In the middle of all the sanding, pinhole patrol and final prep, I had to work on the “human factors”. After I got my seat geometry figured out and Oregon Aero modified the foam. I wanted to verify that I could fit inside the cabin and reach everything. So brought the seat down with me along with the foam and mounted it in the plane… And it still wasn’t right. It took me a while to determine what was wrong. I could reach the stick and instrument panel but I literally had to reach. If I moved the seat forward, the stick and panel were within reach. But then my knees were sticking up too high. I guess that I have long legs.

I could move the instrument panel back but that wouldn’t help reaching the control stick. I could move that back as well but then I approached it from a different angle. What’s keeping me so far back? Obviously the length of my legs, but what else?

Rudder pedals.

If the rudders pedals were located a bit forward, then I would be closer to the panel and stick. I tried tweaking the adjustments on the rudder pedals but I couldn’t move them far enough forward. So I decided to modify them.

Here’s a (right) side view of one of the rudder pedals.

On the right is where you would put your foot. The white triangular piece is where the pedal assembly mounts. It’s allowed to pivot up and down to activate the brakes. The hole to the right of the mount is where the brake master cylinder attaches. What I did was to drill a new set of holes 1.5″ forward (right in this picture). This results in the pedal being 1.5″ aft of it’s original position. Now with the seat adjusted so that my feet are on the pedals, the stick is at my right hand and the instrument panel is easily within reach. It could be better. But for now, it’ll do. Here’s the “after” picture.

The last task for the day was to create a rectangular opening just forward of the firewall on each side of the fuselage for the main spar. The spar is the primary mounting point for the main wings.

Here are the lines that mark the opening on the left side.

And then, after cutting the opening.

In order to to mount controls to the keel, it is necessary to attach hardpoints to the fiberglass. This creates a strong mounting structure. In this case the hardpoints are created by mounting plywood to the keel and covering it with four layers of fiberglass cloth and epoxy.

Here are two of the hardpoints inside the keel. The white material is a dacron fabric that will be removed once the epoxy cures.

Another view of one of the hardpoints.

The first actual build task is to cutout and remove “the doghouse”. The canard (front wing) is mounted in the nose of the aircraft. A part of the fuselage has to be cut out to allow placement of the canard. This piece that is removed is called (for some reason) the doghouse. First, the location of the canard has to be identified. This is accomplished by measuring from specific locations and marking where the canard will be.

Marking the canard location on the right side. The hole is drilled to help locate the position.

Once the canard position is marked, then lines are created using masking tape as a cutting guide.

The result after cutting the doghouse out.

In addition to cutting out the doghouse, I also had to cut out access ports in the keel and put in hardpoints for controls. The keel runs the length on the cabin and is between the left and right seats and the control stick is mounted in the keel.

It’s hard to visualize it, but this is the keel (upside down). The round opening wasn’t there this morning. One of the upcoming tasks is to build a cover. The opening will allow access to the control linkage.

I received the foam cushions from Oregon Aero for the front seats. You’ll remember last year that we had to modify the pilot seat to accommodate my larger-than-average build (height, not weight, mind you). Once I put the foam on the seat bottom and seat back I discovered 3 problems.

1. I didn’t think about the height of the seat back. In this picture from last year notice where the top of the seat back is in relation to my neck. Can you say “neck injury”? I didn’t notice this before because I didn’t have any foam in the seat back at the time.
2. When I had them build the cushions I specified to keep the bottom foam as thin as possible (so I would have adequate headroom). It didn’t occur to me that the seat back cushion thickness would be a problem so I had them use the normal thickness. But because the seat bottom is angled so much, every inch of seat back cushion thickness moves me forward (and up). So I don’t have enough headroom again.
3. Because of the thicker seat back cushion moving me forward on the seat bottom, my thighs are not supported very well.

Fixing 2 and 3 are easy. I just tell the folks at Oregon Aero to make my seat back cushion like my seat bottom cushion… as thin as possible. That’ll give me headroom and thigh support. But fixing 1 isn’t going to be easy. I thought about an adjustable headrest (like are found in most cars). But then I discovered that the seat back has a “curve” to it. Around the shoulders, it curves to the front so that the back of your head is supported. But with me, the curve started around mid-back.

So I made the decision to modify the seat back to accommodate me. (I should have done the seat bottom too. But I can do that later).

Here’s the stock seatback.

And after the “cut”.

Wood sticks are glued in place to hold the two pieces the correct distance apart and keep them aligned.

A section of 1/4″ foam is placed between the two pieces and tooling wax is attached to the sides.

Then the foam is covered with a micro-slurry and the inside (front) of the seat back is covered with 3 layers of BID and 1 layer of Triax. Once dry, the seat back is flipped over and the same is done to the outside (back). I then mounted the seat in the plane with the seat bottom cushion and a piece of 1/2″ scrap foam in the back.

Here’s the result.

I sent the modified seat back to Oregon Aero so they could build up a taller and thinner cushion.

While I had already assembled the rudder pedals before, I did modify the pilot side pedals to add legroom. And the components aren’t all assembled with locking nuts. So now it’s time for the final assembly.

While I was getting ready to finish the rudder pedals, Malcolm (ever the perfectionist) pointed out something. This is the top of the master cylinder for the co-pilot side, right rudder pedal. It is attached with a long bolt and (right to left) a locking nut, washer, top of master cylinder, three washers and the rudder pedal arm.

This is how the manual says how to do it. So it’s right. Right?

Well that big gap at the top? Not… optimal. And those THREE washers between the arm and master cylinder? A flat surface (washer) up against a curved surface? Again, not optimal.

So here’s the solution:

Custom made spacers that will prevent any binds and keep the ends of the master cylinder from being pinched.

Now that the oil lines are in the duct, the brake lines can be run. since there’s not much in the duct, these can be run just by sticking them in the duct. I started at the back with the small hole drilled in the duct between the firewall and the gear bulkhead. A little coaxing and I had the left and right brake lines coming out the forward hole in the duct.

Before the brake ends of the tubing is pushed down the nylaflo that was bonded to the gear leg, I put the lines through a grommet.

Here is the left brake line coming out of the duct and then down to the brake at the bottom of the gear leg.

Both brake lines.

The brake lines coming out the duct by the brake pedals.

The brake lines were already run from the wheels to the forward cabin. Since it’s just more plumbing, now it’s time to terminate the lines.

Malcolm likes to reverse the elbow and bleeder valve on the calipers. It makes for a cleaner installation.

Front view of the pilot side main gear.

Inside view of the pilot side main gear.

The forward end of the brake lines are connected to the brake pedals. Here are the pilot side pedals.

The reservoir for the brake fluid is mounted in the nose. The goal is to find a location that allows access when the canard is installed. Then once it’s in, the two remaining lines from the toe brakes can be run to the reservoir.

This is the reservoir (on the left) with the gear retract hydraulic pump (on the right).