A wise man contacted me with some advice on the torque tube looseness issue, so I've ordered new closing brackets for those end ribs.  My solution is a bit a of hack, so I'll likely go with the better solution.

So until I get those parts I'll move on to other things.  I'll be away from the build for the next week, so nothing happening until I return.  See you then!

Until then, here's a picture of Crosby as he greets me in the morning. ;-)

1 hr. fabricating brackets to secure the elevator torque tube.

I decided to put brackets in front and behind the tube to be able to position in where it naturally wants to sit to minimize friction.  I need to better analyze the overall friction in the whole chain of pushrods before committing to riveting these in place.

Blanks cut out (don't have the thickness in front of me, but it's thicker than typical material).

Drilled and reamed to size (4mm).

Bent and ready for installation (which I'm holding off on until I'm sure about the system friction distribution).

1.5 hrs. on pushrods.  The

-12A seems too long for just using 1 washer on the outside.  Two OK?  The manual also mentions using thin washers on the inside, but that seems to be very loose.  OK?  Seems better to use thick washers.  Also the other end (joystick) calls for a AN4-16A... Which I don't have...  Maybe it comes in the finishing kit?  Also the bushes that are called out in the manual (which seems oriented toward the 2, not the 4) seem too long to fit as shown. :-(

Made this video show the whole chain through the center fuselage.

And this video showing some looseness in the elevator torque tube.

Got some more details on my paint scheme, including the current proposed colors and the plan view.

2 hrs. mounting the joysticks and counting work on the torque tubes/pushrods.

I was wondering if I'd ever use this tool...  There was no way my hand was going to get in there to hold the nut and washer.  This tool was perfect for the task.  It doesn't mention using thread locker in the manual, but it seemed like a good idea to use some, so I used Loctite 243.

All in place.

Time to rivet the sleeves for the elevator torque tube, so I clamped it down in position.

Was only able to get 2 rivets on each side's sleeve due to the limited rotation range.  Should be fine.

Put the control stick elevator pushrods in place.  I want to make sure it's OK to put these in now (and the other center fuselage pushrods (I suspect yes).

2 hrs. working on the joystick and the aileron autopilot pushrod.

Got this great light recently (finally).  It's USB powered.  Helps so much to have good light on the subject!

Clipping on the joystick mounting bracket so I can make sure all is lined up well.

Sliding in the bolt.  I don't know if this was just popular in the US, but a game I played when I was a kid was called Operation.  I was pretty good at it - which is a good thing because those skills are coming in handy again!  Pretty tight space to work in!

My ad-hoc method to get washers in.

Works great!

And the manual calls for a AN3-11A bolt - which, despite my large inventory of bolts, I don't have...  -10 on the left, too short...  -12 on the right, too long...  Sigh...  Off to Aircraft Spruce to buy some bolts...  I think I'll order a few -8's and -9's which I also don't have, just in case.

Now that I'm satisfied the joystick lines up well, it's time to rivet the sleeves in place.  I taped the sleeve in place, so it wouldn't move and I used a spring-loaded punch to mark the spot (doesn't need to be a precise location).

Pilot hole with a very small bit, then a slightly bigger drill bit, then the 3.2mm reamer to size it.

Sized and cleco'ed.

All the holes sized, I moved the sleeve out of the way to clear any debris, then it was time to rivet.

And it's done!

And this is the other stick.

It was pointed out to me that the countersunk standard for aircraft is 100 degrees not 82 degrees (Thanks Peter in Austria!), so I'll be returning the one I ordered and I've ordered this instead.

Read about the difference here.