Bigglesworth

Good idea, I would more likely use the speaker out and the hook that to an FM transmitter and pick it up on the workshop stereo, more modular. Then I can also send the VHF to the in-plane CD player when I get one. Electronics and gadgets are almost as fun as aeroplanes.

Depending on your plane manufacturer this is known to work and I think I will eventually do it. Get a letter from then saying you are an agent, most of your flights are to visit potential customers, especially fly-ins, and no worries with commercial use. Then accomodation at your destination is also deductable, and the business 'lunch' at the pilots bar, etc. etc.

Busssssssy Work has picked up so less time for the plane Got 99% of wiring done, all guages except alt. and that is coming. Got my Radio harness made up, but not tested yet since Ian hasn't had any headsets for me to buy yet, I also got the rudder covered, and when I was happy I knew roughly what I was doing with fabric;....................... I got half of one wing covered Fuse will follow next weekend I hope, wings will be finished covering during the week, Paint is ordered, and I have found a good colour. That was fun. Went to the paint shop and me and the bloke there had fun mixing up various tints, metals etc. until we struck something I like. Only in cheap industrial enamel for the top, and marine polyurethane for the bottom. They couldn't mix a metal into the poly, neither did they have a nice green. Actually if anyone wants real top quality paint, talk to Frank Galic at Gerald Slaven Holden in Belconnen. I asked him for a quote, and he really went out of his way to find out what product would work. Unfortunately I didn't want to spend $1800, plus more if I wanted pearl, since I would probably make spraying mistakes, and on top of that might need to remove fabric one day. So cheap paint, metallic but no pearl option, all up probably just over $300. A bit of difference. So thats about it. I got my instruments from Wade Air. Despite specifying a Jab, they sent senders for a rotax egt (just fits, but not properly), and both the EGT and CHT are in Fahrenheit, what happened to centigrade?) might get some sleep now,

I read somewhere that the colour type sensors are a bit useless in as much as CO affects colour vision first, so I want something that buzzes. Also with the radio/ transponder, if they are not certified, can anyone tell from the signal? Or would they have to inspect it?

Many of you may have noticed the page that is linked to in the ADSB thread, http://lea.hamradio.si/%7Es53mv/avionics/avionics.html This is very interesting, and I will try to make some of the gadgets here. I was wondering how many others out there have soldered up very cheap electronics into effective things. I want to try to make a CO detector from some Jaycar parts I have seen for cheap as chips. Anyone else have any ideas?

You sure love your chutes, In my opinion, when your time's run out, at least admit it I suppose they suit some people, but as for me; no chute, no airbags, seatbelts only to comply with the law, and that isn't always worthwhile. I remember Michael Palin once had something of the ultimate safe airline with all sorts of safety features, climaxing with a heavy weight to stop the plane from leaving the ground. ;)

What about in the way of fuel consumption?

Got a new Jab 2.2 motor the other day, one of the bolts holding an exhaust pipe was loose and half out, good idea?

How come you've forgotten your avatar (Sierra) or the Joey 2? They both have similar speed, (or predicted to).

All sorts of things, and a few others All sorts of things are getting done, wingwalk panels are trimmed to size and shape, When I checked out Garry's I noticed there was a small gap between the metal and the wood, felt really tacky. So I am trying to fill that gap with expanding foam. I oiled the metal so it wouldn't stick, sprayed it on the wood, and clecoed the metal on, not sure what it looks like, haven't seen it since. Got a compass. Since I can't get the ones I wanted, I got a $2 one from Go Lo. it actually seems to work. I think I will leave it in, get a vertical card compass like I wanted when I'm rich, and all the GA pax will think it is a DG and think that the $2 compass is rec. standard Got carb heat and choke cables working. Had to get them automotive grade since the Jab ones were way too short. problem is the auto ones aren't sealed, in push, the expand and there is a real danger of the carb heat not coming off, so I will put heat shrink over it and hope that works. I successfully made a better carb head than the Jab one, it allows movement 10mm in every direction which is enough. It doesn't really allow checking the air cleaner, but these things happen. It can be done, just not easily. Got 6 mounting holes drilled into the prop, a mate of mine made up a spacer to centre the prop flange on the prop centre hole, then I drilled them with the drill press. Worked well, my mate is good at turning, I had to fix up his 3-phase converter though; we blew it last time he did me a turning job. The holes ran out a bit, so I drilled it again from the other side. The first (good) side is the motor side where it need to fit nicely. Still haven't found a large drill to drill the holes for the flanges. Go the Pitot and Static in, just with cable ties for now, resin and flock when I find some flock. I think I will have to use talcum powder. (Baby powder for my baby). Thats most of the siginificant things covered. Pick the rest from Photos Got my key switch, now I need a key ring. There is a good 'Just LeDoux it' one at http://www.chrisledoux.com/store3.htm And I got the wood pieces around the spar entry points on. tapered these to. match the standard fabric line. glued them on with liquid nails. Also, I tried like to earn some more funds. not very easy.

Got mine today, not too much in it. (that is to say, no pictures immediately spring to light)

I was going to run 2 6 by 9 speakers (5 way) from a 50w 4 out head unit wired to a 100w 2 out. Subs would draw lots more power than the little Jab motor could produce. Does anyone know if you can get a bigger alternator for a Jabiru 2.2. Was also thinking of one of those car DVD players for where the GPS would go, then try to wire the GPS into the same screen. Sounds too hard.

That seems to be the legal side covered, now....................... ;) And now that I know, I can't plead ignorance of the law. Just joking, I want my peace in my plane, 1 pax is too many.

Check out the amount of clecos on that canopy, I will have to do mine with the only 12 I have. Bring on the moulded canopy.

This is for arguments sake only. I assure you;). Rec. aircraft must only have a maximum of 2 seats. OK, but does it say that all passengers must be seated. I think they need to be wearing seatbelts, but do the seatbelts have to be fitted to the seat, of even to the plane for that matter? This comes from someone who drives a ute and has been designated driver for excess people. The Cheetah has a big luggage bay.

Some more pics, Not sure if one is the same as earlier post, but it looks pretty enough to have it on again. ;););)

Came off the plane, GA isn't as good quality as they like to make out.

Considering he started building it in July, and spent a few weeks designing things like dual controls, and is a very busy man, that means it has a very good build time. Remember, there is a temporary special price on it, so be quick.

Keeping on Plenty of electrical wiring done including wires in the wings. For the strobes later on. Also lots of time spent ordering things, have got parts coming in all over the place. Got the nose wheel on finally, so she stands by herself, Also the carb head from Jabiru didn't fit, so I had to make one myself, probably not quite as good, but it should work. Made the mould but wrapping insulation tape around plastic peanuts, kept adding more peanuts until it was roughly right, vaseline to make it smooth, then on with the fibreglass. I'm getting good at this Fibreglass stuff, I must be, one of my mates has already asked me to fix a hole in his Kayak.:;)4: Working very hard, just need the wind to stop so I can take her outside and put the wings on. Lex go to go for a fly in a Sports Star the other day. He came right over the workshop to give me inspiration to keep working. I worked until past midnight (1:00 by the time I got the last orders written out for more parts [radio, yeeha]). Which doesn't sound too bad until you realise that I had to be on the job by 7:30 next morning.

My plane will have a smoking section: on the right wing. Complaints department on the left wing.

The Sierra and Ross's Cheetah were both started at the same time as mine, now it looks like I will finish last:crying:. So no more pussy-footing, it is time to put some real hard work into it. Cue a few all nighters. Problem is most of the work is in the organising parts, I reckon it is more than 51% of the work just to to the organising.

Getting to the fiddly bits First, I appologise to Jabiru, the solenoid does work. Now I tell you that they are still hopeless. Does anyone out there know the official tension for the exhaust manifold bolts? Well if you do, please tell the Jabiru mechanics. I had to pull the pipes off to get to a bolt I needed drill a hole for, and some bolts were right, some were passable and one was loose and half out. Thats factory build for you. So now that I have the motor, I know the engine mount fits and is safe to weld the noseleg support to. I got Lex to do this since he can weld well. I made it so the engine mount bolts to the supports, that way it can be removed if need be. I also made a battery holder out of fibreglass. I made it minimal not so much for weight reasons but for the sake of cooling. A complete box will get the battery very hot which is not good. A lot of cars have special ducts just to cool the battery. I got a throttle control worked out. I didn't like the push/pull knob in Garry's and besides, they are too expensive, so I had a hunt for what I had lying around, and in the workshop graveyard I found a self-propelled lawnmower gearshift lever which had a nice rubber knob, and included a pivot. Just needed a hole for the cable fixing, and will need some friction washers. So much for Jab chargeing me about $169 for throttle cabe and fittings. I painted the engine mount with a spray tin of white I had lying around (I had bought it to hide the rust spots on my ute to get it through rego), typically I forgot to let it dry before working on it, and if you look close it has greasy fingerprints in it, but so what, no-one looks that far. I also found a nice lightweight oil cooler, was on my ute when it had the auto box in it, but I took it off when I put the 5 speed in, it should do once I clean the ATF out of it. I spent a fair bit more time wiring, I even found a 6 pin plug to match the regulator, and a 2 pin set to replace the individual plugs on the charge coil. The charge coil plugs actually fit straight into the plug body so no rewireing is needed. I fitted the tacho and wired it in, but no photos yet. I also put nice wall to wall carpet in it. This is proper machinery floor carpet which Lex just happened to have enough scrap that matched the paint. This should also cut down noise. Especially in the parcel shelf. I don't know why Slarti put foam underneath his when this is better looking for the same effect. I mounted the regulator inside the fuse to keep it cooler. It comes of a Kubota Ride-on mower and they have them mounter in as cool as possible place and they are not running electronics then. I don't like the controller, the manual says it produces 14 volts +/- 0.8:;)2:. It should be something like 13.8 +/- 0.2, then I would be happy. I just can't afford a PowerMate. Might see if I can get one of a car alternator, but I think the charge coils work on different standard voltages:sad: I got the nose spat made. The main problem I found with that was that for some reason I made my pivot extend too far through the spat, and so the bolt holding it to the nose leg tube, snagged on the spat covet when it pivoted. I ended up having to grind the nut down to half width, and a matching bit off the bolt. It still has sufficient thread to hold, and only holds shear. I also made the mass balance for the stabilators. I drilled some holes in the welded steel arm, then tied pieces of lead to it until it felt right. Increased the amount of lead to make up for spilleage, melted that while I set up a mould. I first tried to be tricky by casting it in a mould of foil, that way all was rust proof and neat, but 2 tries later I realised it didn't work: the foil was too weak. So I decided to use a small oil filter houseing, already painted on the outside. This worked good enough, except the paint burnt so I had to respray it. Now it is a little bit front heavy so I will have to cut a bit off. It is hard to tell since I made the tube hinge nice and firm. Also played around with lots of other things, but as yet haven't solved them so it is no point telling you now. Have ordered instruments and a few other things, just about to order a radio/com. Interesting, Xcom sells a filter Capacitor for $40, Jaycar sells an electrolytic Capacitor with the same storeage $1.</edit> Sorry, my mistake, Jatcar one is 2200, Xcom uses a 22000, even so parrallel 10 and it is still cheaper <edit> With the extra $39 I ordered this gadget from Jaycar which tell you the time, digital battery voltage, inside air temp and outside air temp. Sounded cheap enough. Other than that, I have been trying to earn some more funds, slaving away in the hot sun all day, the things I will do to get an aeroplane.

A further question If you were driving an XR6Turbo with better take off performance and fuel useage than a V8, and overtook the V8 in fourth position, where would you be? Answer: in first place, lapped them all long time ago

I just noticed something on the RAA site about an new technology that might be mandated, I don't have the time to look into this fully, so does anyone know in simple terms what this means for us, and what to do about it. Just to start the ball rolling on what might be an important issue.

This is shortened from the longer version: 3 blokes, First one says he came home looking for his wife's lover, couldn't find him until he looks over the balcony and sees a bloke putting his clothes on behind a shrub. The husband gets mad and throws the fridge at him and has heart attack. 2nd bloke was a plumber changing into overalls when this fridge fell on him, 3rd bloke was having an affair and hid in the fridge.