Mark Townsend's Blog (57)

Wing attach

IT is nice to have help in the shop during the wing installation. Here we see Ryan using his head and after some whining we installed some foam cut offs from the seats on his head.

Wing installation is quite simple, install main spars to cabin frame so that they are centered and equal on both sides, then drill with a 1/8 th drill bit. Leave drill bit in place an repeat for other main spar, once again leave drill bit in place, this locks the spars… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 18, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Cowling and mounting the Rotax 912

As you can see below the cowling had to also be extended, in order to expedite the process Zenair installed a metal strip and added the fiberglass to that. They are working on extending the mold now so that future cowling's will not have the metal strip.

With the motor attached to the mount we can re-install it back onto the fuselage. Though you can actually lift the engine by hand the cherry picker… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 17, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

New Motor Mount

Well we now have a new motor mount the final adjustment was to move the Rotax 912ULS a total of 6 inches forward. The will make this will make the STOL 750 look a little longer in the nose. As a bonus the attachment for the upper attachment point looks more robust.…



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Added by Mark Townsend on April 17, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

STOL 750 Rotax Weight & Balance

Well we have Good news and Bad news. The Good news first. THE total weight with most everything installed or in place is 695 lbs I expect this to change by about 50 lbs as paint and seats are installed. But that will be discovered on the final Weight and Balance.

Now the Bad news, the motor must move, this was… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 13, 2009 at 6:30am — 2 Comments

750 Wings are attached

Well here it is the wings are on the fuselage

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Here are the wings attached with clamps.



With doing the First Rotax installation it is important to do a Weight and Balance before finalizign everything and heading for the paint shop.



Here it si… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 12, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

750 Wings are attached

Well here it is the wings are on the fuselage

p style="text-align: left;">



Here are the wings attached with clamps.



With doing the First Rotax installation it is important to do a Weight and Balance before finalizign everything and heading for the paint shop.



Here it si… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 12, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

750 Wings are attached

Well here it is the wings are on the fuselage

p style="text-align: left;">



Here are the wings attached with clamps.



With doing the First Rotax installation it is important to do a Weight and Balance before finalizign everything and heading for the paint shop.



Here it si… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 12, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

750 Wings are attached

Well here it is the wings are on the fuselage

p style="text-align: left;">



Here are the wings attached with clamps.



With doing the First Rotax installation it is important to do a Weight and Balance before finalizign everything and heading for the paint shop.



Here it si… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 12, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

STOL 750 Flapperons

ALignment of the Flapperons took a bit of time and required more then one hand. I used a 20 mm spacing from the trailing edge of the wing to the leading top edge of the flapperon while in a semi neautral position. you can double check by rotating the flapperon and the 20mm gap does not change through rotation.

Here is a pictrue of the slats attached, the bent edge makes for a very clean line.…

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Added by Mark Townsend on April 11, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

STOL 750 final wing assembly

The Slats attach with simple clecos alignment was all set through the pre-drilled holes.



The fiberglass parts aligned well and installation was simple fare.



THE Rudder is installed as is the stabilizer. Stops and alignment is done the same as the… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 10, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Sky Hummer 750 with Rotax Cowl

I told my Son that the 701 is called the Sky Jeep, he turned to me and stated that if the 701 is the Sky Jeep then surely the 750 is the Sky Hummer. I laughed and told him not to call me Shirley, but Sky Hummer is going to stick for the 750 in the Hanger.

I couldn't wait so I installed the cowl just to see how she is going to look. I like what I see! Alot !…

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Added by Mark Townsend on April 3, 2009 at 10:30pm — 2 Comments

750 Wing Final

Inspection is over and I did not take time off to relax, I tried, wife let me sleep for 10hrs then I got up and found that my mind was too much on the 750 to be able to read a book. SO I got back to ordering parts for the panel and the wings. THE pictrue above shows the final installation on the bottom of the wings which is the strut attachments.



You really have to see it to believe just how flat… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on April 1, 2009 at 10:00pm — 5 Comments

Getting Close

Good Monday Morning, Got alot done over teh weekend and I am in good shape for tomorrows inspection.



Wings are built with just a little riveting to go.



Time to Start on the Stabilizer.

By 4 pm on Monday I have just about everything done, and I am off to be a Guest speaker for an RAA chapter. Wings are done and mostly riveted, fuel system… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 30, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Back to Wings

Back side of the wing, the rear spar is a two peice affair with a doubler channel, this makes assembly quite simple and fast. Best part is the trailing edge being a bent unit which makes the trailing edge very attractive.

Front skin cleco's right on.



Look close at this picture, the amount of time that will be saved in slat alignment from the… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 29, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

750 Slats and Flapperons

This pictrue was taken yesterday at 9:26pm and is a great starting point for today.

Here is all the slats and Flapperons, I have made the 701 and 801 slats and I will say that these are by far the easiest to build, no Jigs and they are designed to make assembly simple Hats off to the Boys at Zenith for comming up with this…

Added by Mark Townsend on March 28, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Inspection Deadline Looms

Thursday March 26th I finally get started on the wings, at 2pm I have so far unpacked the crate and removed it from the Hanger. The wings will be built on rails and the spar is ready to start on. MAin problem is that my pre-cover inspection is on Tuesday ! Just 5 days away, where is the coffee!



End of Thursday, WOW I had expected the wings to go fast but… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 26, 2009 at 9:30pm — 2 Comments

Windows Anyone

The roof is installed, I extended the length over the doors to allow for the water to run off in the wings and not into the cabin.



We have windsheild installation, pretty straight forward, I use the plastic drill bits from Aircraft Spruce.



I have layed on my back on every Zenith model to work behind the panel, the 750 is by far the best and… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 21, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Painting a STOL 750

Getting a fuselage ready for paint takes far longer then actually shooting it, in fact cleaning up the two guns after painting takes longer then it does to paint.





After a couple of days of scrubbing and prepping we have a painted interior. I use a two part epoxy in a custom colour called Can-Zac Grey, it has a bit of a matted finish, but after a week of curing it is almost… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 8, 2009 at 4:00pm — 4 Comments

Day Off

I have been working on the 750 for 3 weeks now and it is time for a day off, What do I do on my day off? I work on the 701. This plane is close to flying, the motor is all prepped and with foaming the motor that has not run in 5 years I now have almost full compression on every cyl. As you can see I wanted to spend a little time on the panel. I was going to install a full efis system as I had planned on using the 701 on extended trips, now with having a 750 the 701 will be used as a demo plane… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 5, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Wiring / Tubes / brake lines / what did I forget!

With getting the inside ready for painting I need to run all lines I can think of, pitot, brake, wiring, coax, flap motor, fuel line, trim, ect,ect.

The nest of wires and tubes coming out from under the seat is unsightly, so I made this little cover, I don't want it to be big, just enough to hide the majority of the lines in plain view and still be able to route new ones if needed.

Not only do you… Continue

Added by Mark Townsend on March 4, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

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