Zodiac 601 XL Project

[Scotsman]

Been off line after having a week's annual leave so hence the lack of photos.

Got stuck in over the last week attaching the side skin to the main spar attach carry through and starting putting in the curvature of the front side skin where it attaches to the firewall. The curvature has been reinforced by straight L angles and some crimped L angles. After clecoing the side skin to the firewall on one side the angle of the firewall is finally set at the require 77 degrees (previously it was only clamped in place and every time I knocked into the aircraft I would have to reset the entire balancing act).

Anyway I have attached some pictures to give you some idea of the level of progress.

Cheers for now.

[Scotsman]

A bit more progress after a period of flu and other building interruptions.

The forward element of hte fuselage is really coming together with all the side bracing (l angles and extrusions) cleco'd in place. The start of the seat (ie. the angled panel with the rectangular holes in it) have been cleco'd into place. After finishing some other bracing/channeling I have placed the baggage shelf (just behind the seats in place) temporarily pending cutting some more holes for further channels and placing some additional bracing.

My first Hosten control stick arrived today with several buttons for integration into other controls such as aileron trim, elevator trim, flaps, PTT etc. The build quality of the stick looks really good and I will trial fit it tonight to see if I either need additional bushings or whether the core needs work on a lathe.

If all continues well I hope to have the lower fuselage on its gear by December.

[Ian]

Lookin good Sir !

One rivet at a time....

Cheers ian

[Scotsman]

Thanks Ian.

The application that I was using to compress the photos has managed to unistall itself and disappear so no photos for the minute. I have almost finished the cockpit including armrests and seat supports etc which leaves the impending final assembly of the forward fuselage. I am not looking forward to the amount of deburring, preparing and zinc chromating that I have ahead of me (before I can move on in the fuselage) as this has been the single longest portion of the build without a final assembly.

I am considering a doing a custom installation of a throttle quadrant instead of the usual push pull plunger effort. This installation will have complications due to a potential conflict with the elevator torgque tube and cabling. Once I have the fuselage on the gear I will sit in the aerie and see whether it will fit nicely to hand. Fortunately I do not have to make a decision for some time on this one.

Anyway once I find another application to reduce the resolution of the photos I will post them here.

Cheers

James

[mikeinPE]

Its good to hear that you are progressing so well. I'm hoping to get back to building in November. Have you tried "shrinkpic" to make your pics smaller. Works very nicely!!

[Scotsman]

Hey Mike, I assume that shrinkpic is a piece of freeware downloadable from the web? The IT guys here at the firm have a fit if you brig anything containing executable code onto the network. If you pm your email I can drop you a couple of aerie pics for motivation.

What is holding up your build? Money?

[GateKeeper]

Looking good....

I was there about 4 years ago, and now have 180+ hours on my 601XL.

Just keep plodding, and you will get there.

Jonathan Starke

[Scotsman]

Thanks Jonathan. A couple of questions...do you intend putting in any of the LAA recommended modifications (I am at the stage where it would be relatively easy to do the spar modification)? What engine are you running in yours? I am leaning towards the Jabi 3300.

Would love to see a picture of your aerie if you have one to hand to post.

Cheers

James

[Tailspin]

Thanks Jonathan. A couple of questions...do you intend putting in any of the LAA recommended modifications (I am at the stage where it would be relatively easy to do the spar modification)? What engine are you running in yours? I am leaning towards the Jabi 3300.

Would love to see a picture of your aerie if you have one to hand to post.

Cheers

James

Hi James

If i were you i would do the Mods now and then save yourself the piece of Mind later.
Just my $2 Zim

Gavin

[GateKeeper]

James,

I would put in the mods, just because you can.

Only 'mod' I have made is to check the cable tension, and will be fitting the flap stops shortly

take a look at:
http://www.bunduaviation.com/index_files/Page295.htm
that is me in ZU-EEC

Jonathan

[GateKeeper]

OH forgot, I am using a Rotax 912S

If I did it again, and boy would I like to, I would use the BMW - like Frans (Oupa-G) has used

Jonathan

[Scotsman]

Thanks Jonathan. Your aircraft looks nice mate. I have already ordered some extra pieces of extrusion for the modifications to the centre carry through spar so I will look to get start on that pretty soon.

You don't by any chance have the centre punch/transfer punch of the precise size for the main wing spar bolt holes kicking around in your hangar? I don't seem to be having much luck locating the precise diameter and shape of centre punch to ensure that the holes are perfectly aligned.

Cheers

James

[GateKeeper]

Hi James,
I purchased the complete kit, and hence the wing spar was complete, and hence I did not have to rivet it at all. Thus no tool for that, sorry.

Most of the tools I had, I borrowed from friends etc...

Must say that building and aircraft is a VERY good excuse for buying tools though!

Jonathan

[Scotsman]

Hi Jonathan, I also bought the kit with the spar complete but there are a couple of uprights that strengthen the main spar attach points to the side skin. These cover a couple of bolt holes on the main spar get covered as the uprights are attached. The outer most spar bolts need to go through both the spar and the upright so unfortunately they need precise matching in terms of the hole alignment. A transfer punch or centre punch is the only way to go on this one. I will see if I can source oe from somewhere.

Cheers

James

[Scotsman]

Long time no post....finally got the software to reduce pics again installed.

Well since the last photos there has been a fair bit of progress. In the cockpit section I have assembled the centre armrest section, flap actuator hinge, seat belt securing points, seat bottoms and the aileron torque tube. The latest interior shot shows most of the recent progress in the cockpit.

The assembly is currently cleco'd together and I am getting near the rather tedious task of stripping the assembly, deburring, preparing for priming, priming, reassembly and final riveting. Unfortunately I have a list of "to do" items that need to be finished first including the LAA spar modifications. Pretty happy with progress at the minute as I can see the aircraft coming together now.