Zenith Zodiac XL Construction Notes
Tools available or purchased
Builder's Diary
Tail Assembly
Wing Assembly
Fuselage Assembly
September 2003
October
2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004 - March 2005
The kit arrived on May 29 aboard a Yellow Freight truck with a lift gate. A lift gate was specified because we thought we need it to unload the box. We were right! The box was 4 x 4 x 14 feet and weighed more than 800 pounds. We pushed it onto the lift gate until it was balanced and then lowered the lift gate. The end of the crate was maneuvered onto a furniture dolly and pushed further off the truck while the lift gate was raised up again. The crate was then pushed all the way onto the lift gate and was let down onto another furniture dolly. It worked! We pushed the whole through the garage into my shop in the back yard.
I then spent two days unloading, sorting and identifying all of the parts. Well, not all of the parts. That was my first mistake! Lesson learned: Do a complete inventory of all the parts. Looking for a small bracket in one of the large boxes full of miscellaneous parts can be extremely time consuming. Try to put the parts for the different assemblies together in one box and label the box.
My wife and I had completed the rudder at a factory workshop. I would recommend the workshop if you have never built an airplane. It was very helpful to have a hands-on experience and learn some of the skills needed to construct the airplane.
My workshop has been especially reconfigured for the airplane construction. I built a workbench four feet wide and twelve feet long. (Actually two six foot workbenches bolted together). The top is made of two pieces of 3/4 inch MDF glued together to make a top 1 ½ inches thick. It is absolutely level. I also bought five pieces of 2 x 2 inch square steel tubing to insure a flat surface for the construction.
Tools available or purchased for the project included:
Air compressor, air drill, and air operated riveter. If at all possible, do use an air riveter. It will save you many hours and the tedium of pulling the rivets by hand.
Measuring tools, drill bits, a large supply of clecos and cleco pliers, clamps of as many sizes and varieties as possible, left and right hand tin snips, files (flat, round and triangle),
Hack saw and appropriate blades, hammers, compass, squares of various sizes, a long straight edge and other hand tools such as wrenches and pliers.
Fly cutter for drilling big holes.
A goodly number of #20, #30 and #40 drill bits and a drill stop for each size of drill bit. (Keeps the drill bit from penetrating too far and protects the aluminum.
Swaging tool for installing Nicopress sleeves when making the control cables.
A protractor and small spirit level. Make it an electronic one if you can afford to spend the money.
Right-angle attachment for your drill for close-quarters drilling.
Nice to have is at least one battery operated drill with at least two rechargeable batteries, a drill press and a band saw. (The band saw makes cutting some of the thicker aluminum pieces much easier than using a hack saw and filing to shape).
As you go along, you will find other tools that will make your work easier. You will have to decide whether the time and effort saved is worth the price.
As I previously noted, the rudder was constructed at the factory during the factory workshop so I will get right to the horizontal stabilizer and elevator.
For all the items in manual there is at least one drawing which has the details of the item on which you are working. Read through the instructions at least twice and follow what the say using the drawings. Failure to do so will make your work much harder. (I'm speaking from sad experience here)!
The rear spar attachment has to be cut to shape. I found this to be extremely difficult to do with tin snips. After completing that chore, I bought the band saw I have wanted for my wood shop for some time and equipped it with a metal-cutting blade.
Do the layout and drilling very carefully. Adhere strictly to the woodworker's creed: "Measure twice, cut (drill) once". You should only deviate from the creed if you measure more than twice. When you attach and drill the ribs make sure they are square to both spars. When you put on the skin a mistake in the positioning of the ribs will come back and haunt you. None of the steps in building the tail are difficult. Take your time, be sure you are accurate and everything will go together just as they are supposed to.
The elevator is constructed using the same methods used on the stabilizer. The piano hinge that connects the elevator to the stabilizer is riveted to the stabilizer before even drilling the other side for the elevator. The elevator has to be precisely positioned between the two fiberglass ends of the stabilizer before drilling any holes in the elevator side of the hinge. If you think I mention this because I screwed it up, you are right! It's amazing the difference two or three little millimeters make.
Have fun installing the trim tab and servo. It will probably be good experience for the aileron trim tab. The manual suggests insulating the wiring connections with tape after soldering. Personally, I like shrink tubing rather than tape, it makes a neater connection.
I did finish the tail after much travail and a few (fortunately not fatal) mistakes. My advice to myself at this point: "Read the directions stupid"! I will repeat this advice to myself frequently.
The tail was finished on June 18. Actual time to completion was about 58 hours.
Tuesday, August 26. Time 1:30. Clamped and drilled ribs 1 to 4 for stiffeners. Clecoed to ribs. This time I very carefully read the instructions and put the stiffeners on the outboard side of rib one. I will have to redo the stiffeners for rib one on the right wing. All but two of the stiffeners had been cut and drilled during the building of the right wing. Then measured and marked the root doubler for the rear spar for drilling.
Wednesday, August 27. Time 7 hours Dennis 4 hours Kirk.
Drilled and Clecoed the "L" angle to the end of the
45 degree spar tip. Connected the spar tip to the front spar.
Nose ribs one to four were drilled for the fuel line and wiring
for fuel gauge and the grommets were installed. (Note:
It is easier to install the grommets before installing
the ribs permanently! )
Thursday, August 28. Time 6 hours. Drilled main spar
for nose ribs and read ribs. Drilled holes for navigation and
landing light wiring. Installed rubber grommets. Drilled and
clecoed bellcrank support and reinforcement channel. The bellcrank
support brackets had been cut, drilled and smoothed at the same
time the right wing bellcrank was done.
Friday, August 29. Time 4 hours. Trimmed the rear spar
and did it upside down. Ordered a new rear spar. (Note
to self: "Measure twice, cut once!)
Thursday, September 18. Time 5 hours. Put on new rear
spar. Drilled, clecoed, deburred and painted anti-corrosion on
rear ribs and spar.
Friday, September 19. Time 4 hours. Riveted rear rib
s to both spars. Got set up to start on top rear skin.
Saturday, September 20. Time 3 hours. Drilled and clecoed
top rear skin.
Monday, September 22. Time 3 hours. Began drilling and
clecoing rear bottom skin.
Tuesday, September 23. Time 5 hours. Finished drilling
and clecoing rear bottom skin. Put nose ribs back on and started
on drilling and clecoing bottom nose skin.
Wednesday, September 24. Time 5 ½ hours. Drilled
bottom main spar. Removed clecos from bottom rear and nose skins.
Deburred all new holes and applied Cortec anti-corrosion to all
mating parts.
Thursday, September 25. Time 5 hours. More drilling
and deburring. Installed pitot/static tube and tiedown ring.
Friday, September 26. Time 5 hours. Began install of
top rear skin. Drilled and clecoed. Drilled and clecoed top nose
skin and ribs.
Monday, September 29. Time 4 hours. Trimmed
top inboard and outboard ends. Began installation of landing/taxi
lights.
Tuesday, September 30. Time 6 hours. More landing light
work. Put navigation light and strobe light on wing tip.
Wednesday, October 1. Time 7 hours. Deburr all bottom
rear and leading edge. Prepared and fitted fuel tank. Cleaned
everything and painted rear skin with cortec corrosion proofing.
Thursday, October 2. Time 2 ½ hours. Deburr top
leading edge skin. Fitted fuel sender in fuel tank.
Friday, October 3. Time 3 hours. Worked to get fuel
tank to work. Fuel sender protrudes too far out of the top of
the tank and contacts the leading edge skin.
Saturday, October 4. Time 5 hours Dennis, 4
hours Eric. Finally finished the fuel tank installation. Finished
the bellcrank and aileron cable installation.
Monday, October 6. Time 4 hours Dennis. Wiring for strobe
and position lights installed. Wiring for landing and taxi lights
installed.
Tuesday, October 7. Time 5 hours Dennis. Finished wiring.
Did final trimming of wing ends. Riveted the tiedown ring in
place. Finished the installation of the pitot-static tube (just
clecoed.) Finished the fuel tank screen access hole and cover.
Put on top rear skin, clecoed and 20% riveted.
Wednesday, October 8. Time 5 hours. Finished top rear
riveting. Riveted pitot static tube.
Thursday, October 9. Time 5 hours Dennis, 4 hours Eric.
Riveted aileron in place on wing. Bent angles for top and bottom
on outboard end rear skin. Cut, drilled, clecoed and fitted the
end skin. Removed all the pieces and painted with anti-corrosion.
Friday, October 10. Time 3 hours. Finished wing tip
except for riveting. Final install of landing/taxi light lexan.
Saturday, October 11. Adjusted aileron bellcrank rod
and riveted aileron stop in place. Placed wing on carrier. Left
wing finished. (Except riveting of wing tip - waiting
until it is installed on fuselage -).
Will now resume work on the fuselage.
Saturday August 30. Time 4 hours Dennis. As a result
of the mishap with the spar, the wing parts were stored and the
fuselage was started. Trimmed bottom fuselage. Drilled and clecoed
end skin.
Monday September 1.
Time 4 hours Dennis and 1 hour Kirk. Did front and read
HT frames. Cut, drilled and clecoed bottom stiffeners. Drilled
and clecoed bottom longerons to bottom skin. Drilled and clecoed
lower rudder hinge and tiedown ring.
Wednesday, September 3. Time 4 hours Dennis. Cut, fit,
drilled and clecoed rear panel top. Drilled and clecoed rear
seat panel and gear channel.
Thursday, September 4. Time 8 hours Dennis. Drilled
and clecoed bottom "Z" angles. Trimmed bottom longeron.
Deburred, cleaned and painted mating parts with Cortec anti-corrosion.
Friday, September 5. Time 5 hours Dennis, 2 hours Pauleen.
Drilled and clecoed starboard rudder cable outlet fairway. Drilled
and clecoed front and rear HT attachment brackets. Drilled and
clecoed rear panel and installed "L" angles on rear
panel. Drilled and clecoed rear top longerons and top rudder
hinge.
Saturday, September 6. Time 6 hours Dennis and 4 hours
Pauleen. Drilled and clecoed left side skin "L" angles
to left side. Trimmed, drilled and clecoed gear channel and rear
set panel to bottom skin. Drilled and clecoed left side skin
to bottom longeron. Deburr side panels, stringers and stiffeners.
Applied anti-corrosion and cleaned up. Riveted rear bottom fuselage
section.
Monday, September 8. Time 6 hours. Drilled and clecoed
"L" angles to right side skin. Drilled and clecoed
side gussets on left and right sides. Drilled and clecoed right
side skin to bottom longeron. Drilled and clecoed left and right
top longerons to side skins.
Tuesday, September 9. Time 6 hours Dennis. Did the cutout
on the rear panel. Drilled and clecoed "L" angles to
rear panel. Marked and cut side skins for cable outlet fairings.
Fabricated nylon fairlead for each side. (Note: Had to remke
right side fairing after cutting it wrong. I thought it would
difficult but it turned our quite good.) Drilled and clecoed
the fairings and fairleads to the side skins. Cut 50 mm off the
"L" angle on each side for clearance for the cable.
Wednesday, September 10. Time 7 hours Dennis, 3 hours
Kirk. Measured and marked firewall for no-rivet zones and other
parts. Drilled and clecoed bottom stiffener, top stiffener, "L"
angles and front side stiffeners. Drilled and clecoed back firewall
reinforcement and center firewall stiffener. Drilled bungee pin
holes and drilled and clecoed gear gussets to stiffener.
Thursday, September 11. Time 5 hours. Cut 2" hole
in firewall top stiffener. Cut upper bearing to 70 mm because
75 mm would not center on 2" hole in stiffener. Trimmed
radius on upper bearing. Cut slots outboard of the center stiffener.
Cleaned and deburred all parts. Painted corrosion protection
on all mating surfaces.
Friday, September 12. Time 3 hours. Riveted firewall
and cleaned the shop.
Saturday, September 13. Time 4 hours. Re-organized the
shop for better access and more logical storage of parts. Worked
on paperwork, photos and other chores.
Parts for left wing came in. Will start work again on the wing.
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Monday, October 13.
Time 3 hours. Front floor. Measuring and drilling for
Rudder pedals and brake mounts.
Tuesday, October 14. Time 5 hours. Replaced rear panel.
The old one fit badly so a new one was cut, drilled and clecoed.
Continued working on cabin floor and rudder control assembly.
Wednesday, October 15. Time 6 hours. Installed toe brakes
and center channel reinforcement.
Thursday, October 16. Time 6 hours. Finished toe brake
pedals. Drilled and clecoed cross reinforcements. Constructed
saw horses for fuselage and moved the work benches out of the
way. Put fuselage on saw horses. Joined cabin floor to rear fuselage.
Friday, October 17. Time 6 hours Dennis, 1 hour Pauleen.
Made adjustable stand for aft end of fuselage. Installed lower
motor mounts to firewall. Drilled and clecoed gear channel to
cabin floor. Painted cortec on fuselage end pieces that had been
replaced.
Saturday, October 18. Time 6 hours Dennis. Clecoed rear
HT frames and rear panel. Bolted lower rudder hinge and tie-down
ring to fuselage. Riveted side upright stiffeners to rear skins.
Tuesday, October 21. Time 6 hours. Continued work on cabin
floor and firewall. Installed top front longerons. Finally figured
out to install them correctly.
Wednesday, October 22. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed
center wing spar. Finished drilling remainder of parts for the
cabin floor.
Thursday, October 23. Time 5 hours. Re-did the leveling of
the fuselage. Clamped bulkheads in place. Did some prep work
for the side skins.
Friday, October 24. Time 3 hours. Attached front side skins,
marked and cut for wing spar.
Saturday, October 25. Time 3 hours. Assembled right side
wing jig.
Monday, October 27. Time 3 hours. Assembled left side wing
jig. Drilled and clecoed upper rudder hinge (third try).
Wednesday, October 29. Time 3 hours. Rear frame channel fitted
and trimmed. Trimmed rear side skins for wing attachment plates.
Friday, October 31. Time 2 hours. Drilled and clecoed rear
frame channel.
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Saturday, November 1. Time
1 ½ hours. Spent time marking, measuring and trimming
the gusset that fits between the gear channel and the spar channel.
It will be installed between the bottom skin and the gear channel
and spar channel because the drawings are not clear relative
to its exact location.
Tuesday, November 4. Time 2 hours. More work on main gear attachment brackets.
Wednesday, November 5. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed gear uprights and gussets at the top front longeron.
Friday, November 7. Time 3 hours. Made center spar template and began fitting the center spar uprights.
Saturday, November 8. Time 5 hours. Installing center spar uprights. Requires that the center spar be exactly 81 degrees. Installed each upright with two A3 clecoes after insuring the correct angle on the spar. Drilled and clecoed the left and right gussets between the gear channel and center spar. Make sure the rivet holes are drilled in the correct spot!
Note: I have finally figured out that the drawings may not exactly represent the way your airplane has gone together. It is not difficult to get things off a few millimeters. For example, getting the fuselage level at various points will depend a great deal on the accuracy of your bubble level. I suspect that a bubble level might be off by 2/10 of a degree without your being able to tell. Experiments with my level and my digital protractor would indicate that to be true. If you want absolute accuracy, use a digital protractor or digital level.
Monday, November 10. Time 3 hours. More work on the center spar uprights. Drilled and clecoed the top of the uprights. Drilled and clecoed the side skin to the gear channel & spar gusset on the right and left sides.
Tuesday, November 11. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed bottom of center spar uprights. Measured and bent vertical "L" angles and horizontal angles for cabin wall reinforcements.
Wednesday, November 12. Time 5 hours. Drilled and clecoed the horizontal and vertical "L" angles. Drilled and clecoed the left front side skin to bottom front and firewall.
Thursday, November 13. Time 2 hours. Worked to smooth the skin on the left side of the front cabin.
Tuesday, November 18. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed right front side skin to cabin wall reinforcements. Drilled and clecoed lower engine mounts to bottom longeron.
Wednesday, November 19. Time 5 hours. Drilled and clecoed rolled gusset to right side. Drilled and clecoed gussets to uprights and heel support on both sides. Trimmed, fitted, drilled and clecoed left front seat panel.
Thursday, November 20. Time 4 hours. Trimmed, fitted, drilled and clecoed right front seat panel. Cut, fitted and drilled the reinforcement angles for the spar access hole in the left and right sides.
Saturday, November 22. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed the reinforcements for the spar access covers on left and right. Deburred, smoothed and painted with anti-corrosion paint ready to be riveted.
Monday, November 24. Time 2 hours. Riveted reinforcements and nut plates to the front sear bottom for the wing spar access panels.
Wednesday, November 26. Time 3 hours. Trimmed upper rear seat baggage floor support. Drilled and clecoed the gussets.
Friday, November 28. Time 5 hours. Trimmed and installed the upright channels. Drilled and clecoed the rear torque tube bearing and rear seat reinforcement. Drilled and clecoed seat back side channels.
Saturday, November 29. Time 4 hours Dennis and 3 hours Kirk. Put in "L" angles for baggage floor. Put in upper rear frame channel.
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Tuesday, December 2. Time
4 hours. Fitted baggage compartment floor. Drilled and clecoed
baggage floor reinforcements.
Wednesday, December 3. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed lower seat back reinforcements. Trimmed, drilled and clecoed center seat back channel.
Friday, December 5. Time 4 hours. Remove and deburr rear seat panel and other rear seat components. Drilled and trimmed rear torque tube bearing support.
Saturday, December 6. Time 6 hours Dennis 1 hours Kirk. Installed forward torque tube bearing and rear torque tube bearing. Clecoed rear torque tube bearing support. Installed seat belt attachments 6B18-4.
Tuesday, December 9. Time 3 hours. Drilled and clecoed flap mount gusset and "L" angle below. Installed lower seat belt brackets.
Wednesday, December 10. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed NEW left front side skin. Look great!
Friday, December 12. Time 5 hours. Drilled and clecoed "L" angles for center channel.
Saturday, December 13. Time 4 hours Dennis, 2 hours Kirk and 1 hours Eric. Drilled and clecoed center channel side panels and re-installed the lower seat belt brackets.
Tuesday, December 16. Time 4 hours. Fitting top rear skins. Fitting shoulder harness bracket. Trimming and fitting right upper fuselage longeron doubler.
Wednesday, December 17. Time 3 hours. Installed baffle strips in firewall.
Friday, December 19. Time 2 hours. Cut and fitted "L" angles from 6B5-3 to 6B16-6.
Saturday, December 20. Time 2 hours. Catching up on paperwork.
Note: We are finally getting some really good snow. Spending at least 2 hours a day digging ourselves out. Maybe the drought is over!
Tuesday, December 23. Time 4 hours. Drilled rear bulkheads for rear top skin. Fitted the rear top skin. Drilled holes (#40) on center line of top skin at bulkheads and clecoed to bulkheads.
Wednesday, December 24. Time Dennis 4 hours, Kirk 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed rear top skins to bulkheads.
Monday, December 29. Time 4 hours. Fitted, drilled and clecoed the shoulder harness brackets. Fitted the gussets for the tube frame (B2).
Tuesday, December 30. Time 3 hours. Drilled and clecoed the tube frame gussets and tube frame.
Wednesday, December 31. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed middle top skin to the tube frame.
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Thursday, January 1. Time
5 hours. Installed tube frame (B2) and gussets. Drilled and
clecoed the middle top skin to the tube frame.
Friday, January 2. Time 2 hours. Marked, removed and trimmed the middle top skin around the tube frame.
Saturday, January 3. Time 2 hours. Riveted aft bottom and sides to bottom longerons. Ran out of clecoes long ago and needed the ones holding the skins in place!!!
Note: Too cold to work in shop. Had tax preparation classes and working part-time for H & R Block until end of tax season. Didn't do much of anything on the airplane from January 5 until April 12.
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Monday and Tuesday April 12-13.
Time 5 hours each day. Removed all un-riveted parts. Deburred
the holes. Sprayed the parts with zinc chromate primer or brushed
on Cortec.
Wednesday, April 14. Time 6 hours. Put the bottom channel the cabin floor and riveted where no other other pieces would be attached.
Thursday, April 15. Time 6 hours. Replaced rudder pedals and supports and cross-reinforcements for the cabin floor. Replaced the brackets for the brake cylinders.
Friday, April 16. Time 6 hours. Replaced the motor mounts and bottom front longerons. Riveted all of the unriveted pieces.
Monday, April 19. Time 4 hours. Re-installed seat back panels, baggage compartment supports and other items and clecoedin place. Riveted some small parts for the turtledeck and clecoed the main landing gear attachment brackets and re-inforcements.
Tuesday, April 20. Time 4 hours. Drilled coantrol column torque tube and stop ring and did a temporary install. Put in seat and center console supports. Put in side "L" angles.
Wednesday, April 21. Time 3 hours. Drilled and clecoed the seat bottoms to front and rear supports.
Thursday, April 22. Time 3 hours. Fabricated lower front gear bearing support.
Monday, April 26. Time 5 hours. Drilled and clecoed aileron trim tab. Ready to install in left aileron. Fit panel and side supports.
Thursday, April 29. Time 5 hours. Worked on canopy frame and forward top skin.
Friday, April 30. Time 4 hours. Continued working on canopy frame and forward top skin. Cut, drilled and clecoed fairleads on rear frame channel.
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Tuesday, May 4. Time 5 hours.
Worked on electric actuator for flap control.
Thursday, May 6. Time 6 hours. More work on flap actuator and controls.
Friday, May 7 and Monday - Wednesday, May 10 - May 12. Time 13 hours. Worked on design and drawing of electrical and ordered parts.
Friday, May 14. Time 3 hours. More work on flap controls.
Saturday, May 15. Time 4 hours. Rigging elevator and rudder control cables.
Monday, May 17. Time 2 hours. More work done on control cables.
Tuesday, May 18 and Wednesday May 19. Time 4 hours. Working on panel electrical system.
Thursday, May 20. Time 3 hours. Finished rigging front part of rudder and elevator control cables.
Friday, May 21. Time 4 hours. Installed the step assembly. (Drilled and clecoed only).
Monday, May 24. Time 5 hours. Worked on center console. Will be installing the fuel tank switch, the chronometer and the intercom system on the front center console.
Wednesday, May 26. Time 4 hours. Cut, drilled and clecoed left side reinforcements for the flap control. Drilled the flap control tube.
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Wednesday, June 2. Time 3 hours.
First install of switches and circuit breakers on the instrument
panel.
Monday, June 7. Time 3 hours. Fitted instruments to panel.
Tuesday, June 8. Time 5 hours. Panel. Cut most of remaining holes. Temporarily mounted parts and began the wiring process.
Thursday, June 10. Time 3 hours. More work on panel and intercom and clock on subpanel.
Monday, June 14. Time 3 hours. More work on panel. Installed fresh air vent
Tuesday, June 15. Time 4 hours. More work on panel. Temporarily put instruments in panel for fit and wiring and plumbing.
Wednesday, June 16. Time 3 hours. Panel. Preparing wiring for switches and circuit breakers.
Thursday, June 17. Time 3 hours. Panel. Switches and trim indicators.
Monday, June 28. Time 3 hours. Panel. Plumbing instruments.
Tuesday, June 29. Time 3 hours. Panel. Wiring.
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Wednesday - Friday, June 30 - July
2. Time 5 hours. Fitting right side of canopy and temporarily
installing. Plumbing of vacuum gauges. Still need a "T"
for one of the gauges.
Wednesday, July 7. Time 3.25 hours. Finished right canopy support. Began installing canopy support on left.
Thursday, July 8. Time 6 hours. Finished fitting canopy supports. Cut, drilled and clecoed a new forward top skin. The other did not fit as well as it could have.
Monday, July 12. Time 3 hours. Working on finishing of forward top skin.
Tuesday, July 13. Time 4 hours. (Oh look, Friday the 13th has fallen on a Tuesday this month)! Forward top skin finished. No rivets yet. Canopy latches fitted.
Wednesday, July 14. Time 5 hours. Fitted flashing on the right side and the right side handle.
Friday, July 16. Time 5 hours. Fitting canopy latch mechanism and inside flashing.
Saturday, July 17. Time 5 hours Dennis, 3 hours Kirk. Drilled and clecoed rear canopy frame. Riveted rear fuselage frame, seat back to fuselage and center wing spar to fuselage bottom.
Monday, July 19. Time 4 hours. Fitted, drilled and clecoed front canopy frame. Drilled and clecoed inside angle to inside flashing on the left side.
Tuesday, July 20. Time 4 hours. Drilled and clecoed front flashing on canopy. Trimmed front top skin.
Wednesday, July 21. Time 5 hours. Cutting, trimming, trim, trim, trim, trim front flashing on canopy. I think I finally got it. I hope the rubber sealing fits.
Thursday, July 22. Time 5 hours. It didn't. Worked another five hours to get it right.
Saturday, July 24. Time 3 hours. Canopy right side flashing inside and outside.
Monday, July 26. Time 5 hours. Canopy left side flashing. Completing canopy release latch mechanism.
Wednesday, July 28. Time 6 hours. Canopy flashing and side covers drilled for screws, more trimming, etc.
Thursday, July 29. Time 5 hours. Canopy again.
Friday, July 30. Time 4 hours. Change of pace. Clean up the shop. Rivet seat back and center console support brackets.
Saturday, July 31. Time 4 hours. Rivet center panel supports. Rivet seat front. More wiring for headphones.
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Tuesday, August 3. Time 3
hours. Final wiring of flap motor and controls.
Wednesday, August 4. Time 4 hours. Rebuilt center panel console completely.
Thursday, August 5. Time 4 hours. Riveted canopy. Built hinged panel to mount terminal strips under panel.
Monday, August 9. Time 4 hours. Installed hinged panel for terminal strips and installed terminal strips. Fabricated removeable panel for switches and circuit breakers to facilitate removal and repair.
Tuesday, August 10. Time 4 hours. More work on panel and switch/circuit breaker sub-panel.
Wednesday, August 11. Time 4 hours. More work on canopy. Drilled and riveted the frame. Added plexiglass.
Friday, August 13. (The real one). Time 4 hours. More work on canopy. Putting all screws and washers in canopy. Cleanup the shop.
Saturday, August 14. Gave a tour of the shop and the
airplane to three grand daughters, ages 2, 4 and 6. The two-year-old
wanted to know where she would be sitting. I showed her her
seat.
Monday, August 16. Time 4 hours. Riveted the steps aft of the wings. Removed, deburred and cleaned the top front skin.
Tuesday, August 17. Time 4 hours. Drilled, deburred and clecoed instrument sub-panel. Began fabrication of other sub-panels.
Wednesday, August 18. Time 4 hours. Removed rear top panels. Installed electrical for elevator trim and rear position light. More work on instrument panel.
Thursday, August 19. Time 5 hours. Completed headphone plug-in wiring. Drilled holes to route wiring under seats to center and forward through center control tunnel. Fitted instruments and cut holes on instrument sub-panel. Ordered radio and transponder.
Friday, August 20. Time 3 hours. Cut instrument panel for sub-panel. Mounted instruments in sub-panel. (Instruments were previously installed directly in panel.) Mounted sub-panel to panel.
Monday, August 23. Time 4 hours. Cleaned up . Took pictures. Re-installed flap controls.
Tuesday, August 24. Time 2 hours. Avionics arrived. Began installation of radio rack for King KY97A Comm and Garmin AT855 Transponder and altitude encoder.
Wednesday, August 25. Time 4 hours. Wired connectors fro rudder navigation light and elevator trim. Cut panel for comm and transponder. Finished cage for trays.
Saturday, August 28. Time 5 hours. Worked on wiring loom for radio, transponder, clock, intercom and altitude encoder (digitizer).
Monday, August 30. Time 5 hours. More work on wiring for avionics.
No work on airplane for awhile. Working on other things that needed to be finished.
Wednesday, September 8. Time 6 hours. Working on panel. Installing panel lighting and dimmers.
Monday - Friday, September 20-24. Time 20 hours. Work on panel.
Monday - Friday, September 27-31. Time 16 hours. Work on panel. Trim system, emergency locator transmitter remote. Took master connector block apart and rewired it. It was a real rat’s nest!
Saturday, October 3. Time 3 hours Dennis, 2 hours Kirk and 2 hours Mike. Installed the step support fairing. Used the center stiffener rivet line rather than putting in a new rivet line a couple of inches to the rear.
Tuesday, October 5. Time 4 hours. More work on the panel cleaning up the wiring.
Wednesday, October 6. Time 5 hours. More work on panel. Finishing up and cleaning things up.
Tuesday, October 12. Time 5 hours. Worked on center console side covers and bracing. Front brace cut and trimmed. Right side cover cut and fitted.
Thursday, October 14. Time 3 hours. Center console. Drilled and clecloed for screws on the right side. Cut, trimmed and fitted the left side.
Saturday, October 16. Time 3 hours. Worked on center console front support.
Monday, October 18. Time 2 ½ hours. Finished front center console support bracket.
Wednesday, October 20. Time 3 hours Dennis, 1 hours Eric. Worked on flap control. Flaps now work correctly (I think!) First install of flap position sensor.
Thursday, October 21. Time 4 ½ hours. More on flaps. Work on position sensor and fabricating parts to mount and operate sensor.
Friday, October 22. Time 3 hours. More fine tuning on sensor.
Tuesday, October 26. Time 4 hours. Finished flap sensor installation except riveting.
Thursday, October 28. Time 3 hours Dennis, 3 hours Kirk. More work on step fairings. Riveted flap sensor setup.
Thursday, November 4. Time 3 hours. Installing navigation light in rudder. Light sent with kit is inoperable because bulb is too loose in the socket.
Thursday, November 11. Time 4 hours. Riveted flap support brackets. Cleaned up wiring to flap motor. General cleaning and tidy up.
Thursday, November 18. Time Dennis 4 hours, Kirk 4 hours. Put in baggage compartment floor. Clecoed and riveted.
Thursday, December 9. Time 3 hours Dennis, 3 hours Kirk. Finished riveting baggage floor and rear baggage bulkhead.
Thursday, January 13. Time 2 hours Dennis, 2 hours Kirk. Put bracing in front turtle deck cover and installed communications antenna. Riveted the center console under panel.
Friday, February 4. Time 2 hours Dennis 2 hours Kirk. Riveted rear turtle deck skin.
Tuesday, February 22. Time 4 hours. Put forward turtle deck on and riveted. Installed the comm antenna. Left reinforcement for the soon to be added GPS antenna. As my grandson would say “It’s betending to be and an airplane!”
Thursday, March 10. Time 6 hours Dennis, 4 hours Kirk. Worked on canopy latch which I discovered was not working. Took it apart and re-installed the cable.
Thursday, March 24. Time 4 hours Dennis, 4 hours Kirk. Installed gascolator and worked with fuel tank switch. Worked re-routing wiring to avoid gascolator.
Last Update: 05/04/2006 