CHAPTER 60 – Hooking Up the Controls

Ok, with everything together, I’m anxious to get the controls working. The first picture shows the elevators connected to the pushrod and the rudder connected to the cables. The other ends of the cables are already connected to the pedals, but there’s slack unless you put your feet on the pedals. I’ve just added return springs from the pedal linkage to the lower fuselage gussets using 4.5” springs from Aircraft Spruce. However, they tended to stretch permanently when being installed, so I will be trying to locate some better springs and I’ll get a picture then.

The next photo shows the elevator pushrod at the bellcrank behind the baggage compartment wall. The lower pushrod is in place as well, and you can see it connected in the third picture to the control mechanism. The picture after that shows the left aileron pushrod connected to the stick. I proceeded to connect all the controls and work them through their range of motion. I discovered a couple of places that rubbed and fixed the problems. One problem was that the aileron brackets were from before Vans started powder coating all the steel parts, so I removed them and had them coated at a local shop. The next couple of pictures show outer and inner brackets with the proper spacers and washers installed.

Finally, I installed the trim cable, attached the mounting bracket to the horizontal stabilizer with clecos, and connected the end to the trim tab. It’ll have to come off for painting, but it should be Ok for rigging and testing. The other controls will have to be disconnected, too, until the wings are in place for the last time. First, the final attachments for the wing/fuselage union have to be made.