Customizations

Before we started our build we selected  several custom options for our plane. Strangely enough, there is no list of all possible options. We just had to keep asking to find out (HINT: someone at TAF should make a list). Anyway here are a few options we selected as part of our order: 

Split Rear Seat - This will allow for three passengers and luggage. We also plan to make the rear seat removable because we most often fly without any passengers and lots of luggage.

Extra Long Seat Rails - My family is really tall, so we asked for extra long seat rails. This will allow them to move the seat back a few extra inches to accommodate for those long legs.

Foot Pedals - The standard it comes with really cheap looking rudder bars. It turns out there is a option to get custom aluminum Sling branded pedals. They are on backorder.

Besides the options from the factory, now that we are building we have learned about many small modifications that other builders are making. Here are some that we are considering.

Oil Drain Valve - The oil reservoir comes with a difficult to use drain plug. We ordered an oil drain valve from Amazon (Fumoto F107N) which lets you drain the oil without tools and without a mess.

Vents - We decided to eliminate the rear vents. They basically don't work anyway, there is not enough airflow for the passengers in the rear seats. Instead we are putting in custom vents in the front (the ones that come with the kit are pretty bad also). We selected the AVEO BALL VENT AVE-BVBLK-200. They are a drop in replacement, but make sure you let your panel builder know because they take up less space.

Yaw Damper - We are installing a yaw damper. However, this has not been done before so we need to make a custom bracket to mount the yaw servo below the rear seat. That is work in progress, we'll let you know how that goes.

Brake Updates - We decided to upgrade our brakes for better stopping power. Evan Brunye posted an excellent video explaining the pros and cons of the dual puck brake calibers with thicker brake discs. 

Inspection Hatches - There are several inspection hatches on the wings that are really hard to open. Someone had a clever idea to put two rivnuts in each inspection hatch, and build a simple tool that lets you open them more easily.

Extra Insulation - Our quick build kit came with some sound dampening insulation pre-installed, but we've added a lot extra to hopefully further limit temperature variations and noise. In particular, it is a good idea to insulate the insides of the interior skins. That will give you two layers of insulation.

Removable Co-pilot Stick - To make the non-pilot passenger experience more comfortable we would like the co-pilot stick to be removable. I am working on a design that lets you quickly disconnect the co-pilot stick and stow it away safely.

Fuel System Update - We did not opt for the wing tip tanks because they require lots of additional and awkward plumbing. Instead we plan to add an extra fuel connector in the cabin so that we can place a fuel bladder on the rear seat for very long flights. More on that later.

Lemo Connectors - The typical install has only headphone jacks, which means that you need to use battery operated noise cancelling headphones. We've opted to install powered Lemo connectors in the arm rest so that we don't have to worry about the batteries running out.

Single Key for all doors - Strangely enough the kit comes with different keys for all locks. We found a lock smith that was able to re-key the locks so that we can use one key for all doors.  

Tail Strike Protection - We've heard that Sling airplanes are prone to tip over when two people step on the wing at the same time. This can cause damage to the tail. We are looking at adding some kind of tail strike protection for that case. More about that later.