Marty d's CH-701 build log

[nomadpete]

Well done Marty.

 

Another landmark.

 

Keep up the good work. I'll come back down in a month to have a look!

 

 

[Marty_d]

Well done Marty.Another landmark.

 

Keep up the good work. I'll come back down in a month to have a look!

Always welcome Peter! If you can handle the mess of the shed.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Marty, some people have a touch for making things that ain't usually in their comfort zone, looks like you have that touch.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Marty, some people have a touch for making things that ain't usually in their comfort zone, looks like you have that touch.

Thanks... the only reason I've got this far is that the aircraft has been specifically designed for newbie metalworkers like me. Not a day goes by that I don't genuflect to a statue of St Chris Heintz, patron saint of boxy aircraft.

 

 

[Marty_d]

No sense losing momentum - I headed out to the shed this evening and got started on the front fuselage.

 

Usually at this point you start at the firewall, but I'm waiting to see if a contact in SA can freight me a firewall and cabin frame, so have instead moved on to the next section.

 

This evening I cut out the fuselage floor, added the floor section under the seat and clecoed on the channel that holds the main gear.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Wow, I just downloaded a set of 701 plans off the net and you're doing even better than I thought.

 

Look damn simple from the outside but the amount of individual, detailed parts you need to make is quite the undertaking, bloody pedantic engineers.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Wow, I just downloaded a set of 701 plans off the net

Really? I paid US$350 for mine! Bugger.

Seriously though, the parts aren't that hard to manufacture.

 

 

[eightyknots]

Really? I paid US$350 for mine! Bugger.Seriously though, the parts aren't that hard to manufacture.

Maybe Bex was allowed to download the plans from Zenith after paying a $350.00 fee?

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Maybe Bex was allowed to download the plans from Zenith after paying a $350.00 fee?

... there are also unscrupulous sites which offer scans of plans for $10 or less

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Some good reading here Marty ..

 

What I Learned About My Zenith 701

 

Maybe Bex was allowed to download the plans from Zenith after paying a $350.00 fee?

There's not much that doesn't eventually get the web.

 

Often people scan stuff and put it on a photo site for their own keepsake then either inadvertently leave it as 'Public', or a hacker gets in.

 

 

[eightyknots]

Some good reading here Marty ..What I Learned About My Zenith 701

I read that, thanks Bex: really interesting.

 

Anyone reading that will have to agree that RockyDog2 almost turned his CH-701 into a Savannah!

 

 

[bexrbetter]

RockyDog2 almost turned his CH-701 into a Savannah

Yeah, but he's still trying to improve it.

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

I'm now working on the front fuselage sides - basically the bits that the doors fit to.

 

In the kit version these are made up for you, as they're - guess what - solid riveted. I like doing solid rivets about the same as dentist visits.

 

 

Interesting assembly with a lot of angle extrusion. At the rear (left top of photo) the extrusion has a bend, formed by drilling a hole in the horizontal flange and cutting a 4mm slot to it, then bending. This is the bit where the extrusion extends back into the rear fuselage.

 

The bend is supported by a 0.063" plate riveted to the extrusion either side of the bend, and also to a horizontal cross-member.

 

 

Another recent assembly was the seat front. This includes half a dozen holes for various pipework (fuel, stabilizer trim cable, brake lines, pitot tube) as well as larger holes for the rudder cables, which will have nylon "fairleads" riveted to them.

 

The holes in the middle are for the torque tube which rotates to move the flaperons (top hole), and for the elevators (bottom).

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Way to go Marty, looks fantastic!

 

 

[IBob]

I'm building a Sav...very slowly at the moment...with the bits from the box.

 

This is watching someone do the same, but without the box of bits.

 

It's pretty inspiring!!!

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Awesome work Marty....I have access to some good machinery to do mine so that makes it pretty easy...you are certainly doing a fantastic job seeing most is done by hand

 

 

[nomadpete]

Did I notice in the last pic, that your wife has allowed aeroplane parts into the house?

 

Wow!

 

 

[M61A1]

I'm now working on the front fuselage sides - basically the bits that the doors fit to.In the kit version these are made up for you, as they're - guess what - solid riveted. I like doing solid rivets about the same as dentist visits.

With a bit of practice you'll be solid riveting almost as quick as blind rivets, and they look so much nicer. Stronger too.

 

 

[Marty_d]

With a bit of practice you'll be solid riveting almost as quick as blind rivets, and they look so much nicer. Stronger too.

I had a fair bit of practice with the wing spars - didn't make me like them any better! I think part of it is the stress of trying not to f... it up, which given that these bits are going to be very visible, will only add to that.

 

Did I notice in the last pic, that your wife has allowed aeroplane parts into the house?

Only on a strictly temporary basis. And she might draw the line at a full fuselage.

 

Awesome work Marty....I have access to some good machinery to do mine so that makes it pretty easy...you are certainly doing a fantastic job seeing most is done by hand

Mark, if I end up with a plane half as pretty as your "girlfriend" I'll be a happy man.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Wrong bucking riveter head!

 

Luckily I had a crack at a test piece first.

 

I picked out the head I thought was right for the 1/8" rivet, put the bucking bar on the other side and squeezed the trigger. The head skittered off leaving a series of smileys in the metal.

 

Ok, a bit gentler on the trigger, thinks I, and drills another test hole. This time it went nice and gentle but still left dimples in the metal around the rivet head.

 

The head's too big, I think, and find one with a smaller dimple. This goes nice and gentle, doesn't leave any marks in the metal, but leaves a mark in the rivet head.

 

Now totally confused, I finally do what I should have done first and have a close look at the heads. What a surprise, the first one was 5/32" and the second one 3/32"... and I can't find the 1/8" one anywhere.

 

However my receipt from Aircraft Spruce from January 2011 says I bought all three, so looks like a massive shed cleanup is called for... dammit.

 

Yep... I love solid riveting...

 

 

[Marty_d]

One down, one to go! You lucky buggers building kits get this bit ready-made.

 

Managed to do it with only 2 or three tiny smileys, which fortunately are small enough to go unnoticed by everyone but me, and only 1 needed drilling out after an accidental blast on the trigger.

 

The solid riveting got easier after some good advice from M61A1 among others. I ended up clamping a fairly big flat bar of mild steel to the bench and holding the piece up against it. That relieved the pain in my shoulder.

 

Still don't like solid riveting though.

 

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

An amazing video of a 3D Zenith 701 showing the breakdown of the structure.

 

Might be helpful to you Marty.

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

 

I just noticed Marty, looking at the plan, that you clearly got the side around the wrong way!

 

 

[Marty_d]

Yeah, the cheap buggers at Zenith saved paper by not drawing both sides of any assembly. Very confusing sometimes.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Second side done!

 

There you go Bex. At least one of them matches the plan now.