Finish, panel underway

The first item from the Stein panel crate installed! 

Transponder antenna (obviously) now wired to the aft end of the cable installed in the tailcone way back last summer.

A little better view of the panel awaiting its date with the fuselage. The bubble wrap is covering an absolute rat’s nest of wiring and remote boxes, though not nearly all of them.

Getting this all connected – and all of the boxes mounted – is NOT going to be fun.

Fun times crawling into the baggage area today to complete running coiled lines forward from the tailcone. In this case, the forward end of the transponder cable on the right side and the static line on the left side.

I also took a moment to tighten the headset & mic jacks, drill, install, & tighten the LEMO jacks, and connect the 12V power port ground wire. Hey, why not, I was there.

All sorts of stuff has now been run forward and up behind the subpanel. This area is about to look a whole lot worse before it begins to look any better.

I’m going to need to come up with a better stick wiring solution. Stein’s neat little connector backshells won’t pass through the snap bushing holes. I may just connect all the D-sub pins directly and heat shrink them together. We shall see.

Fuselage, tailcone joining

Aft and forward fuselage segments being initially positioned for joining.

Aft and forward fuselage segment joining underway.

Aft and forward fuselage segments joined!

Aft and forward fuselage segments joined!

The fuselage joining crew; thanks to all!! — with Jean Balch and Paul Chuchel.

Bulkheads clecoed in place.

Fuselage, tailcone progress

Bulkhead components ready for priming.

Bulkhead components primed.

Bulkhead components test fit to the tailcone.

Tailcone turned 90-degrees to facilitate aft fuselage service bulletin installation.

Tailcone turned 90-degrees to facilitate aft fuselage service bulletin installation. Believe it or not, both Jean and I managed to crawl in there (not simultaneously!) to complete the SB work.

Aft fuselage doubler installed per the service bulletin.