Rudder Pedal Install

Back in February during the nose build, the rudder pedals were installed. That is, of course, a deceivingly simple statement. Let's walk through what went into putting those pedals in.

Remember the nose gear box post? Those NG-30s are the mounting surface for the pedals. The photo below is a reference for what part is being worked on. Those two blue circles in the lower right portion of the NG-30s are the markers for where the pedals will go.

Drilling ensues. . .

and hardware is inserted.

As you can see, half of the pedals are missing due to the need to modify the walls a bit and install additional hardware.

Rudder pedal pivot blocks are carved from high density foam and bonded into place on the outer nose gear walls.

Using the pedal tube as a guide, the nutplate location is identified.

What's a nutplate, you ask? It's a bit of hardware that one makes in order to have a mounting surface for metal-type interfaces. In short, you can't just shove a bolt in foam and fabric and expect things to work well.

This little labor-intensive piece is fitted and bonded into place.

One last fit check. . .

and the nutplate holes are packed with vaseline and the whole thing is covered in 4 plies of BID.

The holes are drilled out again and the pedals are finally installed. Yay!

I may need pedal extensions for my side, but they rotate fluidly. Excellent.