Saturday August 2, 2025
Installed Spinner, Installed Tailwheel Chains, Installed Aileron Pushrod Boots, Tensioned Alternator
(0.8 Hours Ailerons, 1.0 Hours Canopy, 1.5 Hours Empennage, 1.0 Hours Firewall Forward)
4.2 Hours Total

I spent some more time trying to get the canopy looking better with Novus plastic polishing compounds. They don't really seem to work for me. Really the canopy is fine--I think I'm going to leave it alone before I do real damage to it.

I put the spinner on today.

Then I installed the hardware that connects the rudder to the tailwheel. The plans tell you to leave some slack in these chains.

I installed the upper and lower empennage fairings as well as the aft fuselage access covers.

I also drilled a drain hole in the lower rudder fairing.

I installed both aileron pushrod boots. These help prevent air from flowing into the cockpit through the access holes into the wings.

I taped over the holes in between the top forward skin and the subpanel and then filled all of them with black RTV. This should prevent another method of air entry to the cockpit.

I finished bolting the rudder cables to the rudder pedals and installed the cotter pins.

Finally, I tensioned the alternator belt and torqued all of the alternator bolts. I safety wired the alternator tensioner bolts.

I also ran the magnetometer interference test today while moving the elevators and elevator trim as well as turning on and off the nav/strobe lights in the tail. It passed.

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