This afternoon we returned from a visit to our kids in Gilbert, AZ. We left last Thursday at Noon and got back at 2:30 pm today. After unpacking the car and putting things away, I was anxious to do some work on the 12.
I cut the tubing for the control stick pushrods. I drilled and taped 1-inch at the ends of pushrods. I prepped them and primed them. After they dried I installed the bearings and adjusted them to the proper length. There are 2-small spacer washers – 1-on each side of the bearing that attaches to the bottom fork of the control sticks. I used krazy glue to attach the spacer washers to the bearings.
It was not easy but I was finally able to insert the bolts trough the forks and bearing assemblies on each of the control sticks. The work space is really confined. I ended up using some large forceps to hold and insert the parts, washers, bolts, nuts, etc. I had to use my close quarters angle drill to remove the powder coating from the holes in the control stick forks. That was crazy enough.
I also had to ream the holes in the flaperon mixer bellcrank so the bearing attachment bolt would fit. During the installation I dropped the bolts down into the fuselage.They fell into an area I could not see, even with my inspection mirror and a flashlight. As luck would have it I was able to use my magnetic reach tool to retrieve them. Though they are difficult to see in these photos, the control stick pushrods and installed.
