So that makes three kits out of five completed!! Except that there are some fixes in each one of the flaperons needs a new tip installed one of the slats has a mounting bracket in slightly the wrong place one of the nose elevators isn’t tight enough and I suspect it will need to...
Aircraft
Instrument Panel I Like
One of the fun things we get to do with building our own plane is to choose an instrument panel that we like. On the Zenith website someone posted a picture of their panel and I think this is almost what I would (currently) go for, but maybe with the 8″ EFIS rather than...
Wings Ordered!
Today I ordered the wings kit and fuel tanks from Zenith. I’m told it will be 10-12 weeks before they arrive so I have plenty of time to prepare. I still need to measure up the garage to check that I can build them there, I think I will build one and then try...
Quick Update (It’s Been a While)
I've ordered the next two kits: the Horizontal Tail and the Slats/Flaperons. Estimate shipping date is end of the month.
Day 8: Rudder Complete! (1h 50m)
Trimmed skins and deburred all edges and holes. Reassembled skins and riveted everything to complete the rudder. The rudder is done.
Day 7: Nose Skin Assembly (2.5 h)
Lined up the nose skin with the spar, drilled the holes and cleclo'd the skin in place. Also marked the tip rib overhang for later trimming.
Day 5: My First Mistake
After riveting the skeleton in place I pulled out the skin and aligned it with the edge of the spar and with the pre-drilled holes against the ribs. Everything looked good until I got to the tip rib: there was a significant gap between it and the holes. I spent quite a bit of...
Day 5: Riveting the Rudder Skeleton (1h)
With the parts primed I first clecoed the doublers and bottom rib to the spar and riveted them in place. I’d never riveted before so this was a nervy experience but turned out to be real easy and straightforward. After this I attached the remaining ribs and worked my way up the spar until...
Day 4: Priming (30m)
Before riveting it is recommended that you prime the metal wherever two parts will touch. The thinking is that there is a small danger of corrosion at the joins where substances could possibly get between the two surfaces. I toyed with the idea of painting everything but that was a lot of work so...