Big Screw Up, but fixable

[rodsmith]

Last night I was doing the last sanding on the fuselage fabric before the finish coat, my interior is also fabric. All of a sudden it hit me, I need holes for the aileron cross over cable. I'm thinking, no big deal, think I will just use the soldering iron, don't think I will even bother with dollar patches. And then it hit me. On the left side I had run a wiring harness with the GPS antenna cables, rear seat headset wiring and overhead light wire, it was right where the cable needed to come through. I was quite upset. After settling down realized I just have to cut off the outside fabric at the wing root to get to the harness clamps and will be able to move the harness enough to eliminate the interference. Turns out the holes in the fabric have to be about 5/8" to get the cable hardware through when installing the wings. I'm thinking I will make some .020 aluminum disks, 1/4" hole, slit one edge so you can get it around the cable to finish the area a little nicer.

[Battson]

Remember that the wing root fabric is totally unseen, at all times. The wings should never come off in public!

You can leave some large access holes in those areas and nobody except you and your IA will even know.

[svyolo]

How useful would it be to make the covers for the wing root removable? Is it just as easy to remove the wing root fairings to deal with whatever you need too?

[alaskabearhawk]

That’s nothing...we’ll talk sometime about some of my doozies. Fix it and move on...

[Bcone1381]

(I don't want to hi-jack the thread, but I could I use this thread as an opportunity to talk about a logical sequence of building? Moderators, should we start a new thread?)

Rod, What would be a best practice regarding what I shall define as "Installation and fabrication of the fuselage's accessories." I'm thinking before I install the interior fabric I should install accessories then interior then exterior fabric. Accessories includes

-the instrument panel and avionic accessories,
-plumb the pitot static system,
-wire headset jacks,
-install and wire antennas
-have cable penetrations of fabric.
-cup holders?
-install cockpit lighting.
-push to talk mic buttons and intercom buttons.
-Throttle Quadrants installed.

then install the side windows. Is that how it goes?

[Bcone1381]

No. The flow chart does not have any interior covering, lighting, avionics, instrument panel, throttle quadrant sequence information included.

[jaredyates]

We can add these things, would you rather see them as separate boxes on the chart?

[James]

Hi Jared,

yep, I use your tree a heap, and I've noticed there are lots of areas that don't have a topic.
As I come to them, I'll flag them to you, and as the build process goes, and I get some experience, I'll contribute some content.

The topic I'd like to see first up is - "Plan your electrical system".
(I know nothing about light planes, and so I just assumed everything would be 28VDC like it is in turbine helicopters.)

Ideally, this section would have a "tick and flick" list, where the builder would write down everything wanted in the plane, including the panel fitouts, accessories, pitot heat, nav lights, transfer pumps, autopilot servos, cabin lights etc etc, and then for each of these possible fit-outs, there would be a solid example of how one/multiple builders had put in that system, including the wire gauges / part numbers / routing paths they used. That way, instead of a heap of unknowns, people could start off with at least one story they know works, and then get back to the forums to compare and contrast.

Ok, thanks again for the work you do,

James

[rodsmith]

How useful would it be to make the covers for the wing root removable? Is it just as easy to remove the wing root fairings to deal with whatever you need too?

Don't think that would serve any purpose. As Jon said the exterior wing root fabric is never seen with the wings on. Only purpose is to help limit airflow into the cabin. I was just thankful that I could move the harness out of the way without cutting into the interior fabric.

[rodsmith]

Brooks, that sounds like a good sequence, pretty much what I did, except the only thing I have done with the panel is cut the blank and mount it. I had the wings on and aileron controls rigged earlier, so I knew where the cable went. When I started wiring the fuselage, totally forgot about it. Definitely do interior fabric first. You want to think through the sequence of installing interior fabric. I used 12 pieces on the interior because I didn't want to stitch around tubing that would show on the exterior.