Firefly Slide Show
































Control Module & Radiator Shutter Position Indicator

The Victor 1+ required additional engine control functions, so I added some switches, and brought the roll and pitch trims up from below the seat. Starting from the right, the black lever is the throttle, the short lever is the carb enrichment lever or choker, the large knob with numbers turns a friction controlled winch that moves the radiator shutter up or down to control engine water temperature, the next two side by side levers activate mag grounding/kill switches for the left or right mag. The next lone lever activates the starter switch. The outside switch controls the the nose cone light, and the other two, as yet, have no function. The first guitar string tightener controls pitch trim and the second controls roll trim. Steel cables through small ID soft aluminum tubing transfer motion to the throttle and choker. All other cable control functions are by 50 pound woven fish line. This fish line is very light, and if any of these lines fail the engine keeps running.
Since one can not see the radiator shutter from the cockpit, a scale was placed on the upper longeron so that shutter position is known. The controlling fish line passes through a small diameter aluminum tube under the longeron up through a 180 degree bend, back over the scale, and returns to another guide tube, and on finally to the friction winch. The white bead is the shutter position indicator. The fish line loops through the bead but is not fixed to the bead. This lets one slide the bead on the fish line into the proper position. After the fish line stretches to its tension length, no further adjustment is necessary. The scale was made by using Microsoft Word with a black background and white fore ground. Several different font sizes were printed and the one that fit the actual length of motion was selected. The back of the paper was sprayed with self adhesive and the scale positioned in place on the longeron. To protect the upper paper surface, the scale was covered with clear packaging tape.