I started out today by adding micro into the routed beds I made for the phenolic rudder pedal bases.
I then spread a fine coat of epoxy on the bottom side of the pedal base and mounted it in the floor pan. I also added a micro fillet in the corners around the perimeter of the floor pan.
The last step I performed when I was laying up the floorpans was to add a 3.5″ wide and 2.5″ high 2-ply BID layup between the aft bottom of the F22 center post and the fuselage floor.
Here’s a shot of the glassed and peel plied floor pan.
To ensure that each embedded rudder pedal base was perfectly level, I taped up a couple pieces of scrap wood with packing tape and then weighed them down over the rudder pedal bases.
Here’s a shot of the weighed down rudder pedal bases.
While the floor pan layups cured I started back to work on the nose gear electrical system to finalize the conversion of the connectors to AMP CPCs. I finalized converting the switch side (vs motor side) main connector P1 while concurrently cleaning up the wiring by zip tying the wiring. I also cut all the terminated wires to the same length.
Here’s a shot of the P1 connector (motor) and P2 connector (AEX) connected together.
After a good 3-4 hours of cure time under a heat lamp, I pulled the weight off the rudder pedal base, razor trimmed the overhanging side glass and pulled the peel ply. I also spent a good amount of time cleaning up all the peel ply goobers as well.
I set the heat lamp up on the other side and ended working another 3-4 hours on the nose gear electrical connectors before cleaning the right side. I still have to clean up all the peel ply boogers, but I’m calling it a night.
Tomorrow I’ll test out the nose gear actuator with the new connectors. I’ll also start working to finish the nose side walls. And if all goes well, I may even get the gear strut connected to the actuator motor inside the gear box.