CH 701

[Z-MRP]

61A Riveting the corner gussets.jpg (28.69 KiB) Viewed 22245 times

61 Riveting the corner gussets.jpg (30.22 KiB) Viewed 22245 times

Crawling inside the rear fuselage section to rivet the corner gussets into position. Not the most spacious place to be working in

[Z-MRP]

62B Extended baggage compartment completed.jpg (25.65 KiB) Viewed 22219 times

Completed the extended baggage compartment today, still only at cleco stage, so will dismantle prime and rivet assemble according to when the build instructions indicate riveting can begin on this section.

62 Extended baggage compartment.jpg (28.98 KiB) Viewed 22219 times

[Z-MRP]

66 Seat Back.jpg (30.18 KiB) Viewed 22182 times

65 Rear Wing mount plates.jpg (29.5 KiB) Viewed 22182 times

64 Upright Doublers.jpg (30.2 KiB) Viewed 22182 times

63 Baggage compartment floor.jpg (29.59 KiB) Viewed 22182 times

62B Extended baggage compartment completed.jpg (25.65 KiB) Viewed 22182 times

Just finished fitting the baggage compartment panels and side skin uprights and up right doublers. Now to strip it all down, deburr, prime and rivet.
Next section to tackle is the front fuselage section and firewall assemblies.

[Z-MRP]

66 Seat Back.jpg (30.18 KiB) Viewed 22169 times

Deburring and priming completed so will start final riveting of the baggage section tonite

[Z-MRP]

Completed re-installing the baggage compartment panels and finally riveted the assemble last nite. So the rear fuselage section is now complete as per the plans build instructions thus far.
Glad this section is done as it had to be assembled on the veranda so with winter coming and cold evenings on the way this was completed just in time. I can now move back into the lounge to build the forward fuselage sections.
I swopped the dinning room for the lounge with my kind wife as I need more working space
Now starting on the forward fuselage section, most parts already pre made only left a few parts to manufacture then the fun begins when I come to join the front and rear sections,but before this happens there is lots to be done,including making up the firewall.
I am using the Rotax rear engine mount bracket. Zenith dont have drawings for the FWF mount to mate onto this rotax engine mount bracket but do have the jig to make up the mounting so this is on order from them along with a variety of other parts.

[Z-MRP]

67A Cabin floor with seat and bootom channels.jpg (28.11 KiB) Viewed 22100 times

67 Cabin floor with seat and bottom channels.jpg (26.31 KiB) Viewed 22100 times

Started assembling the cabin floor with the seat channel and bottom channel fitted.
Now to make up the cabin side panels, couple of parts I still need to make before I can assemble side cabin panels,then join up to the cabin floor section.

[Z-MRP]

68B Both Cabin sides completed.jpg (29.83 KiB) Viewed 22062 times

68A Left Cabin side.jpg (25.88 KiB) Viewed 22062 times

68 Right Cabin side.jpg (28.82 KiB) Viewed 22062 times

Making steady progress on the front fuselage section. Cabin side frames completed,now to fit them in the correct position on the floor skin section.

[Z-MRP]

72 Tunnel fitted.jpg (27.58 KiB) Viewed 22026 times

71 Flaperon bracket installed.jpg (28.15 KiB) Viewed 22026 times

70 Front lower longerons and centre stiffner fitted.jpg (29.45 KiB) Viewed 22026 times

69 Cabin floor stiffners fitted.jpg (31.63 KiB) Viewed 22026 times

Now its startin gto get interesting, looking more like a plane everyday now. Cant wait to get to join the front and rear sections of the fuselage.

[Z-MRP]

73A Cabin Frame.jpg (28.01 KiB) Viewed 21909 times

73 Cabin Frame.jpg (26.58 KiB) Viewed 21909 times

It has been awhile but the build has progressed all be it a bit slow due to pressure of work which then pays the bills so I try give work a bit of time as well
Here are the photos of the cabin frame which has been the most DIFFICULT part to make so far,but its done now. Now to make up the firewall and attach the components to it.From there we can now join the front and rear fuselage sections.

[bobthebuilder]

Amazing progress mate. Lovely workmanship. Looking great.
I was banned from bringing any aviation part into the house, so you have an amazing wife too.

[Z-MRP]

Next major step completed, both Main Spars assembled and riveted. Next is to convert my huge pile of wing parts into WINGS .
Unfortunatly I cant mate the front and rear fuselage sections until the wings are completed as the distance between the front and rear wing mounting points is required to set the mounting distance on the cabin frame assemble wing pick up points.

74 Main Spars.jpg (29.96 KiB) Viewed 21862 times

[Z-MRP]

75 Left wing nose ribs fitted.jpg (27.58 KiB) Viewed 21834 times

Tonite got the left spar nose ribs fitted,drilled and cleco in place. now for the rear rib sections.

[Z-MRP]

76A Nose-Rear ribs fitted.jpg (27.73 KiB) Viewed 21810 times

75C Trial fit flaperons.jpg (29.21 KiB) Viewed 21810 times

75A Trial fit Slats.jpg (30.17 KiB) Viewed 21810 times

Right wing assembly progress, starting to look like a wing now,long way still to go to complete the wing frame work.Sure the left wing will come together quicker once I know how it all fits together. Still got to make a few very simple jigs to progresss the wing build

[Henni]

Hi,

Would you care enough to post a few more pics of those slats from different angles and also it's attachments to the main wing whilst you're at it?

Cheers,

Henni

[Z-MRP]

Hi Hennie, can do, but I have not got all the brackets fitted for attaching the slats. It was just a dummy check to see if everything lined up as I had a small issue when making the slats,slat attachment brackets ended up 10mm off where they should be. Looking at the dummy assemble its going to be very simple to correct this error so am pressing ahead on the wings now. I was so clever I duplicated the error on the opposite slat as well .Lucky with a plans build some of the minor errors you can build then out as you go as nothing is predrilled as with a kit assemble.So most times you can move the attachment holes to suit and problem solved.With the slat bracket error 4 flat washers split over 2 brackets corrects the error.