 3/16″ to give me a little wiggle room for the screws. This process worked well and I completed all four in an hour. I used some torx screws, they are easier to tighten, to attach all four in place. Here is a view of the right side pieces in place. I also put the arm rest side panel in place to see how it all looked. 

Gear Leg Brake Lines

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Time: 1 Hour

I ordered some SS braided brake lines from Tom Swearengen at TSFlightLines for my gear legs versus making them out of aluminum tubing. Mainly because I wanted to see his quality of work and to make the connection super easy. He was great to work with and a pleasure to talk to on the phone. The lines were made and shipped the same day and I had them 3 days later. I had to change my fitting on the brake caliper from a 90° to a 45° to make them fit better. Once I had those swapped out I put them in place with a little bit of clear vinyl hose to preven chaffing where I taped them to the legs. The legs will eventually get a fiberglass fairing over them and hide the lines. 

Pitot Staic Line

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Time: 8 Hours

I needed to run the pitot(airspeed) and AOA(angle of attack) lines inside the fuselage and the left wing. I decided where I wanted to run the lines and drilled for two snap bushings at each bulkhead as they went aft from the fuselage side where they will make a 90° and exit to go into the left wing. Once I had the bushings in I ran the lines and secure them with zip ties as needed to keep them out of the way of things like the flap push rod. 


I also needed to reroute the two lines in the wing as I had originally followed the tooling holes in the ribs. The problem with this is it puts the lines exiting the wing too close to the wings spar. Glenn had already figured this out so I adjusted mine like his. I just change the location of the innermost rib snap bushings. In between the last two ribs I rerouted the lines to exit in a better location.  I used a #6 adel clamp to secure the lines to the rib. These lines will be cut to a perfect length once we reinstall the wings for the final time and slide thru the snap bushings in the fuselage side. They will attach to the two elbows that will be inside the fuselage. 

While I was working on the right wing and the pitot/AOA lines I decided to work on the wiring that I needed to run to the pitot and wing tip. On the right wing I will need a 3 wire harness to the tip for the land/taxi lights, a 3 wire(with shielding) harness to the tip for the NAV/Strobe and a 3 wire harness to the pitot tube for pitot heat. At the wing root I used plain Molex connectors as this area should be sealed up from moisture with the rubber seal that will tie the flashing to the fuselage side. Out in the wing tip I might get moisture thru the hinge that I have holding them on so I used Seal-All connectors form McMaster Carr to help prevent corrosion. With the NAV/Stobe I carried the shielding thru the wing root connector and left it un-terminated at the wingtip as per AeroLED’s recommendation.  I started with all the Molex connectors at the wing root and secured them with a adel clamp. 


When we go to attach the wings for the final time I left enough length on the fuselage side to be able to connect the wires with plenty of space as we slide the wings in place. Then as the wings slide into place the extra wire will be pulled into the fuselage and out of the way under the passengers foot wells. 
Once I had the wing root wires secured I moved to the outboard end to work on the weather proof ends. They work just like a Molex except the have a rubber seal that you put on the wire before crimping. Once the wire is crimped you crimp the seal to hold it in place. 

These seals fit nicely into the back of the connector and prevent moisture from getting in.

 Then there is a back peice that snaps into place to hold the wire and seal in place. 

I completed this process for both the land/taxi lights and the NAV/strobe lights and secured them with an adel clamps and zip tied the remaining parts in their bag to the harness so I don’t loose them for later. Then when I get my lights bought I will complete the mating end of the connector on the wires from the lights and make them long enough to connect them as I install the tips. 

I also ordered the Dunon ARINC module, the device that talks between the Skyview system and a certified GPS, so that I could drill and mount the nutplates to the bracket I made a while ago. I really didn’t need this part but I wanted to rivet the bracket to the fuselage and I needed the nutplates to be drilled first. 


So that’s where I stopped and called it a day.