Myself and 2 friends (all A&P's) started scratch building our 701's (3ea.)in october 08. After finishing the rudders we went after the horizontals and elevators witch are currently done. I wish now i would have kept track of the times and dates but all I can say for sure they all went togther smothly. Since were building from scratch and doing 3 the roughter table is one of the top used tools we have for building identical blanks like ribs ....etc.


The next part we took on was the wings (following the photo assy guide) witch is currently in progress. After much thought and alot of reading we all agreed that adding 18'' to the wing bringing the total span to 30' was prudent if we wanted to add floats later. We also agreed that we would not install the slats but go with vg's others have argued the pro's and con's and I'll answer questions if asked but will not soap box this point. We added the length at the tip and added several extra ribs. The rib at the tip is the same thickness as all the other ribs with a nose rib too, the other ribs are made of .016 and placed between the regular ribs to help with oilcaning of the skin. I have seen stringers added between the ribs witch would work great too but we had the form blocks made and .016 rib weight is nill.

This is where we are at today sept 11 09 all wing skeltons done and we are bringing our attention to the fuel tanks (12 ea. ....ugh) we will be welding in the bungs for the drains and lines then going with an fittings and hardline to the wing root.


We have folded up the tanks and are slowly working our way through welding them.

After the tanks were folded up we have moved on to the wing skin and since our wing is 18'' longer the 12' sheet is not long enough to go to the tip so we did a skin lap at the rib outboard of the aux fuel tank. This way we preserve an easyer way to get to the wing tanks and our skin splice is not near our spar splice


After the skin was installed (outbord riveted) inbord clecoed we fliped it and built a jig that i like very much


wing skining completed except for gas tank bays just in place till tanks are finished

mod added to the tip (fishing pole compartment) the door center line is inline with the forward lightning hole.... Thought this was a great idea since space is at sutch a premium on this plane.

Views: 1144

Comment

You need to be a member of Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers to add comments!

Join Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers

Comment by david shrader on November 18, 2009 at 12:26am
thankyou Chris
Comment by Chris Aysen on November 9, 2009 at 2:22pm
VERY AMBITIOUS guys. Best of luck.
Comment by david shrader on September 13, 2009 at 2:52am
Thanks for the comments Robert. The splice at the tip has a serious doubbler and we plan to lap the skins outboard of our spar splice. We also took this extension very seriously and used the 43.13 as a guide (43.13 has no reference on pop rivits) we also used structural adhesive at the splice and lastly, we are confident of this mod as we have done a coupple spare spliceses on the cessna 207 over the years (one ground loop, one tryed to top a tree with the wing). Our web doubbler is also one size bigger and also has structural adhesivie (hysol) the extrusions are 3/4 3/4 by .125 with hysol .....wish I knew the details of the beefer atachpoints as im shure i would have incorparated them in the mod as well. Great work! (fun isnt it)

Dave
Comment by Robert Pelland on September 11, 2009 at 6:32am

David, with out knowing you, or anything about your projects, it look's as though I have taken the exact same route as you have with my 701 wing mods. No slats are being built, and VG's will be used on the main wings, along with " tail feathers " under the elavator. I also eliminated all the .016 mil and replace it with .020 everywhere. The wings were lengthened by 550m ( 18".6 as was previously authorized by M. Chris Heintz ) but I was not comfortable in adding anything of any length to the wings, past the outer strut attachement points. The route I chose was to insert the extension squarely between the fuselage, and the outer strut attachement point. This way I am convinced that I, in no way, affected the structual intregetry or strength of the wings. Also, every piece aluminum that is used in the construction of the wing was full length of the wing, with no splices
Since I to will be using amphi floats, I went the extra mile, and used the thicker, and slightly bigger mounting doublers ( a-la-750 ) at all the wing attachement points. I also have a set of the first offical factory set of plans for the 750, so some of the other parts that I will be using on my wings, are the same size, and thickness as seen on the 750. An example is the upper and lower main spar caps that are 1.00" x 1.25 rather then the .075" x .90 that is normally seen, and every doubler, along with the flapperon brackets, have been increased one size. I will try to include a photo of my main spar to this response, so you can see exactly where the additionnel length ( look for the two strips of masking tape ) was made. Lastly I pondered for quite a while the addition of the extra ribs, but after seeing the video of Bob Johnson's 701 Alaska , I decided to go another route to eliminate the oil canning. He solved the problem by riveting three small fences to the top, outer skin of his wings, and I believe this was two fold, since in every certified STOL kit manfactured today, the very firsts modification that is made are the installation of these fences. In this case it reminds me of the two birds with one stone thingy. He eliminates the oil canning, and increases the performance of his wing with the STOL fences. Please note that all the above mods or comments are my personal views, and not instructions to anyone contemplating any major modifications to their aircraft.

Good luck with your builds, and keep posting your photos.



Robert Pelland
the 701 & 750 Scratch builder

New from Zenith:

Zenith Planes For Sale 
 

Classified listing for buying or selling your Zenith building or flying related stuff...


Custom Instrument Panels
for your Zenith
:

Custom instrument panels are now available directly from Zenith Aircraft Company exclusively for Zenith builders and owners. Pre-cut panel, Dynon and Garmin avionics, and more.


Zenith Homecoming Tee:


Zenair Floats


Flying On Your Own Wings:
A Complete Guide to Understanding Light Airplane Design, by Chris Heintz


Builder & Pilot Supplies:

Aircraft Insurance:

 
 

West Coast USA:

 
Pro Builder Assistance:

 

Transition training:

Lavion Aero

K&S Aviation Services

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty for all your building and pilot supplies!

How to videos from HomebuiltHELP.com

Developed specifically for Zenith builders (by a builder) these videos on DVD are a great help in building your own kit plane by providing practical hands-on construction information. Visit HomebuiltHelp.com for the latest DVD titles.

© 2024   Created by Zenith.Aero.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service