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Start of the control
panel that will sit on the middle of the dash, basically
made from MDF and glue. The fittings you can see are
spiked captive nuts, the lower ones are for attaching
the unit to the dash and the front ones for the rack
mounting rail.
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All components
fitted and the MDF covered in grey stretchy vinyl. A
bit of a tight squeeze, but everything I need is in there
including a automatic starter cut out box that Ian kindly
made me (Lower Left). |
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Completed control panel ready for
mounting in to the HiJet. From the top and left to right:-
EGT Gauge, Fail to light cut out time relay, Oil Pressure
Gauge, %RPM, Master Power, Starter, Igniter, Starting
Fuel, Fuel Reset, Aux and Start and Stop Press Switch's.
All controls have a manual override/ test facility.
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At this point I received an email
form a sound effect company who had an interest in recording
the Viper at various stages of running for a project
that unfortunately I can not currently name. I was more
than happy to oblige, Ian Bennett also came along and
brought his
Solar T62 as a secondary engine for them to record. Some
pictures and stuff can be found here. A
video can be found here.
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Thanks to Derek at Alumacraft.co.uk for
making me another fine fuel tank. The capacity is only
5 gallons, quite a small volume really, but at the end
of the day I am trying to keep weight down, it should still
give me a couple of minutes at idle and a good blast
down what ever runway that we happen to be on. |
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As you can see its quite slim, only
4 inch's wide in fact, necessary to fit underneath the right
hand side of the bodywork. The original insulation template
can be seen to the right. |
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After the few starts I had whilst
running the engine for the sound effects company, it
became apparent
that the
battery's had a limited starting capacity and were only
capable of maybe 3 to 4 starts before a recharge was
needed. You have to bear in mind that each start could
take up to 30 seconds,
so that's
a lot
of electricity, but none the less I would like to have
more starts per charge, so the battery's are being replaced
with a genuine 24volt
NiCad aircraft battery, courtesy of Paul & Ian.
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Aircraft battery fitted in to new
support frame and existing wiring modified. There were
a few moments of concern as to whether the battery was
too deep and might interfere with the HiJet's prop shaft,
but even though its close, I think it will be ok. |
MGF
(11)