Test fitting

Test fitting is a wonderful activity - because for just a short time, your airplane looks so much closer to finished! I sat in the MAV today for the first time since teardown. Nice feeling. I got the seats from M. Jones (a guy living in Guam who sells a lot of Cub replica parts on ebay). They fitted nicely and because I'm only 167 cm high, I got extra thick back seat - works perfect for me! (And for the tall guy buying the airplane in future: I couldn't care less!).

Sewing... and some luck on floorboard finish

I noticed that when working on the plane, putting tools etc on the floor, it would leave ugly scratches on the floorboards. I thought a clear top coat would be good and I had some clear wood primer left over and thought that would do the trick... Oh boy! That stuff is made to penetrate into the wood, not to be a top coat... Despite 25 degrees for 48 hours, the stuff was still sticky. Damn! Tried to wipe it off with thinner... Then put on a coat of clear lack for wood floors. Not only did it become dry and smooth, it also bleached the slightly too dark green into a PERFECT color match! So I put on 3 layers of that stuff. Now I have durable floorboards, leaves no scratches at all, and the color became perfect. What seemed to become a nightmare turned out to be the best solution! It delayed the progress by 2 days though...

So now I have put in the floorboards for the final time (and it's the third time I say that). Started to mount control sticks, nice to see it starting to look like an airplane inside.

I've never been good at needlework... Neither is my wife, so I just had to give it a try! I thought the best way to mount the back wall fabric (from Dick Hall) was to sew it around the tube. I suppose that was how it was made originally, correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, not proud of the estetics, but nevertheless the damn thing is now mounted properly and the shelf will cover the traces..  :-)

Mounted the ELT plate and tray. I think those old ELT's are still allowed on Annex 2 airplanes, so I'll try to get hold of one from the local avionics shop.

Wiring harness

Before floorboards are permanently fixed, we need to lay down the cables bundles. My good colleague Bjørn Terje at work made three nice bundles today, thanks! During the weekend they will be attached to the tubes under the floor using waxed chord. Some spare wires is added for future use.

Since LN-MAV is in the EXPERIMENTAL category, I don't have to care about STC's etc. I'm thinking to make a ground plane for 3 antennas below the fabric aft of the wall behind the BC-659:

- GPS antenna
- Transponder antenna
- ELT antenna

For VHF antenna, I'm trying to modify the AN-29-C original antenna. Using a Sitemaster, we will try to find a length that works well with 118-134 MHz. If unsuccessful, perhaps a RG400 COAX cable inside the antenna and connected to a whip antenna for VHF at the top. This way, there will be no antennas visible that was not there during WW2 service.

3 bundles of wiring harness. All aircraft approved cables and harness.

The simple wiring diagram.