report from the trenches

[Ron Shannon]

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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[Ron Shannon]

It's been awhile since I submitted a trench report. This one will be
unusually (mercifully!) brief -- just the latest post from the project web
site:

"It's been two months since I posted the last task
spreadsheet<http://n254mr.com/task-list>,
but the current sheet <http://n254mr.com/task-list> is up now. I started
keeping this list one year ago. At that time there were well over 70
build/install items left before First Flight. In the past year, that's been
cut to less than half, even though some tasks were added during the year.
There are now only 31 build/install tasks left. About 14 of the remaining
tasks are more than 50% done already, and a few of the rest are simple 1-2
hr. jobs. Definitely happening now. Wahoo!"

Doors, windshield, tips, brakes & tail cables are the main things left. A
few months to go yet, but at least the end is no longer a mirage. Am I
stoked? You bet.

Ron
254R
http://n254mr.com




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