Seat (Dec. 29th, 2002)

Dual aviation toilet seat ;))

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Stick Grip, 1st Edition (Dec. 27th, 2002)

A custom-made stick-grip Yes, that's what I need (besides of a pair of Stingers under the wings :))

At first I made this wooden skeleton. When the stick is vertical then the grip will be tilted 20 degreed forward. I found this the most relaxing position ;)

Remember even though I'm right-handed I will fly the plane with the left hand (and so have the right one free for more important tasks ;))

As mentioned earlier, my Sonex will have no controls at the left cockpit side this allows the left hand never to leave the stick grip.

This is the clay-model viewed from the left. For all those long-distance flights (yes, I know, the Sonex is not made for such things) I moulded a spacious handrest.

View from the left. The right arrow shows a pedestal for the PTT switch. The top arrow shows the position for the elevator trim switch.

When the clay is dry I'll touch up a bit then make a negative form from silicone, then cast the grip probably from a Urethane compound.

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Idler and other levers (Dec. 23th, 2002)

After the usual 2nd try I finally assembled the elevator pushrod idler.

This one now is perfectly perpendicular HINT: check if your table of your drillpress is perpendicular to the drill bit (mine was not :(

I then checked the plastic bags of the fuse hardware I ordered from Wicks long time ago. No steel bushings there :((

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Glareshield Disaster (Dec. 19th, 2002)

This view looks quite nice

I left the aft end of the glareshield 30mm longer so I will have real glare protection. The panel is tilted 55 degrees from the horizontal (plans say 60 degrees) this will allow for some more precious millimeters of very limited panel height.

This is what raised my adrenaline level. The glareshield height at the front end is not sufficient to cover the tank filler cutout - d i s a s t e r -. Seems there is no other way than to make a new glareshield. For the second try I will put the plans to the side and make this thing such that it fits the real-world fuselage.

What I learned from this disaster: the Sones plans are very 'efficient'. There is almost no redundant dimensioning. Example: if there is a triangle shown on the plan, the there are two measurements: base length and height of the triangle. The length of the sloped side of the triangle is not shown, because it is redundant. BUT if it would have been shown then I could have done a plausibility check BEFORE I cut the thing (the wrong way). What I will do in future is calculate the third dimension. Greeting to old Pythagoras. Remember? C^2 = a^2 + b^2.

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Instrument Panel - The Third Round (Dec. 14th, 2002)

Got the panel bach from water-jet cutting today. I like this technology!

This is the Swill cheese - aehm the panel ;)) The cutouts required only minor sanding/smoothing. Dimensions are perfect (about +- 0.05mm).

The 1.6mm material was too haevy to bend, so I will flush-rivet angles in. The angles will hold selg-locking nuts so I can remove the panel at any time.

First instrument fitting - no problems so far. From left to right, bottom to top:

• Starter knob
• Primary and secondary bus switch
• Alternator switch
• Primer monetary switch
• Avionics switch (witout protectors)
• Switch for further use
• Bank indicator (this is a nice full-aluminum piece from Winter, not the cheap plastic stuff from Spruce)
• Redundant airspeed indicator (wrong side up)
• Stratomaster Ultra multi-function-display
• Delcom radio with 80mm adaptor (If I will decide for another radio later then here can go another big instrument (probably turn coordinator or directional gyro)

top row:

• Alternator warning LED (above switch)
• Electric pitch trim indicator ;)
• homemade angle of attack indicator
• General warning (idiot) light
• Redundant altimeter
• 12V socket

Together with the bank indictor I ordered a really nice pitot tube

This is a prection probe. The measurement error is only about 5% from -12 to +12 degrees AOA. Without a proper airspeed acquisition one can forget all flight performance tests.

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Instrument Panel - The Third Round (Dec. 6th, 2002)

Because I'm now the Stratomaster reseller of electronic flight instruments, my panel has to be completely electronic ;)) So I had to design my third panel now. This time I will use 1.6mm 6061-T6 sheet. The 0.8mm is simply too weak (in my view). I will not bend flanges at the three upper edges like shown on the plans, but instead will rivet some angles on. The edges of the panel will look nicer (absolutely flat) this way. Currently I tend to rivet nutplates on the angles and make the panel removable (don't tell me that this Swiss cheese part called 'instrument panel' carries any significant structural load).

Here are two files:

A DXF file which I will use for water-jet cutting (a professional machine shop will do this for me)

This PDF file shows the lines a bit disturbed. The DXF file is exact. I checked a 100 times for interference and I think it's almost perfect now.

The panel will be supplied by two different batteries. The starter battery and a small capacity standby battery which will power the redundant instruments and the electronic ignition in case of an electrical failure for about half an hour.

The main navigation diaplay is the 'Stratomaster Ultra'. For redundancy I have an independend airspeed indicator and an altimeter ('Stratomaster Smart Single' electronic displays).

I plan to display this setup at AERO2003, one of the largest European trade fairs for general aviation. I'm looking forward for some controverse discussions :))