Back at it in Ohio

I just returned from a few days of butt freezing in Dayton and have some progress to report: One butt successfully frozen.

Took a couple days to clear off the ice from the POS van I use there. Destroyed an ice scrapper then a credit card. Had to open the driver door to see to turn left. Happy to be back in Florida. However, next week I fly to the Czech Republic to inspect the next container which will be full of Merlins and Merlin Lites and 750 floats all going to the Sun n Show starting 4 April. Maybe I will get lucky and avoid another ice and snowstorm. But I doubt it.

Here is a sneak peek at the new 750 floats for the Merlin Lite and Electrolite. Fiberglass nose cones and water rudders are now finished as well.

The above photos show some of last week’s work. We have sorted the positions and mounting for the engine components: Exhaust, radiator, voltage regulator, fuel pumps, ECU, and overflow reservoir. We even made a test fit of the cowl and that is looking good as well.

The fuel pressure regular and tank selector mechanism are not shown but have been sourced. It is a bit complicated as there is a fuel return line with fuel injection systems. And this return fuel must feed back to the tank it was drawn from. Perhaps next blog I will detail how we solved that issue. It is eloquent.

As we progress, I am populating the BOM and building the inventory of hardware and USA-sourced items. Tech Pro also confirms that there are 8 more sets of cowls, exhausts and engine mounts near finished. I will go see for myself and make sure they all get packed in the container leaving in 2 weeks.

At the same time, we are mapping out the wiring harness and preparing our custom circuit boards.

What you see here mostly goes behind the panel. There will be the main switches and fuses to the left of the MGL EFIS and another circuit board holding the fuel switches and fuses to the right of the EFIS.

The panel will be laser or water-cut for the switches and above the switches will be the blade fuses. Above the fuses will be a small LED which will only light if the fuse is blown so you don’t have to hunt to find any blown fuse. No one else offers custom-made circuit boards with their aircraft kits that I am aware of.

Our build time of 2 weeks is going to be greatly exaggerated. And in a good way.

Sometimes we get custom painting requests.

Here are a few custom colors with one multi-colored Merlin already delivered.

We are happy to take on custom paint schemes. The process: Download the Merlin 3-view diagram from our builder’s page. Get your crayons out and have at it. Then pick the RAL paint codes you like best. Scan and send to us. We will digitalize it and send to you for approval. Once you agree we will cut full size templates and paint away. Here is one in the paint shop now.

This kit is planned to arrive to Florida in time to be on display at the SNF show. Come see it! Now you have no more excuses.

CHIP