Throttle quadrant and side stick

Maybe I missed something? But I can't find where in the plans it says to install the throttle quadrant. The last paragraph on page 24-1 says, "Now that you've reached this point you should have everything installed in the console area - engine controls..." Really? When did we do that?

Any who, I purchased my throttle quadrant from Aircraft Spruce (Part # 05-00702) (have to also thank the RV folks since this is what they use on their birds - see, canardians and RVers can get along!). Yes, they are a bit pricey - but they are AWESOME! They look and feel great! 

I had to come up with a way to mount this to the inside left sidewall of my fuselage... my plan was to glass a "mounting bracket" made out of 1/4" plywood to the fuselage.. and use to nuts to bolt the throttle quadrant to it... 

So I started out by marking where the bolts were going to go through the existing throttle quadrant bracket...

And I drilled the holes for AN3 bolts...

I then made the plywood bracket, and installed 4 t-nuts... (notice the "I love you!" note on the top left my wife left me last time she came by the hangar... she is THE BEST!!!)

So I bolted the bracket onto the throttle quadrant...

I had to cut out a portion of the left velcro shelf to make room for the throttle...

I then used 5-min epoxy to tack the bracket onto the fuselage wall... notice how I used a squeegee card laying on top of the throttle plate to align it with the line I had traced the side console with (indicated by the red arrows)... this assured the throttle plate would be perfectly level/flush with the side console later on...

After the 5-min dried, I removed the throttle quadrant from the bracket that was now tacked to the wall.. 

I applied hot glue to the threads to prevent epoxy from getting in... and glassed the bracket to the wall using 3 plies of BID. After cure, I drilled out the threads (the hot glue comes right out).. being careful not to damage the threads...

I then bolted the throttle quadrant back in...

It was now time to make the cutout on the side console... I did a rough cutout with the mutitool and then opened it up slowly with a file until it was a perfect fit...

I noticed while opening up the cutout, that I needed to make a hole to allow the throttle friction knob to pass through... 

I dished it out so that the knob would be recessed inside the panel... and applied a 45 deg bevel all around...

And applied 1-ply BID and peel plied the edges...

I had to remove the throttle handle to pass it through the side console opening...

Ready for install...

And there you have it! Throttle quadrant installed!

Notice the throttle friction recessed inside.. it's those little details that adds time to the build but well worth it!

With the throttle quadrant installed, I focused on installing the side stick (control grip). I purchased mine from Aircraft Spruce (Infinity aerospace military stick grip - Part #: 11-00031). Again, pricey, but well worth it! It will feel like flying a fighter jet!

The problem with these grips is that they require a 1" diameter inner tube to attach to.. if you recall from Chapter 16, our control tube is 5/8" diameter. So we have two options: 1) apply a collar to our existing stick, or 2) replace our 5/8" dia stick with a 1" stick. I was really tempted to go with option 1, however, it would be difficult to pass the wire bundle through the stick... so I went with option 2...

Here I am making notes figuring out what size bolts I will need...

The AN4-20... now becomes AN4-23

The AN3-13A.. now becomes AN3-16A

The AN4-15A.. now becomes AN4-20A

With the bolts figured out, I drilled the three holes..

The stick has a "boss" that goes through the tube.. this is what determines the "clock angle" of the stick.. I sat inside the airplane and measured 20 degrees left was my ideal preference... here is a preview of this hole... but how do we measure 20-degrees on a tube?!

First, I wrapped the tube with blue tape, so it would be easier to mark and draw on it. Next, I placed the tube on a sheet of paper... and drew a straight line through the middle of the circle... and marked 7" away from it. Using trig, I calculated I had to make a mark 2.548" below the 7" mark... connecting this location with the center of the circle gave me the 20-degrees I was looking for! Isn't math AWESOME!

tan 20 deg = x/7... solving for x, we get x=2.548...

I then lined up the tube and marked the 0 deg line with the 3 holes I made earlier... and then made the 20-degree mark... 

Using this mark for the clock angle, I then measured how far down to make the pilot hole... this was going to determine how high/low the control stick sat with respect to the arm rest... (I sat in the plane and measured what my preference was...)

I then opened up the hole to allow for it to pass through the control stick's internal boss...

Press-fitted the AN4 bolt through the stick...

Passed the cable bundle through... and installed the stick. The grip comes with a plastic tube that gets inserted inside the tube to help guide the wires between the boss...

Following the manufacturer's instructions, I made a slit on the backside of the tube to help make sure the cables don't get pinched.. I added a piece of tape since I didn't like the idea of having cables rub up against a metal edge...

Not gonna lie... this was a pain to do! Must have tried a hundred times to close the grip around the 1" dia tube... but I finally got it! I think the reason it took me a while is because the hole where the boss passes through was not perfectly aligned (although I used my drill press, I did not use a guide, which would have helped assure the hole was perfectly centered). This small offset meant I had to slightly enlarge the hole (to allow a little wiggle room). After I figured that out, it was cake!

Installing the stick onto the main control tubes...

Perfect!

Next, I had to make the cutout on the side console to allow the control stick to pass through...

Boom! And there you have it!! Control stick is in and ready to fire missiles! Just kidding... talk to air traffic control, control trim servos, swap coms, etc...

With the throttle quadrant and side stick installed, I think I will move on to body work and resume other Chapter 24 items later!