17 Jun 2024

Drilled 44mm and 50mm holes in the under front seat shutoff skins and center console skins to accommodate Aveo air vents. The 44mm holes are centred 50mm down from the top of the skin bend, and 57mm inboard from the flange of the rear seat control cover. Due to a mistake on my part, I measured and drilled front vent holes to accommodate Maxi vents instead of the standard ones, so I've had to order two more Maxi's for the dashboard. Expensive error, but at least it will provide more airflow to the front footwells. I positioned the vents a bit further forwards and slightly lower down than I've seen on other builds - this after sitting in the fuselage and realising my legs would probably interfere with the vents in the higher position.

I manufactured a 2" T piece to route air to the front vents by trimming a Vans Aircraft VA175 expanded aluminium T piece to size and trimming the Aveo SCAT adapters - quite a bit had to be taken off of each to get it all to fit between the two console skins. I joined them together with a combination of Flame Master sealant on the inner surfaces, followed by some epoxy to provide a secure bond and finally a coat of black paint. Looks okay. This design does mean that vents will have to be unscrewed if the center console skins are removed, but that's not an issue. I then epoxied the 45 degree 3D printed 1" to 1.5" SCAT adapters (thanks to my friends for designing and printing these!) to the Aveo ball vent SCAT adapters. A test fit showed that they fit perfectly, no interference with any of the flight controls and nicely aligned with the previously installed S bends in the center console - so just a bit of SCEET tube required now to join them up. The SCAT adapters were printed in PETG - so hopefully they'll be durable.

The side duct T/Y structure which I modified exhibited leaks, so I removed the silicone sealant which did not adhere well to the aluminium and instead applied a liberal amount of Flame Master sealant inside and outside on the joins. It could be prettier - I'll see if I can tidy it up a bit, but functionality is the important measure here since most of it will be covered up.

I sat in the aircraft and am now a little concerned that I may be too tall for it at 1.91m / 6'3". The canopy is raised above its final position and my head was touching the ceiling when sitting on some thin plywood, so we'll have to wait and see!