Building an airplane is an interesting experience. It's been a month since my last update and it feels like I've accomplished little to nothing, when in reality I've got a good chunk of the wings together. Having a week off at a time has helped a lot and the coming week is no exception. What is slowing me down is parts. For the wings, as I mention in the video, I am missing one very key part to be able to close out the bottom skin on the wings which will allow me to work on getting the wiring installed on both wings and the pitot tube on the left wing. Apparently this part is very constrained because even the kits arriving now in Torrence are missing this part.

Thinks I need to get better on are working in the evenings (as I had planned) and taking more pictures. I do continue to make progress as time goes by, but with the weather getting cooler and the days getting shorter it's harder to go out and spend time working on it.

At this time I have most, if not all parts for getting the fuel tanks at least underway. I am looking at using a CEIS fuel sender vs. the stock one that came with the airplane as the CEIS has a much more modern way of sending fuel information to the Garmin system (think digital vs. analog). I had these CEIS installed in the T210 I was part owner in for a while and I think we had an accuracy down to a half a gallon of what was actually in the tanks. Another owners of a Tsi has reported some "stickiness" of the fuel level information and a need to "bang on the wing" to get it to read correctly, or in other words, loosen up the sensor so it takes a good reading. Obviously something I want to avoid if I can. I don't know if CEIS makes a sender for the Tsi, but I have reached out to them to find out at this time. If they don't, no biggie, I'll use the stock ones that came with it and work with the issues as they come along.

Unfortunately this change may add several weeks in allowing me to close out the fuel tanks completely, but I think the time involved in going this route will be worth it, even if it is an added cost.

At this time I'm still hopeful that I can get all of the control surfaces finished before the end of 2021. If I can meet that goal, then I feel like I'm on track to a 2 year build. That is of course baring any delays in other shipments. Instrument panels can take between 6 and 10 months as well as the engine delivery. Those aren't small windows of guesswork delivery, so I'm inclined to order these very big ticket items sooner vs. later as I'd rather have them on-site waiting on me vs. weeks or months waiting on them.

I've been talking with Midwest Panels to do my panel and wiring work. I haven't had much engagement with them other than in passing, but even at that level, their customer service makes going any other route other than to use them a no brainer. I've experience nothing but responsiveness and clarity in all of my engagements, so I'm certain I'll be happy with that process.

Oh - and we did settle on a color for the plane and interior. As for the paint scheme - that's a whole other level of "what should we do". We needed paint schemes so we can pick interior colors and get that process going as well.

Anyway - enjoy the pictures that I have and the video. Hopefully in a month you'll see fuel tanks! :D

To see the video and pictures, please visit my blog page at Winging it

Return to Previous Page