After getting the rudders connected and filling the brakes with brake fluid, I put the pilot seat in and gave the pedals a test. My brakes are still squishy as I need some help bleeding them, but I was did not like how much I had to point my toes to depress the brakes. The […]
Fuel level senders
I chose to install capacitance fuel level senders. The Velocity does have visual indicators of fuel level in the form of sight tubes mounted in the rear strake cutouts, but I suspect that these will not be very easy to see at night, particularly the one on the pilot’s side. The capacitance fuel senders will […]
Door supports
The Velocities beautiful gull-wing doors need gas-spring supports like you see on a hatch-back car. This is the only are where I saw that the previous builder made a mistake. He chose to use very short gas-springs mounted close to the hinge that did not hold up the door properly. I reverted back to the […]
Annunciator Panel
Rather than just have a row of labeled indicator lights, I wanted to make a custom annunciator panel. Initially I thought this would be a relatively easy process, but as I started to think more about what I wanted it to do, it got more complicated. The main purpose of an annunciator panel is to […]
Overhead panel
The overhead panel was pretty straightforward. I covered it in the same vinyl that I used for the rest of the interior. I just put lighting switches in this panel. I have two swiveling lights for the pilot and co-pilot, so I added PWM lighting controls for those. I used the same laser engraving method […]
Just about ready for paint
The exhausting, seemingly never-ending job of sanding is just about over. The entire plane is in primer and ready for a final sanding before paint. The doors are already well aligned, and I’ve had the canard on before, but I’ve never had the wings or cowlings on. So before I send it off for paint, […]
Cowling bumps
Now that I’ve finished the fuselage and its ready for paint, I grabbed the engine cowlings from the attic to have a look at them. The previous builder of my project has them pretty much completed, just need some micro work. I see also that he put an aluminum insert in one of the exhaust […]
Valve cover cleanup
Tackled cleaning up the valve covers over the last few days. As you can see from the pictures below, it looks like they got hit with some primer over spray. I like that copper color I used on the intake tubes, so I thought I’d go with that color. I also put a coat of […]
Sanding timelapse
I got a lot of time this July 4th weekend to spend sanding the plane. Its getting close to being ready for filler primer. Every time I walk around the plane I see little issues to deal with. I masked it off yesterday and will probably spend today taking care of any little blemishes I […]
Finishing the interior
Progress has been slow, but steady. Every night I put in a little time. The last month has mostly been the fiddly bits in the interior. I finished covering the rear portion of the interior – the sides and strake storage areas. Nothing too difficult there. I have not yet figured out how I will […]