I have very few things I can actually do at this point… The one remaining thing was/is installing the taxi/landing lights. I found screwing them in with the spring behind the lights, in that tight hole, very challenging. So I rtv’d/glued the springs fast to the light bracket and left them all dry. Then put the back bracket in, then the light, then the front bracket, then the screw.

I’m missing so many parts. There are just no more fronts that I can make any more progress on. I do not have my undercarriage kit, I’m missing parts for the rear seat I’m missing parts for the front seat channels, a missing parts for the latches on the canopy door, I’m missing the flap control tube that goes in the cabin, I am missing pieces for the center console skins, still waiting on my interior, still waiting in the firewall forward but hopefully that’ll be here soon…. I think I’m at a dead end. Ugh.

I gave up waiting on Sling. My interior package is taking forever. I ordered the default gray and black with no special options thinking it would be quicker but I was sorely mistaken. So I have started doing my interior myself. Obviously this slows things down and takes a lot longer. But in the long run it will still be quicker than waiting on Slings interior.

I am putting my headphone jacks elsewhere in the aircraft. So this allowed me to lower the bottom of my center console an extra inch. So I will have more storage which is always a good thing. In the picture you can see the original holes and my new holes. I did verify that lowering the bottom doesn’t interfere with the flap actuator in any way. I also flipped the back panel upside down which allows for the inspection hole to stay in place so you can check that the flap actuator bolt is still in place.

You can see in the pictures my attempt at center console interior. Before and after.

Okay for better or worse, I decided to make some customizations to the rear seat. Honestly this is probably more work than it was worth and I’m not sure why I did it but it’s done now so I’m going to keep it….

I used a single sheet of aluminum to replace the rear seats. The idea was that it is about 3/4 of an inch less high than the Sling design.

So the passengers in the rear now have three quarters of an inch more headroom. Normally my kids will be sitting in the rear not adults so this most likely is not a problem anyways.

Also I had my son sign his name to the inside of the seat that him and his brother will be sitting on. They have been doing the dirty work of removing the plastic off of the parts for me. So it’s only fair that they get some claim to the plane.

My panel has been designed by Midwest Panel Builders. We went back and forth several time because I was a little picky about keeping things symmetrical. Ultimately I am not sure that is very important but it sure does bug my OCD if it isn’t symmetrical. They were very patient with my changes. So without any more delay here is the unveiling of my panel….

Okay so this is my idea for air ducting. I heard people complaining there wasn’t enough air flow to the people in the rear. I also heard people complaining that the air mixture contraption vibrates and makes noise. And I just think all that extra air ducting underneath the panel will get in the way of working on other things. So to the end, I am only routing fresh air to the air vents by the passengers and pilots. Warm air will only come from the defroster or under the panel. I hope by removing the mixer I am creating a more straight flow from outside to the air vents increasing airflow. The first picture was an idea that took far too long to create and later scrapped. I later went with using the sling provided reducer. Embarrassingly I spent about 2 days on the first idea before I chucked it. Fyi, both solutions have sealant on the inside to make sure it is a tight fit.

This part was confusing. The Instruction manual lacked a lot of details about how to do this. It doesn’t mention if either of these parts need dimpling or what size rivets to use. So I posted the Sling Builders Facebook group and they saved the day. Thank you thank you. The preferred solution is to ” dimple the whole sandwich” . And use 4.0 countersunk rivets. And that’s what I did. When I hold the cowling itself up to the plane it still feels like the cowling won’t be as thick as a space that I created. So I’m not sure why that spacer is necessary but it’s in there now. Thanks for your help everybody.

In an effort to alleviate center of gravity problems caused by the parachute option, I am designing my own custom battery box. According to my calculations my 35 lb battery combined with 20 lb ballast, hanging on the front of the gearbox, where the optional alternator can go, should help reduce the effects of the parachute option. I’m also removing the elevator weight.

As you can tell from the pictures I first created a cardboard template for the battery box. And then used some pretty thick aluminum sheeting to create the box. I must admit this is not the best work I have ever done. It might not be pretty but it’s definitely strong. The box does fit in the same location using the same holes as the stock battery box. This box does stick out further and hangs over the front of the engine mount by about half an inch but I don’t believe this will be a problem.

I really like the Earth x batteries, but I don’t want lightweight for this particular component. This particular battery has cca 540 and 42Ah. So it should perform really well also.

I am missing so many parts that this is all I can do now.

I did make some mistakes. I had to drill out some rivets that I put prematurely on the side that attaches to the seat bottom.

I found that the length of the rivets on the plastic spacers that hold the seat release handle were not long enough. It calls for 3.2 x 8m. But I used 3.2×12.

This was a cool part to make. Gotta love gadgets. Felt a little steampunk.

Last night I went to watch Top Gun 2. It was really great sometimes movies don’t live up to the hype but this did. Obviously, it isn’t realistic but it’s not really designed for that. It’s designed to be entertaining and it definitely is. I highly recommend it.

I was able to start on the front seat backs. Make sure not to rivet the ribs in the head of the seat to the side until you put the front plate on. It’s just one rivet there but I riveted the ribs to the side and then had to drill it out.

Thanks to some feedback I received I am not going to be doing holes in the seats to make it lighter. But that’s probably mostly due to laziness. I do believe you could shed a couple pounds if you put the effort in.

I can’t do the front seat bottoms because once again I’m missing parts. But I’m doing as much of the bottoms as possible.

Just contemplating the weight of the seats… Just the two front seats, just the back and bases weight 15 lbs all together… I don’t know… Would a couple lighten holes matter ? Would it make a big enough difference to help ? Would it make a big enough difference to hurt? I don’t know.