The easiest way in my eyes, is to installed the pushrod to the control stick before installing the stick. The area around the stick is so tight, you can hardly fit a hand in there - not to mention any tools.
This is how mine looked like before trying the first time to get this into the fuselage.
Notice that this special bushing that connects the pushrod to the mixer plate is installed on the end of the pushrod. This will not fit into the fuselage. It's just about an inch too long to slide through all the narrow openings. At this point I didn't know that though.
So, I tried to get in somehow but to no avail. Back to the bench, taking the bushing off gave me enough clearance to slide the assembly into place. Putting the bushing back on the pushrod inside the fuselage is fairly easy.
That worked so well, I did the same on the right side. This time leaving the bushing off from the beginning.
This one turned out to have too tight of a fitting to the control column bracket and so it had to come out again for some more filing.
Eventually, I had them both installed, perfectly fitted, torqued and secured with cotter pins. Boy, was I proud of myself!
I shouldn't have put the cotter pins in, that's always a bad omen. Particularly, if you don't have any spares... but I was yet to find that out.
So, back to the work bench and getting those grips ready for installation.
A hole punch cleared the top of the grips with a perfectly cut 1/4" hole, despite the fact I have those grips where you can't take the end off.
The switch was quickly installed by tying a string around the head of the actuator of the switch and pulling it through the hole. If the switch ever breaks and has to get replaced I might have to cut the grips off though to get to the wires.
With the assembly I went outside to pull the wires through the stick with the string I had installed and secured weeks ago. Well, and that's when my day just fell apart.
The string on the left wouldn't budge. I mean it wouldn't even move half an inch in either direction. It was just fine before I did the painting and I haven't felt the need to verify that it would still move, because why shouldn't it???
I cursed and pulled. Wouldn't move.
I cursed some more and pulled the other way. Nothing.
At some point I was yanking on that string like a maniac but it all didn't help, the string wouldn't move.
It took me some moments to realize that the only way to do this was to take the stick out, pull the string so hard that it would tear and start from scratch.
And that's what I did. I even burnt the rest of the string out that was still stuck somewhere inside the control stick. I used the vacuum technique to suck in another string which worked just fine, and this one moved without a hitch.
Having the stick on the work bench made the installation of the grips easier it turned out. I was using some shrink tube to attach the wire to the string. I have some expensive tube that doesn't just shrink but also stays flexible once it was activated and allows to get pulled around corners, which might have been helpful today.
I attached the shorter wire to the longer one with some duct tape on this stick. The right one got another shrink tube as it just worked better.
Sliding the grip over the control tube was a tough one until I remembered reading on the forum to let the grip slide on a cushion of air. I found a nozzle that could get pushed under the grip a little and it worked like a charm.
Now back to where we were before. Installing the stick, this time with the wires and the switch in place.
This time it all worked. I retorqued the AN4 bolt and I even found a bag of fitting cotter pins that I had forgotten about. Some extras I must have bought from Aircraft Spruce a while back, for days like today!
Then on to the right stick. This time I was certain I could install the grip on the fuselage as there was no way a second string would have tightened up magically. I was partially right.
The string did move indeed and I attach the wire to the string, pulling happily... until it came to a sudden stop. First I thought the bulky shrink tube would be the problem and get stuck or something. Pulling back showed that the tube was untouched. I tried and tried again but every time the string came to a sudden stop at the same spot.
Finally I lost my temper and pulled to hard that I tore the string and the end came out.
Turned out that I had added some knots on the string to make sure it wouldn't accidentally get pulled all the way through. How thoughtful of me!!! Only I put the knots on the wrong side of the obstruction!
So the same procedure repeated itself. Getting stick out, back on work bench, pulling a new string, installing wire, sliding grip on, installing stick in the fuselage yet again.
This photo doesn't show how much time went into this apparently so simple installation of control sticks and some microphone switches. I also took the time to check if the switches were actually working. With my luck today I should have found at least one to be defective.
Both worked, so I'll have to pay for that on some other day, I guess.
Checking the rest of the wiring section 31 revealed that most of it is now related to the tailcone which I haven't installed yet, so I decided to continue section 32 which takes care of the control elements. The sticks were in and the next thing is to install the mixer and the flap handle, which makes sense as they both actuate the flaperons. When I get to the rudder cables, I will have to think about installing the tailcone next. I don't think that it would make much sense to keep it off much longer.
Prepping and priming the next parts for the flight controls.
The flap handle ready for installation once the interior has been added.
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