Comment

Comment by Sheldon Kulaway on April 19, 2014 at 3:03pm

Yes please do. Yes the Zenith plastic centre line marking tool, leaves a bit to be desired. Your last sentence above stopped after rudd... did you have something more to share about 75R-1?

Comment by Robert Pionteck on April 19, 2014 at 1:10pm

Hi Sheldon...Thanks for the compliment.

Just a couple of observations.

I had difficulties using the tool supplied for drawing the rivet lines on the flanges of the parts so I made a new one out of hardwood. I can send a pic if your interested.

When laying out the bottom aft rib, 75R1-1, of the rudder double check the edge distance on the inside of the assembly before drilling out the holes-I had to replace mine due to insufficient edge distance.

I found the Homebuilt Help DVDs for sale on the web for helping with the construction process really informative. Also the 2x2 steel beams they suggest are better than using wood, not as succeptable to warping and can be easily shimmed.

I found the elevator a bit tricky to keep level-sorry no tricks to give you about this one-trial and error. The trailing edges are pretty easily dinged, especially the one on the trim tab side.

Also some of the sheet metal needs to be handled with care to prevent creasing. I have taken some creases out by using a spoon. Wrap the spoon in a layer of a cotton rag, and apply gentle pressure to the area where the crease is (on the proud side of crease) and work in circular motions until it works itself out. When doing this you need to put a towel or similar under the area you are working on to allow some give when you are working it.

Since I am going to do what others have, and cut out the elevator inboard leading edges to clear the support bracket, 75T2-6, I didn't bother to trim out the top of the bracket. I did that once and had to reorder the part.

Remember if you oblong a hole you can use the next larger rivet, as long as you have sufficient edge distance.

When having to trim off long straight pieces of sheet you can use a hook blade in an olfa knife with a straight edge to make a clean cut.

The after applying  the HStab pre drilled skin, all of the kit versions seem to have a bit of a gap where the skin doesn't make contact with the wing outboard tip rib. I plan on filling this with a bit of PRC, or making f'glas fairings to cover it up. They aren't large gaps but are noticeable.

I watched a video of the CH 750 Cruzer wing assy last night and was just amazed. All of the holes come drilled to final size. All you have to do is cleco in place all of the spars and ribs-this tool about 10 minutes on the video. It looked like someone was putting together a Mecano set. That would be the way to go.

I hope this helps.

keep in touch, good luck!

Cheers

Bob

Comment by Sheldon Kulaway on April 19, 2014 at 10:49am

Wow looks great! Any trouble or tricks to report? My Stab, Flaperons and Slats will arrive in about 2 weeks.

Comment by Robert Pionteck on April 19, 2014 at 12:25am

Tail feathers almost done. Need to keep one side open for inspection by MD RA in Canada.