Washer Thickness

I've been unable to get two of the "1 mm" washers into the rear bellcrank assembly, shown three posts earlier. I just measured the thickness of these washers and they turn out to be around 1.2 mm thick. That's enough of a difference to explain why two of them won't fit. So...into Buena Vista to the hardware store (open on Sundays) to find thinner washers. I'll take my micrometer with me and try to find a size that'll work. Again, I wish the US had adopted the metric system long ago.

There are more assembly jobs that I can't yet do because doing them would cover up this bellcrank assembly. Getting washers that fit will be like breaking a logjam. Specifically, I'll be able to mount the lower rudder bracket, and go on from there.

Cabin and Gate Along T Road, San Luis Valley, Colorado

Along T Road west to Crestone in the San Luis Valley, there is an old cabin, quite dilapidated, among some trees behind a wire fence and a gate. I don't know the history of this place, and it's challenging to photograph with regard to color balance. But here we are, with late afternoon sun in late November.

San Luis Valley near Crestone, Colorado

T Road that goes from Highway 17 east to Crestone. The Sangre de Cristo form an impressive background a few miles away. Late afternoon in late November.

Rear Bellcrank

This is the bellcrank mechanism seen from the rear, where the rudder will go. The pushrod is seen coming from the control sticks. The bellcrank translates its motion into up and down motion to work the elevator, which will be mounted with the stabilizer at the top of the vertical fin. There are supposed to be two washers between the pushrod sides and the bellcrank, but the ones I've tried leave room only for one. Maybe I'm trying the wrong ones, so I'll have to look through the parts bag.

Brake Lines

This is the base of the right hand set of pedals. The white tubing coming out of the slot to the right of the pedals is the hydraulic brake line to the right wheel brake. The piece of purple fuel line that's glued over the white tube is to protect the fuel line from chafing. I used Gorilla Glue (pictured) to cement the fuel line piece onto the smaller brake line, but I'm not sure it's secured properly. We'll see, and maybe will use something else if need be.

Working Under the Floor, and Getting the Rudder Ready

Top photo: Me reaching underneath the floor of the aircraft, where the control linkage is located. Working in here is less than fun. Often the work is with two fingers of one hand, blind, going only by feel, reaching through a hole where a control stick will mount.

The lower photo is of me unwrapping the rudder, which comes wrapped in clear plastic. Its installation will be a major step very soon. It will mount above the tail wheel on the back of the vertical fin, both seen here.

Static Source for the Variometer

The bottom photo shows the 10 mm hole I drilled in the upper leading edge of the vertical fin of my Sinus. Then I fished out the end of the static tube that runs forward through the fuselage. It had a red string on the end, to make it easier to grab.

The top photo shows this same tube connected to the base of the static probe using a slightly larger piece of tubing several cm long. Warmed a bit, and with a dab of Gorilla Glue when it was about halfway on, I was able to slide it over the end of the static probe base. The smaller tube fit into the short length to the base of the black, and was fastened using Gorilla Glue (applied only to the smaller tube so that when I slid them together, the end wouldn't fill up with glue). A piece of shrink wrap (yellow) was placed over the joint, to further secure it. I slid a piece of wire into the end, and pulled it out again, to make sure the passage was open.

The black base got epoxied into the hole, and the junction of tubing will never, never be seen again. Never! So I tried to do it right.


The top of the blue tape on the left defines the direction in which the static probe must point.

Skinny Tools for Sinus

Here's the set of skinny hex wrenches I made for reaching inside the tubing on my Sinus. One is 5 mm, the other is 4 mm. The latter (smaller one) is for the nut, which is on the left side. Remember the old saying, taught me by my dad, "Nuts to the pilot!" These fasten together the flaperon control tubes, which meet in the upper center of the fuselage.

I sawed off two ordinary metric hex wrenches and epoxied them into lengths of tubing that I found at our local True Value hardware store. The one on the left may look hollow, but it isn't. I had filed off rough edges around the end.