Smoke Testing:

Now, we're starting the really exciting part of construction. The first test is to turn on switches one by one, to see if they produce smoke from short circuits, total lack of response, or hopefully work fine. They all worked, the Enigma being the trickiest component with the most connections. We had been very careful to connect it up according to the diagrams, with Kevin's completed Talon nearby, to act as a reference for tricky connections. The photo (from later on, when all components had been installed) shows the Enigma working, with Kevin's user designed format loaded into the unit. As you can see, it has the necessary flight information displayed, as well as excellent monitoring information, including secondary drive, plus front & rear tail rotor gearbox temperatures.

The second smoke test is to run the engine & this produced so much smoke, we filled the workshop with it! We fuelled the tanks & ensured that all fluids were adequate, with all connections checked. Then it was time to press the starter motor -- it coughed & spluttered, certainly firing but not smoothly. It turned out that not all ignition wiring was correct, but this was sorted out. The location of the ignition modules behind the passenger seat, plus the length of the leads, creates a fairly simple jigsaw puzzle to solve. The second attempt produced a live engine, running smoothly with a thumping roar in the confined workshop. Heaps of smoke came from the exhaust system, burning off various stuff of which the heavily lagged exhaust system is made. The rotor mast looks rather odd without any blades attached but all in good time! The smoke testing was finished at 10:30 P.M. one night -- much later than we would usually work but who could possibly go to bed, so close to seeing it run?

Now it's time to give the engine something to drive. The photo shows the tail boom bolted on for the last time now, then the horizontal stabiliser & fins were added. The tail rotor drive was installed & the tail rotor assembly fitted to it.

We are now adding some body panels & at this stage, Kevin bet me that, as the apprentice, I would be the first to scratch the pristine job fresh from the paint shop. This didn't happen -- Kevin's "error of judgement" preceded any other but it was worth it!!

More Black Boxes.

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Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8