Keep on truckin...

First thing will be to see how the window 'dressing' looks...

Turned out OK.  Few spots could be better.  Overall I'm happy.

Exhaust shield aft bolts in place and tightened.

Started integrating in the ELT wire into the bundles from the back.

On Sat, Sept 13 we are having an Air Fair at CYNJ, and the Sportsman will be on display (minus wings...).  To add a bit of 'wow' factor, my buddy said we should put the big tires on.  So we did.

For comical reference, the last time the bush wheels were mounted was April 2021.

Hoping to have the hatch covers, doors, elevator tips and rudder base fairing back in time.  

Fuselage door hinges installed.  ELT wire run up front and panel installed (covered in ELT post).

Elevator counterweights... going to build these out of tungsten shot rather than lead.  I have 6 lbs of tungsten.  Going to encase it in epoxy.  Looking for something at the dollar store I can make a mold out of.

Glareshield installed temporarily.  Pain in the ass to get in correctly with the window in...

Thursday night installed the rudder base fairing and elevator tips, and cleaned the inside floor of the cabin of 'sworf'.

I think it looks really good.  Very pleased.  The elevator tips are interfering with the stab slightly.  The fairings are not quite aligned correctly.  Will be an easy fix... just order of insertion I believe.

Progress... getting on a roll.

Tuesday evening... (Sept 2, 2025)

Pin keepers installed in the stab / elevator / trim.  THAT was a challenge solo.  Thank god for the body work stand.  I use that thing ALL THE TIME.

I was flying solo tonight, so had to get inventive on how to hold the elevator up.  Tape worked!

Peeled a lot of tape off the front window... looks reasonable, but not perfect.  I think I can fix the problem areas.  Also got some silpruf on the interior, but it is coming off with a bit of effort.  Forgot to take a pic.  2 days until the clecos come out.

On the last engine run the pipe off the turbo had a shake.  It was only supported with 1 mount, and its a long pipe.  Added a second mount at 90 degrees (roughly).  I think this will work.  It is definitely less 'shakey' just wiggling it.

That was a 3.5 hour evening.  But it was definitely progress.

Front window came out of the clamps!

Looks pretty good.

Put lock nuts on the new exhaust clamp... I found some.

Installed Deutsch connector under the tail cone for the rudder trim.  The bulkhead connector finally arrived from China.

Seriously impressed with these connectors.  The elevator side has been converted (from molex) as well.

OK, well my trim connector upgrade did not go as planned.  I temporarily assembled everything to test the wiring, and nothing worked.  Very quickly I found that the thin 26 gauge wires were either broken, or about to break.  I have spliced on larger gauge aviation wire on both sides and am testing again.  The ray allen 5 conductor wire is very thin and weak.

The strange / weird thing... I attempted to use solder sleeves to graft on new wires.  The solder in the sleve would not stick to the ray allen wire.  I ended up tinning them first with solder and an iron first, and then using a solder sleeve.  I did a sample piece first (finally learned my lesson) and it is a strong joint now.

I put everything together, and nothing would work.  Zero.  Took it all apart and realized that on the socket side I did not have the pins fully engaged.  It seems like there are two 'clicks' when you push the pin / socket into the connector.  I only got past the first 'click' the first time.  Once fully engaging the pins everything worked as intended.

Checking the elevator travel.  Manual calls for +23 and -20 (+/- 1 degree).  I am getting the -20, but not the +23... about 2 degrees short.  Filing the stop plate through the belly inspection panel.  After an afternoon of filing and checking, I gained a degree.  One more to go.

Sunday... Sept 7

Put the prop on.  3 times :-)

The manual says to pack the cavity between the thrust bearing and threads with grease... it says to use a spatula.  So I did... the blades were not fully seating.  The ferrule was lose... and it was visible.  Later the manual says too much grease will cause exactly this.  So I took it apart and cleaned out the grease and reinserted the blade.  Was better, but not correct.  So did it again.. on each blade.  Finally they were all seating correctly and torqued per spec.

Next was the bead of silpruf between the window and fuselage.  Lots of cleaning of crap out first... my theory is to get all the leftover crap out.  The 'dressing' needs to stick on all 3 sides.  So lots of pulling out the leftover bits (I could have done a better job during the insertion of the window... being honest).  Then taping the gap... 

Then cutting the gap...

Then filling the gap and smoothing it...

That was a 10 hour day... Monday will be seeing what I have... fingers crossed.

Window 'dressing'

I don't know the offical term, but I call it window 'dressing'.  Filling the gap between the edge of the joggle and the window edge.  That gap that us builders take so much time to get right.

I received the fuselage back from the paint shop first.... so the starboard side window and two top deck windows were 'dressed'.

Standard process.  Clean out the joggle, tape, cut with fresh blade (use thick tape... easier to cut), squirt in the silpruf, smooth out with tongue depressor.

3 done... 4 more to go.  Front window went in today, so that job is a week away at least.  Doors should be back next week.  My back hurts just thinking about this.

Oh, and I silprufed around the lift points too...

Windows - Part III: The big one...

As the title says, onto the big one.

I've had it home for a couple days and have been looking at it, moving it around, and thinking a lot.

My first realization is the window was not fitting in the top joggle, which is bringing the window up and the front.  Lots of overhang on the pilots side, but little to none on the copilot side.

So I called the master for advice.  Bottom line, there is no one size all solution... you have to look at what you have and what you want to achieve.  My first thought was get the top joggle to fit, but Zach said not necessarily.  I know I need to bring the window to starboard, so work the top joggle on that side first.  Then start the front to get it to fit.

The window keeps wanting to slide forward.  So I am going to make some blocks that can be clamped on to hold the front in place temporarily.

I finally decided to jump in and start trimming.  I trimmed the edges on the top joggle to get the window to fit.  Trimmed more on the copilot side as that is where I had less overlap on the lower side of the window.

It must have been 12 iterations of on/off/on/off.  I really dont want to have to buy a new window.

So now I am trying to get the front to JUST fit into the joggle.

It was at least 20 trim cycles to get it in.  Once I had the top fitting, i focused on the center of the lower edge and then worked my way out.  The goal was just enough gap that I could get a cleco in.  Next is the sides, and then finally I can start working on a consistent 3/16 gap all around.

After consulting (again) with Zach, the process on the front window differs from all the other windows.

• Place silpruf standoffs every 6".
• Place clecos where you need them to get the window to sit right.

So after many more trim cycles, I have the window now in the joggle all the way around.

I need top open up the top seam on the top deck enough to get clecos in, and I need to refine some of the standoffs a hair.

The problem with this window fitting from a high level is if you chance something in one area, everything else moves around a bit.  I took the slow and steady approach.

OK - fast forward almost 2 years (from December 2023 to August 2025.  Fuselage is painted, and the window is going in!

I was working on removing any small scratches, and used a polisher WAY TO FAST and crazed the hell out of a corner of the front window.  I wanted to cry... all that work and time, and I just destroyed by window.  BUT... a fellow builder at the airport trundles around the corner of the hangar building to see the progress... and I am just devastated.  "No problem" he says... "I have what you need".  He returned with 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper, and I spent the next day and a half getting the crazing out.

I had also somehow put a good ding in the middle of the outside of the window.  That is now gone too.

Then I got back to prepping the window to go in.  Standard front window progress.  Mark the goggle on the outside, 1/4" tape offset from the line, then the 2 fine line tapes, sand with 200 grit, apply the 'beautification layer', let sit for 12 to 24 hours.  Had problems with the fine line tape in the corners by the wing root.

And the window went in today (August 28).

Now the 7 day wait begins.... fingers crossed.

Windows - Part II

While the pilots side top deck window is trying (and the cowl), figured I would start on the next window.

What I learned from the first window:

1. Put in more silpruf.  I believe there is enough in the first top deck window, but I didnt get the squeeze out I was expecting. But I did get squeeze out around the entire perimeter - just not as much as Zach in the videos.
2. Wet erase pens are truly disposable.  When they get to fat, chuck em (or use the for something other than windows)
3. Review the instructions.  I made some simple mistakes on the first one
4. Take your time with the taping.  When doing a more than 90 degree corner, it really wants to lift.
5. Lock the window in place with wing nut clecos in the corners FIRST - not later.
6. Take your time with the trimming.  I did OK on the first one.  The angle grinder with the disk is so much faster.
7. The double tape line on the bottom of the window is critical for a nice aesthetic appearance.  Make sure it is truly stuck down, and the overlaps are correct.  I had one portion shift, and tried to retape tape #2.  Its not horrible, but not perfect.
8. When you mark the tape line on the joggle, you get wet erase marker on the edge of the window.  DON'T FORGET TO CLEAN IT OFF.
9. When 'smoothing' out the inside of the window, make DOUBLY sure that you cover the gap between tape #1 and #2 with silpruf.  Also, when smoothing out between the window and the window frame make sure it is packed with silpruf.
10. Get more than qty 20 #40 wing nut clecos.  If you are going to do multiple windows at once, you need more.  30 would be good.  The pattern I have fallen into is do a window, and while it is curing move onto the next.  Once I got to window #5 I could have a window trimmed and clecoed in less than and hour.  Sanding and taping is probably a good 2 hours.
11. When removing the tape from the gap between the window and outer window frame, I started running a razor blade along the window edge to make sure that any silpruf that you didnt squeege out is cut away from the window.  THEN, pull the tape from the door / fuselage TOWARDS THE window.  In fact, on # 4 I pulled up all the outer tape around the entire permiter first, and then just did the last 1/4".  There was virtually nothing left in the gap between the window and frame.
12. Take extra time when taping the inside of the fuselage / door, and make sure that the edge is sanded well and there is no paint residue on the edges.  This will help the pen ride better, and gives you a better edge to tape / cut against.

Co-pilot side top deck window trimmed and corner clecos in place.

Working on starboard aft fuselage window.  This one is curved, and much trickier to fit.  I started off leaving the goop on top of the window, thinking it would protect it.  Just makes it harder to see the joggle.

First window (pilot's side top deck) out of clecos and seems to be fine.

2nd top deck window bonded and drying

Finished.

First side window - aft fuselage rear window.

This one was a pain.  I think it took about 8 or 9 passes to get this to fit in the goggle.

As our weather is getting cooler, going to do both of the rear windows in one shot when bonding as I have to keep the shop heated for a couple days.

Starboard aft window fit, taped, sanded, standoffs in and drying.  Once the standoffs are trimmed, ready for the beautification layer.

All bonded in...

And with tape / clecos removed...

Its not bad... There are a couple areas where the silpruf is a bit thin.  I maybe think I can maybe fix it (without making it worse), maybe.  The lesson learned here... when the window goes in and you are 'smoothing' out the silpruf on the inside, pay attention to fill in the ~1/16th gap between where tape #1 was, and where tape #2 is.  That is where I am thin.  I did a much better job on this on the first door, because it was not mounted and I could see the gap (and I knew to look for it).  Hopefully that one turns out much better.

First door window (rear window).  This one fits fairly well out of the box.

The goop on the window would not come off easily this time... so opted to take it all off (which was far easier) and retape the center to keep down on potential scratches.  There is still the goop on the edges of the window which should come off easily with a bit of sand paper or razor blade.

The trimming and drilling went really fast on this one as it fit into the joggle right away.  3 passes, and its good.  Edges sanded, clecoed in.

1.5 windows ago, I switched from a random orbital sander to a angle grinder with a hook/loop pad.  Way, way, way faster... but scarier as the material comes off way faster.  Just need to go slow (but its still 4X faster than an air powered random orbital sander).  Was looking for a hook and loop pad, and most of the ones I found were RPM limited.  This one on Amazon canada is aluminum and is good for 9000 RPM.  Using a Ryobi cordless angle grinder.

All taped and ready.

Same for the door, taped front and back.  Standoffs are next.

Now the 2+ day wait to see how it turns out.  It is very nice to be able to flip the door over to work on both sides with lots of light.

Detaped.  Best one yet!

Onto the front door windows.

So after doing 4 already, the windows certainly go faster.  Trimming to fit to clecoed in probably 30 to 45 min.

And I don't think I did something different, but on the aft fuselage window and aft door window, the drill / cleco punctured the inner skin / paint.  That did not happen on the front door, which I am VERY thankful for.  Less filling / repainting.

#6 ready for tape

I am all geared up to attempt to bond in both front windows one after the other.  Everything is trimmed, fit, sanded, taped, cosmetic layer applied, etc.  Just need to apply the silpruf, cleco it in, and do all the steps required beyond that.  Will see if I am crazy or not.  Its actually not as bad as it sounds as I have 4 or 5 hours between them based on the silpruf cosmetic layer application... but will still be the same day.

Well, got them done.  Now to wait 2 or 3 days to see how good / bad they are.

They are in the house so I dont have to heat the shop.  Shhh.... dont tell my wife.  But in reality they do not smell at all.

All done.  On to the front window.