The Murphy Builders Site

Well, with people (OK, one people) complaining about lack of noise on this
list, like wow, that's my cue! :-) So here's the nutshell [Ed.: yeah,
right] report on 254R's status.

Except as noted below, wings and fuselage are done, including overhead "Y"
belt harness attach points, electric flaperon drive, pneumatic tailwheel &
new spring, and tailfeathers.

All the FWF wiring, accessories, control cables & plumbing are done -- a
year after starting that area. That's dual alternator, dual regulator,
single battery, full 6-cyl. CHT/EGT, etc., -- a modified Aeroelectric Z-12
schematic. The baffles are 82.6% done (+/-). The cowl is precisely 37.2%
done and moving right along. The fuel system is 98.4% done (except for gas
cap snorkel vents), the oil cooler and separator are mounted and plumbed.
With panel, prop, and fuel system testing, it would be ready for engine
start.

The panel is 87.3% done, which means all radio stack framing, oodles of
harnesses, DC & engine sensor wiring & behind panel gizmos are in, the
finish overlay panels are painted & lettered with switches and about half
the blinky lights installed. All that's left is to install the 6
annunciator
LED's on the center panel over the left EFIS, do panel area pitot/static,
then install the finish overlay panels and plug in the avionics to the
harnesses, hooking up the switches, etc., in the process. Oh yeah, and
testing for smoke.

The task spreadsheet shows 11 build/install tasks to go before engine
start
(install prop, build snorket vents, etc.) and three of those are 80% done
or
more. That's the good news.

The less good news is that in addition to those 11 things needed for
engine
start, I still have to finish the cowl, do rudder & elevator cabling,
brakes, wing & tail tips, stick grip wiring, doors, windshield,
pitot/static
plumbing, wing wiring, NAV lights and strobes, magnetometers, ELT,
antennas,
and another dozen or so "little" things. Some non-essential,
non-sequential
items will wait until after it's flying.

But whoa, that's not so bad. In fact, I can now say, with moderate to firm
assurance, that 254R will probably have first engine start before '09,
and... it _will_ fly -- at least sometime this decade. :-)

Ron

http://n254mr.com -- the gory details

PS - Most of the above is true.




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Well, with people (OK, one people) complaining about lack of noise on this
list, like wow, that's my cue! :-) So here's the nutshell [Ed.: yeah,
right] report on 254R's status.

Except as noted below, wings and fuselage are done, including overhead "Y"
belt harness attach points, electric flaperon drive, pneumatic tailwheel &
new spring, and tailfeathers.

snip

Ron

I guess I owe you a report on the cheapo industrial pneumatic tailwheel.
I started getting what seemed like a minor shimmy so I added that wavy
washer to add a little friction on the pivot. Turns out it was not
shimmy but rather the tire gradually went out of round a 1/4" or so.
However I re-installed MAM's solid wheel and the wavy washer has
eliminated the occasional shimmy that I started having with that wheel.

I have ordered a Matco wheel anyway as it looks like it will be another
year before I finish the amphibs and I'd like a bigger tire back there
for soft fields in the meantime.

Ken

Thanks for the update, Ken. Although taxi tests here are a ways off yet, I
still have high hopes for a Cadillac ride with the Iron Designs wheel.

Ron