A great week

The EFIS and the GPS 470/625 are speaking with each other :) I have heard some overhead aircrafts in the headset, connected to the radio. More switches are connected. Last task was to try and repair the trailing edge of one of the lower intersection fairings.

Radio in place and powered up

Radio in the panel

I need to enlarge the opening, I can fit the radio or the GPS now, not both at the same time.
If I ever do this again, I will not rivet the top skin behind the panel and I will not buy a ready made harness! This would have been so much easier to do and the result would be much better looking if I had known what I know now.

Installing the radio ICOM 220

Spent the last evening with working out how to wire the radio. Almost done now.

Redone the 625 harness

I looked at my previous 625 wiring and I was not happy with the wire to socket crimps on all pins. I decided to do a complete makeover.

The new harness:

46b more sanding

After lots of sanding, the fairings were once again separated. I then measured and enlarged the openings for the wheels to get the right clearance.

46b second time

It did not come out good enough the first time so I have done another session for getting a good transition between the wheel fairings and the lower intersection fairings. This time with with a more sanding friendly mixture.

46b edges, success

The plastic bit trick worked! The fairing halves separated without any hassle and squaring the edges took seconds :)

46b separation

After lots of sanding I cheated a little at the end with the dremmel.

Final "sanding"

No problem getting the tape out and no! poxy under the fairing :)

HAd to do some sanding to get the tape of the intersection fairings but all removed within 5 minutes

Time to attach them again and do more sanding

Wheel fairings, more dust!

Sorry about the camera placement. I could do a lot with the machine on one side. Still lots of sanding to do. I could get the plastic pieces out, the fairings are not separated yet but I bet this was a success :)

46b another epoxy session

I put small strips of plastic between the wheel fairing halves, hopefully I can separate them as I will not cut them with a razor as instructed... crazy or smart, in a few days we will know ;)

Another 3.7 hours on 46b

With my wife and kids away on vacation, I got to work and then spend the entire evening in the shop.

The fairings came apart without any hassle, I have then trimmed and attached nutplates to the lower fairing and done lots of trimming on the upper fairings and countersunk the holes in the upper fairings.

Great results so far but these fairings take a lot of time to finish!

46b more epoxy-flox on the intersection fairings

First: thank you all for the encouraging comments, I still have this strange bug where I cannot comment to my own blog :/

Today I have made the tabs in the upper fairings that will hold them together. I am a little bit worried that I might have "glued" the halves together pretty hard. Might have some Dremel work to do tomorrow. Then I went a little overboard on the lower fairings, the "blob" to hold the nut, basically filled out the entire void between the halves, should work.

508 hours in 2018

My goal has been to do 480 hours per year, 2018 was the first year that I made the target. Life do get in the way but no regrets, I think I have made good priorities :) I will not commit to any date but I definitely expect to fly during the first half of 2019.