Hydraulic Pump Mount

The factory supplied pump has two [2] tapped holes for mounting located on the base. It is a given that the pump will have to be removed at some time, so accessible mounting holes are required.

Factory Installation

Pump Chassis

Flying Legend supplies an aluminium chassis to mount the pump on but when the builder tried to fit it it was found that it would not fit under the control tube and there was no way the safety wire was going to be cut - Plan B.

Plan B
It was decided to create a stand alone chassis for the pump and the attached photos shown the method. A piece 120 mm wide was cut from the factory chassis and reinforced using extruded aluminium angle fixed to the chassis with M3 x 6 pop rivets. 

A set of M5 Rivet nuts were installed to secure the feet of the pump.

A series of lighting holes was added as I felt guilty using 1.5 mm angle and I have the faring tools.

Pump Feet
Two [2] aluminium feet were fabricated from 25 x 25 x 1.5 mm aluminium extrusion. These had to be scalloped to clear the pump motor and reservoir. 

All the M5 screws to mount the brackets to the feet were left from the control installation.

Pump feet installed with M5 s/s cap head screws and spring washers
Note: A larger scallop was required to clear the reservoir
The base mounting holes are clearly seen in this imiage

Finished assembly

Comment: Doing it again the feet would be made at the reservoir side and angle moved to the underside to clear the screws. The feet could have been a flat plate but countersunk screws were required and were not available on the day.

Elevator Install - Part 6

The elevator must be installed on the stab before the rudder can be installed as all practical access will be lost.

Wiring

The skin on the port elevator with the trim was not been fully riveted allowing the cable from the trim motor to the fuselage to be installed and secured correctly. A maintenance loop was stored in the first bay with oversize nylon clamps allowing the loom to slip through while supporting the cable away from the metal.

Cable supports fixed to lower skin

The cables were mounted onto the top side of the turtle deck using nylon clamps and stainless steel mounting brackets. These will be covered with the dorsal faring which will be fixed with M3 counter sunk screws and riv nuts to provide future access. The trim tab will be accessed via the side faring which will be secured in a similar manner.

These were also made removable to provide access to various points for future maintenance of all types.

Note: Doing it again I would have moved the connections to the elevator cover to allow access via faring for maintenance.

Cable connections

Fitting Elevator

All the necessary AN3 bolts and nuts were assembled and the elevator then fitted to the main spar. All of the bolts with little force required to align and insert the bolts through all three components.

Comment: Fitting bolts in this bolts here is an extreme finger sport but a long time ago, the tool below was purchased for this task. I have no idea what its called or where to get one again but if you see one, get hold it by all and any means available.


A bolt is loaded as shown and the tool allow's a bolt to be inserted with relative ease in tight places like rudders, elevators and ailerons.

There a a few more checks to do and a couple of small jobs then the rudder stab can be reinstalled.

Elevator Finito - Part 5

Note: The series of tasks photos used are not in chronological order.

D Nose

The material used to manufacture the D Nose distorts easily and that's why it was placed under the top skin as my attempt to achieve a flat skin resulted a puckered look but there was a positive as packing was required to align the skin to the mass balance.

Comment: Keep the skins is a safe place and do not separate from factory packing until needed. Handle as little as possible as this aluminium is very soft and will damage easily.

With the D Nose skin matched drilled  and cleoced the elevator assembly now removed and the remaining holes drilled then the D Nose was removed. All swaf was blown out and the D Nose de-bured carefully then primed on the inside face, top edges and allowed to dry.

The D Nose was installed using the factory M3 x 8 pop rivets. 

Mass Balance Faring

A misalignment at the top side of the outer rib for the mass balances meant that packers had to be cut from 0.020'' scrap as required. These were installed in varying lengths and combinations along the area affected with the goal to taper or average out the misalignment and prevent a deformation if the skin was riveted to the face of spar. 

Packers Port Side

There was no science just plain old "suck and see"  based on if it looks good it is good.

At assembly the various combinations especially the single hole packer had a drop of Loctite 380 Black Max Super Glue applied and cleoced to dry.

Mass Balances

Next the skin for the mass balance was trial fitted to check alignment to the tip faring. The mountings for the mass balances had been installed previously in the assembly following the factory drawings. Due to the thickness of the flange each hole on the inside face was counter-bored with a 5.5 mm drill to a depth of 3 mm to allow the factory rivets to be used

Checking balance with mass weights
Note: A small amount of the rib is marked
for removal to clear faring

When installed it was noted that the elevator assembly did not achieve positive balance, so an extra 60 mm OD x 7 mm thick washer was added to both sides which meant the M10 lock nut had to be placed on the outside of the outer rib and tightened. 

Factory installation

The mounting blocks for mine were installed before this was noted by the builder. A existing hole was enlarged to accept the 10 mm shaft and this allowed four [4] pop rivets to be used as it would be bad news if a weight ever broke free. I will speak to the factory about the required balance and if more is required it would be done with led shot and epoxy. 

Adjusting flanges

Packers after riveting

Extra weight added

Assembled mass balance faring.
Note: Tips are ready to install and the skin was 
fitted as a final operation with the tips

Fitting Fiberglass Tips : Stab

With the elevator re-mounted and chocked into alignment allowing the tips fairings to be installed and aligned with all the mounting tab's for the fairing's installed previously. 

Starting at the port side, the tip was sanded slowly until it look right - it was that scientific. All sanding was done using 80 grit paper on a flat surface at the start. A taper was required and it was started on using a 300 mm disc sander with a 125 grit and finished using a sanding stick and 80 grit paper.  

Fitted then marked and sanded again and again till the correct look was achieved. 

Note: One side had to be sanded generally to achieve the correct appearance - these were not just a square sand. 

 

Port tip ready to install
note tilt

Once satisfied the fiberglass faring was match drilled to its tabs and fixed with M3 x 6 counter sunk pop rivets.

Port tip installed

The starboard tip was approached in the same manner except the location of the outer tip was used as a reference using a marked stick to transfer the location from the port to the starboard side.

Note: The fuselage was level for this task allowing the floor to be used as a fixed reference. After riveting the end of these tips are a absolute weapon, care has to be exhibited when moving past them

Checking starboard tip location using marked stick

Fitting Fiberglass Tips: Elevator

The right line - following the red line

Elevator was chocked into it correct position for level flight allowing the tips to be aligned. After the first fitting it was decided that the end of the tip had to be opened to allow the tip fitting to begin and was achieved using a hand saw.

Open end elevator tip as it was
found it was to tight at the rear

The procedure was the same as the tips with the edges having to be sanded differentially to achieve the right line. The best technique to determine how much to remove was to hold the tip hard against the top skin or bottom skin and rotate it till it contacted the opposing skin. Check the line and if incorrect rotate the tip on the over size side into the correct position and then using a finger to feel the gap then sand the appropriate side - repeat and repeat.

Note: The amount to be removed was marked using a Sharpie pen and a finger as the guide to transfer the estimated amount to be removed to the faring - then sand - repeat.

With all these task's completed the elevator was removed again and the mass balances weights, tips and fairing skin installed.

The final task is wiring and this is for the next blog. 

Finito is Italian for finished