20212022
- 04. October - Flight Testing (Misc)UK Light Aircraft Association (LAA) required a minimum of 5 hrs of testing with at least 15 landings, whilst remaining within 25 miles of the designated test base. The required test plans were: See...
- 27. August - Weight and Balance (Misc)The weight of G-PTSI with fire extinguisher and spats in place came in at 524.5 kG within a few kilograms of the other UK TSIs. Thanks to Tim for coming in to make the measurements and make the...
- 25. August - Lots of small tasks to finish the build (Misc)Safety wiring – magnetic plug on the engine Safety wiring oil and water radiator clips Camloc retaining spring on the cowling Loctite the wing fairing screws Making the door catches run...
- 25. August - Magnetometer Calibration (Misc)I followed the on-screen tests for interference and calibration. Worst-case interference was 7% of the limit when taxi lights turned off. I did the swing test just outside the hanger and it...
- 20. August - Fuel Flow Test (Misc)I did a fuel flow test. Checked both pumps and wing tanks. 20 to 22 seconds to deliver 1 litre makes > 140 litres/hr compared to max engine consumption of 43 litres/hr at take off a large...
- 18. August - Upholstery (Misc)The upholstery kit was the last one to arrive. I went with standard option 1 in grey. It was the only kit without shortage or backorders! Although the required M4 rivnuts were supplied as M5, no...
- 08. August - First Engine Start (Misc)Checking the gauges before the first start – found that the wiring of the differential fuel pressure sensor was not correct. (Midwest colour coding of wires does not match the sensor as I had...
- 20. July - Plane moved from paint to hangar (Misc, Paint)A long busy day. I made two journeys from the paint shop to the final airfield. First with the fuselage and then with the wings. The wings were very carefully stacked using 6 old tyres for spacing...
- 15. July - Paint (Paint)My paint scheme was inspired by the Sling USA demonstrator plane N135WT and my current group share plane GCLAC. With changes to the blue and gold paint. Aerotech Paint Ltd did ane excellent job at...
- 18. June - Empennage Fairing (Elevator, Empennage, Horizontal Stabiliser)The empennage fairing did not fit too well. A large 4mm gap at the leading edge of the HS. It’s a nice snug fit on the VS, but not able to pull the fairing down to be flush with the HS. After...
- 17. June - Eyebolts – Sevice Bulletin (Ailerons, Controls, Elevator, Empennage, Flaps, Service Bulletins)The factory has issued an SB 0020 on eyebolt types. Seems I have 25 out of 26 of the defective type 3 . All will need to be replaced! Spent 4 hours removing all eyebolts. The ones on the rudder...
- 14. June - Completing the Canopy (Canopy)Gas struts and door latch strike plates assembled. (I let out a few seconds of gas from the pre-charged gas struts to reduce the opening...
- 08. June - Propellor Arrived (Propeller)After 9 months my Airmaster propellor arrived. I checked all contents of the prop to be sure I have everything for later on. All were present after missing parts were found. Wired up the...
- 07. June - Wingtips (Wings)Wingtips were quite easy to fit. KAI is good on this one. Important to get aligned with the spar and also snug up to the leading edge. Don’t forget the nav light...
- 31. May - Taxi / Landing Light Lens (Misc)To make a more serviceable lamp lens I decided to use M3 rivnuts to attach the lens. (Rather than the kit supplied...
- 27. May - Windscreen (Misc)Quite a challenging task, probably the scariest in the whole project. First is to trim, trim, trim the windshield to size. The factory recommends an angle grinder. I used a Dremmel with a 38 mm...
- 25. May - Filling the Brake System (Misc)Messy job. On advice, I feed the brake fluid from the cylinder up to the reservoir. The trick is to be sure to remove all air bubbles from the master cylinder and purge the air out. To do this...
- 24. May - Control panel (Misc)I sprayed the panel myself with Paragon Paints enamel Black (Night) BS381C – 642 , not too black, tried to match the black leather than go all out black black. With about 10% PT8 synthetic...
- 24. May - Aligning the flaps and ailerons (Ailerons, Wings)This turned out to be quite a tricky step, requiring lots of patience. It’s important that the flaps and aileron trailing edges are aligned with a (string) line from wing root to wingtip. My...
- 07. May - Fuel tank testing (Misc)I tested QB fuel tanks in several ways: Baloon test – test the circumference over 24 hrs Soap test high concentration of washing up liquid – look for bubbles Manometer test – 700 mm...
- 05. May - Flaps and Aileron assembly (Ailerons, Flaps)My last work with Aerowave was to do the priming. Happy to disassemble the paint booth to make some space in the workshop. It’s getting quite busy with the wings in there as well now. Assembly...
- 26. April - Rivet filling (Uncategorized)All external rivets filled with Superfill. Thinned it down with a few drops of white spirits. Used a syringe to fill each rivet. Its a long tedious job. The underside ones are easier than you think....
- 24. April - Paint (Misc)Choosing paint. I like the paint scheme of the Sling demonstrator plane in Torrance California N135WT. It’s very similar to my existing share group plane. I have gone with slightly different...
- 12. April - Wing Stand (Misc)I need to ready the workshop to work on the wings which are now en-route. Luckily one of my neighbours was disposing of a large pallet. And another neigbour has a rather good table saw. Also one way...
- 08. April - Test fit of empennage (Misc)Exciting moment. I wanted to see where the tail wiring connectors should be fitted. It was a sunny day so I pulled the plane out to make the first test fit. It also allowed the GTN650 to see some...
- 25. March - Wings are on their way (Misc)My quick build wings shipped from Durban 25 March 2022. Its interesting to track the container ship. And frustrating to see how much time is lost waiting for a dock and time in port. Route Durban...
- 14. March - Cowling (Misc)Quite tricky and time-consuming to get it right. 3 days. Decided to go with Camlocks all-around rather than Camlocks plus 4 Dzus fasteners in the lower cowling that the kit has. Some rework of...
- 27. February - Instrument panel first switch on (Avionics, Centre Console, Misc, Panel)An exciting moment. The G3x immediately found (over the CAN bus) the magnetometer (GNU11) and audio panel. I initially had problems recognising the transponder. Made a software update G3x V6.0 now....
- 25. February - Bonding the top skin (Canopy, Finishing, Fuselage, Top skin)Been putting off bonding the top skin for some time. Was about to do it then realised I need to run another cable for the propellor pitch control. I don’t have the prop cables yet but left some...
- 19. February - Wiring (Avionics, Centre Console, Harness, Interior, Lights, Wings, Wiring)Been laying out the wiring harness through the centre console and looking to see how all the required lines will go. Especially how all the lines will go and not clash. Getting past the elevator...
- 15. February - Antennas (Avionics)15 Jan 2022 Learnt about doubler plates and installed the GPS antenna – well at least test fit till after painting. Used the Dremmel to repurpose the kit supplied mounting bracket, making a...
- 14. February - Autopilot Servos (Avionics)I fitted the Aileron AP servo today. Should have been a quick job. But no, was a really long job…The bracket for the servo was not factory fitted (as it should have been in QB), no matter,...
- 01. February - Controls (Controls)Started the joystick and push rod control system, spent many hours making sure the rods run smoothly. 27/2/2022 – A note on making the controls run smoothly. The design used pushrods and torque...
- 28. January - Avionics rack and wiring harness install (Avionics, Magnetometer, Misc)Got started on fitting the rack today. Doubler panel. The latest offering (Jan 2022) from MWPB splits the harness into two. One for the airframe and one for the equipment rack behind the dash. It is...
- 28. January - Fitting the panel to dashboard (Avionics)Lots of work with the Dremmel was required on my dash to open up the fibreglass/leather. Slow messy job. There is very little space below the main switches on the left. Fitted rivnuts with epoxy...
- 26. January - Avionics panel has arrived (Avionics, Panel)Panel arrived! Well at least package 1 of 2 after 12 days chasing customs clearance with UBS! Looks good but has some minor damage. Started assembling ECU onto LRU rack using MWPB customer videos as...
- 26. January - Seat belts (Misc)Test fitted the seat belts to see if I have all the right bits. KAI is not clear. Emailed with factory, updated the rivets to 4.8 mm on the front seat belt brackets. Torqued the belt clamp AN4 bolts...
- 22. January - Canopy and Doors (Canopy, Doors)I have QB with canopy factory installed. However, there is still some tricky work to do on the door composites, so I removed them to work on. The main door latch mechanism has a complex shape...
- 21. January - Static Ports (Avionics, Misc)The factory has moved the static ports to 25 mm in front of the Nacca duct. (Used to be in the rear fuselage). The ports now require a shield to be riveted around them. A kit is on its way to me....
- 19. January - Installing the top skin (Canopy, Top skin)Using Evan Byne video guidance affixed the top skin. The composite seemed to need twisting a little to get it to fit evenly on both sides. Using the hole finder tool, the trick is to align the...
- 18. January - Getting ready for closing front composite (Misc)The arrival of my avionics panel is imminent and I will need to fit the LRU rack. To do so ideally the front composite needs to be in place to secure the avionics first rib. With the front composite...
- 15. January - Horizontal Stabiliser (Empennage, Horizontal Stabiliser)Extra countersinking in the forward spar is needed in my case, to accommodate the 8 extra dimples I made in the skin (top surface only). Many do not rivet locations. I needed to take great care to...
- 11. January - Elevator (Elevator, Empennage)Started elevator, the instructions and Evans video are very clear. Note the 2 stainless steel rivets. Different rivet size on end ribs. 10 Feb 2022 Having got the HS absolutely straight proceeded...
- 10. January - Vertical Stabiliser (Empennage, Vertical Stabiliser)The vertical stabiliser has some points to watch. Important to open up the M4 holes in the lower part of the vertical spar. Use some bolts to be sure they freely fit later on. I opened them up to 5...
- 08. January - Rudder (Rudder)Assembled the rudder today. Pretty straightforward. Printed KAI has the wrong rivet size of 3.2 mm rather than 4 mm in one place. The latest dropbox KAI is correct. Took some time and care to get the...
- 07. January - Priming (Empennage, Priming)Did my first real priming today. My earlier test on the internal panels didn’t turn out too well. Streaky and poor coverage. Too cold and me never used an air spray gun before! Anyway, after a...
- 04. January - Let the dimpling begin (Empennage)The empennage kit finally arrived (rudder, vertical stabiliser, horizontal stabiliser and elevator). Although some major parts missing, like the main spar! Anyway started by unpacking and removing...
- 04. January - Paint booth and PPE (Priming)There’s a lot of debate about corrosion protection. As I have a quick build kit many of the parts are already treated with Alodine at the factory. However, for the empennage flaps and ailerons,...
- 22. December - Spats (Undercarriage)Instructions are quite clear. My composites were not pre-drilled. The right-hand side spat fitted very nicely. The left-hand moulding appears to be different. The shorter ‘neck’ and...
- 11. November - Alodining Small Parts (Priming)My quick build fuselage is largely already alodinded by the factory. Many additional parts to add to the fuselage that are untreated. Have decided to treat them with brush Bonderite M-CR ALCRM 1200....
- 08. November - Internal sound insulation (Finishing)My kit had extra firewall foam in it, so I used it to add additional sound insulation to the fuselage. So now 3 layers of foam in places. Repurposed some of the packing crates to make inside seats in...
- 04. November - Engine Pipework (Engine)Having got the engine in place proceeded with oil, fuel and water hoses. The AN oil fittings are a very tight fit. Needed to heat up the oil pipe with a heat gun, add some light lithium grease, and...
- 31. October - Firewall Forward and engine (Engine, Firewall Forward, Fuselage)Prepared Firewall for engine mounting. Conscious that I needed to get as much as possible fitted and holes drilled before the engine gets in the way! Fitting the foam and firewall components was...
- 21. October - Centre Fuselage and Seats (Brakes, Centre Console, Controls, Fuselage, heater, vent,, Interior, Rudder, Seats, Tools)First tasks, checking inventory for the quick build fuselage, firewall forward and canopy kits many items missing. The elevator torque tube was very stiff as assembled by the factory. Had to drill...
- 07. October - The Journey Begins (Misc)7 Oct 2021 first delivery My Sling TSI quick build kit first delivery. Although as I found out later, there were many missing pieces in the kit at this stage. Thanks to Bill for helping to unload the...
- 30. September - Workshop (Tools)The Sling Tsi is about 7m long. Luckily this fits diagonally in my existing 5.5 x 5.5m double garage. Although there’s not enough height for the tail. The cars will stay on the drive for a...
Plugin by Oliver Schlöbe