Zodiac 601 XL Project

[Tailspin]

Been a bit Slow Since my Dad passed away early this year.
But getting there.
Just gotto spray the top of the wing then it is off to the Airfield we go

[Scotsman]

Sorry to hear that Gav. Will you be at the EAA meeting next Saturday?

The modifications to strengthen the standard Zodiac kit are allegedly on the water travelling across to me...so I thought that I better man up and start deconstructing the main spar carry through. I have been avoiding this task for some time as a small cock up could mean replacing bits at significant cost and time delays.

This was my first experience with drilling out solid rivets and things went OK. The hardest part was trying to drill an exact centre through the solid rivet without clipping the edge of the original hole. I downsized to A4 (3.2mm) and used a drill press to do this but it was still difficult to be precise even after centre punching the top of the rivet. In one on-line video of the upgrade the Zenith guys do this without a drill press so I don't understand how they get the required accuracy. Anyway after lots of cursing and hammering the solid rivets are out and the spar in pieces awaiting the upgrade parts.

[doreen]

I made this from scrap, simply clamp over rivethead and drill perfect holes.

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[Scotsman]

Thanks Doreen. It would have been mighty useful about 18 hours ago! Unfortunately I don't possess either the tools or the skill sets (skills are the main shortage here!) to manufacture something like this. This scratch building thing allows you to buy way more toys, I meant tools.

You must be flying now...any update pictures or test flight stories that you can post here for motivation?

j

[Scotsman]

A couple of picture of the weekends activity....doesn't really do justice to the amount of time required to breakdown the spar carry through.

[Tailspin]

Hey James

Yes i will be at the Meeting on Saturday. I need to get more Paint for my Wing, thought one Litre would be enough but was badly mistaken.
Your baby looks like it is coming along very nicely.
On Saturday we can chat about something i have been playing with - (Remember we spoke about strapping an aircraft to your ass and Flying it I may have the perfect toy )

Chat again on Saturday.

Regards

Gavin

[German]

Hey James

Yes i will be at the Meeting on Saturday. I need to get more Paint for my Wing, thought one Litre would be enough but was badly mistaken.
Your baby looks like it is coming along very nicely.
On Saturday we can chat about something i have been playing with - (Remember we spoke about strapping an aircraft to your ass and Flying it I may have the perfect toy )

Chat again on Saturday.

Regards

Gavin

huh?

[Scotsman]

Good point German...Gav if you play with anything for too long it will break and if you are playing with it we really don't want to know about it!

[Tailspin]

Eish

I will explain on the Weekend - Damn you guys minds are allways in the Gutter

[Scotsman]

A bit more progress to report. The baggage shelf (behind the cockpit) and associated braces are all now deburred, scuffed, primed and riveted in place. This morning I stripped the forward fuselage ready for deburring etc. One day you have something that vaguely resembles an aircraft and the next day you are back to some that looks like a canoe.

Does anyone have a set of imperial transfer punches in the Gauteng area that I could borrow or know where I could lay my hands on some?

[Scotsman]

After a weekend of riveting finally I have a fuselage that I can now (precariously) sit in and make aircraft noises (if it wasn't for the maid being in today I probably would have). As the aircraft is still mounted on tressles it is hard to judge how high the aircraft will sit but for my height and size the aircraft seems to fit well (I am about 6 foot).

Without the seat panels and padding (foam) in I am sitting a couple of inches lower than I would normally be which should mean that the forward visibility is very good. The upgrade kit is currently sitting with Bundu Aviation in Pretoria so I need to get round there soonest in order that I can finish up the lower fuselage and mount it on its gear.

[Scotsman]

Quick update...received the upgrade kit from Bundu Aviation last week and started upgrading the rear spar attach points. The upgrade kit appears to significantly strengthen the structure and also aims at reducing the potential for aileron/wing flutter in the process.

Looking forward to a quick workshop on solid riveting with Philip from Bundu this weekend.

[Tailspin]

Looking Good Sir.

Now you have no excuse to get cracking

[Scotsman]

The Bundu workshop has been rescheduled to next weekend and is due to take the entire weekend (at last a full weekend of building without interruptions). Roll on next weekend and learning to solid rivet the spars and carry through spars.

[Scotsman]

Achieved a fair amount recently...started fiddling around in the cockpit trying to establish whether I need armests on the outer sides of each seat. Currently there is only the centre shared armrest. After sitting in the aircraft for a while I decided that the armests were needed and hence the photo. I will probably add an aesthetic/diagonal bracing sheet from the lower flange of the armrest till three to four inches down the fuselage side skin.

I went out to visit Philip from Bundu aviation at Kitty Hawk on the weekend. Kicked around the hangar watching the Johan and Rudi's Savanah having the carbs balanced and the throttle brackets reworked. Some serious STOL performance there in a really proper bush aircraft.

After a quick lesson on AD rivets and bucking, the rivets were set just as the respective wives started the "where are you" telephone calls! Finished off the majority of the centre spar (carry through) upgrade today. The carry through feels significantly strengthened as a result.

For those who are interested in the whole reasons behind the upgrade and resultant strengthening of the structure an American chap has put together a video explanation (the simple and quick version) of the analysis etc - http://vimeo.com/10340573