Spent quite a bit of time getting the canopy figured out. I should be able to make a sliding canopy without too much trouble. I decided to build a box for the cockpit. It will not be full depth, but with some creativity It should look the part.
I added the supercharger inlets on the leading edges of the wings. I cut out a shallow hole of the right shape, wicked a bunch of thin CA in, and painted it flat black. I have a little more detailing to do, but they turned out well.
Mounted the DLE-120 on the firewall, along with the brass weights. Hooked up the linkage for the choke and throttle servos. Notice the aluminum heat shield that should help prevent muffler heat from soaking into the servos. They'll be right behind the hole in the cowl for the exhaust, so it shouldn't be too hot.
I thought I'd make a latch so I could remove the hatch easily. This will allow me to mount many of the controls and switches inside. I purchased a strong metal hatch latch from Dreamworks jets and installed it. I added a bit of carbon fiber to the hatch hole to make sure it was strong. Should work, it's similar to what was on my TopRC Zero, and it worked fine.
I mounted the retract servo and valve on a board that will also double as a stop to hold the fuel tank in place. Here's a view up into the nose of the fuse showing the set-up. I have to keep the side areas clear so I can reach up into the front with the wing nut that holds on the wing (see the holes in the front of the wing mounts). You can also notice that I mounted a fuel dot in front of the right wing. Large air tank was strapped to the outer wing tube under the tray in the photo.
