Zenith CH-701 thread

[eightyknots]

Hi Phil my 701 l purchased has had the slat taken off and the brackets cut off also.l am going to put them on l have spoken to Zenair about them and they say if l want a real stol aircraft put them on you loose a bit of cruise speed , l have put the new aluminum VGs on the elevator to get better control a slower speeds l will see how the slats go then l will make my decision whether to keep them or not.

cheers Geoff.

Geoff, there is really good info about the value of slats on a website written by one of the Forum members here (JG3). It's well worth reading: www.stolspeed.com

 

 

[skyfox1]

Thanks Eightknots l have read that information quiet a few times and articles like that made it hard for me to make up my mind so l will test it out then see whether l keep them or not .

 

cheers Geoff.

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff , I live and fly from Portland. You have some work ahead of you. Did you make the vgs youself? I have seen some home made ones that work alright, I fly a lot in a mates Savannah which has plastic vgs. I have spent a lot of time upgrading my front end, still not finished. Working on the oil canning at the moment, next week hope to start fitting the engine.

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Geoff , I live and fly from Portland. You have some work ahead of you. Did you make the vgs youself? I have seen some home made ones that work alright, I fly a lot in a mates Savannah which has plastic vgs. I have spent a lot of time upgrading my front end, still not finished. Working on the oil canning at the moment, next week hope to start fitting the engine.

Hi Phil l got the VGs from zenair it has taken me nearly a month to completely rebuild my front end l have modified it, it will be strong now l have made it out of stainless steel, l have a 750 nose leg l have braced it up to give it strength and have nylon bushing top and bottom and on the steering rods slides.

l am going to try and stop some of the oil caning but it is awkward to get in the back of the fuselage .

 

Is there a orange Tyro at Portland still ,l sold mine that l built years ago a police officer with one eye bought from me .

 

cheers Geoff.

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff good mate ownes the Tyro has not been doing mutch with of late has lost conferdents in engine he is looking to repower her.I have to move the Tyro every time I take the club Jab for a run.Will have a look at zenith web site for VGs .

 

I have done the same as you on the nose leg but cant get tension on my bungie but all the measurements are the same as the plans mite have to move the bungie pin down Cheers Phil

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Geoff good mate ownes the Tyro has not been doing mutch with of late has lost conferdents in engine he is looking to repower her.I have to move the Tyro every time I take the club Jab for a run.Will have a look at zenith web site for VGs .I have done the same as you on the nose leg but cant get tension on my bungie but all the measurements are the same as the plans mite have to move the bungie pin down Cheers Phil

Hi Phil l got a new bungee from zenair it is small than the one that was on it l was the same couldn't get enough tension so l made a new center section move the pin with the new bungee l had to use a breaker bar to lever it on should be plenty of tension now just hope its not to much here are some pics so far not quiet finished yet still some cleaning and filing to do but nearly there.

cheers Geoff.

 

 

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff thanks for the photos great help. I have a lot more probs to sort out alomg the way have not even looked at the wings since I bought the plane .

 

went out for a quick fly in the club jab tonight . Got the Wife up for the first time. Only took 4 years took a photo of the Tyro cheers Phil

 

 

 

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Phil thank also for the pics l have some from in side the fus for you they are different how people construct of the plans

 

The Tyro looks a bit different than when l built it pod has change color different wind screen l built of plans 12 years ago does it still have the same 503 motor .

 

cheers Geoff

 

 

 

 

[skyfox1]

Geoff , is the bottom of the fuse bent down in your 701, the doublers where it looks like a carry through look odd?Met

Hi Mat are you taking about where the hole is, that's where they put the battery it was 8.5 kg had no extra support it has bent the doubles

l am going to replace them l am in the process of straightening the fus it is not square the whole aircraft has been out of square some sections have been loaded up the rear of the cargo area has split, it was in tension it must have been flexing on the ground and in flight causing the tear it was hidden by the carpet .

 

cheers Geoff.

 

 

 

 

[skyfox1]

Yeh, yuk,I must be a coward, I wouldn't want to leave the safety earth in something that looked like thatMet

Come on Met and l thought you where going to be my crash test dummy.

cheers Geoff

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff Tyro still has the 503 in there but Paul Has trouble starting it . I will send some more picks of some of the issues i have with the 701 when get the chance CHEERS pHIL

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff how is your 701 going? I have been too busy to touch mine, might get a chance today. Took some photos of the rear fuselarge which is 3 to4 mil lower on the right hand side which made the rudder lean to the right, have put in a shim which has helped, what do you think ? Also a pic of the crimping on a cable your opinion would be appreciated.

 

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Phil mine is coming along slowly l am waiting for some rivets from Zenair and some other parts then l can start to assemble the fire wall.

 

l have made doubles to put in behind where the main spring and strut attachment brackets are it is very weak in that area it does most of the work .

 

Have you put a shim under the rudder hing bracket ,did you measure the rear of the fus or is it the bracket on the rudder itself it maybe on an angle.

 

Is the thimble on the cable hard up against the swag on the bottom looks like it in the pic needs to have movement, are they gal or stainless cables l am replacing all of mine l make them up myself l like to use stainless cable .

 

the swag looks alright like to swag the center of the swag to make sure l have the best grip we took some swages a few years ago to Morrabin airport for testing on there machine the cable broke and my sway stay perfect so l have done them the same way ever since.

 

l will send some pics of my updates shortly.

 

cheers Geoff..

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff the landing gear seams to be a big prob in the sport planes always hearing or reading about under carriage collapsing on all models of planes. I was looking at a Sportstar at a workshop near home getting under carriage rebuilt, its used as a trainer. Your mod to the 701 sounds a good idea .The rear of the fus measures shorter vertically on the right hand side,the rudder seams to be alright. Had a look at all the cables and the thimble is hard up against the swag on all of them and the cables are gal. Did you buy your stainless cable local or did you import ? Wanted to replace cables anyway. The paint job on my plane is not the best was thinking of a respray and change colours, would you sand or strip? Will be a big job either way. Cheers Phil

 

 

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Phil l have finished make all the parts for my fire wall and nose gear and have started to rivet it all back together , will send pics when that part is done .

 

l have imported my new control cables and swages l am using 7x19x 1/8 stainless steel cable .

 

l have stripped all the paint from the 701 using citrastrip it is biodegradable and 3800 psi pressure washer worked well mine had been painted using house paint with a hardener .

 

DONT sand aluminum you will encourage corrosion destroy the protective coating on the 6061 .

 

when you get time could you take some pics of the Tyros engine free air cowling that l made a friend would like to copy it been along time since l did that .

 

cheers Geoff

 

 

[eightyknots]

l have stripped all the paint from the 701 using citrastrip it is biodegradable and 3800 psi pressure washer worked well mine had been painted using house paint with a hardener .

Hi Geoff,

 

That housepaint idea sounds very interesting! I have a few questions about that:

 

Is that cheaper than paint normally used on planes?

 

Is it lighter?

 

Tell us a bit more about the hardener in the housepaint?

 

How well does the housepaint 'bond' to the aluminium?

 

 

[eightyknots]

Another question: was the housepaint you used a water-based one such as Solagard?

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Geoff,That housepaint idea sounds very interesting! I have a few questions about that:

 

Is that cheaper than paint normally used on planes?

 

Is it lighter?

 

Tell us a bit more about the hardener in the housepaint?

 

How well does the housepaint 'bond' to the aluminium?

Hi the previous own had painted it with house paint .

l am painting it with polyu 400 two pack paint .

 

l did paint a car years ago with house paint with hardner it was oil base paint it worked well but l will be using proper paint on my 701.

 

cheers Geoff.

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi the previous own had painted it with house paint .l am painting it with polyu 400 two pack paint .

l did paint a car years ago with house paint with hardner it was oil base paint it worked well but l will be using proper paint on my 701.

 

cheers Geoff.

OK.

 

I don't really like the 'nude aluminium' look. So when I get around to building my plane, I'll be looking for the lightest paint that's suitable for aviation use.

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Eight knots if you google Poly U400 you will get the specs on the paint l have painted 4 aircraft with it so far good results .

 

Cheers Geoff.

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff thanks for the info, Would you no of any early LSA mod flying jabs with the 1600 motor for sale I have 2200 motor would like to have something that I can fly now 701 is along way off flying Cheers Phil

 

 

[skyfox1]

Hi Phil no dont know of any, get yourself a real ultralight get a Drifter to fly while you are building the 701 thats what l do

 

cheers Geoff.

 

 

[Phillip King]

Drifter sounds good but would like a inclosed ultralight weather is a bit chilly around here and have a son shifting back to Adelaide then next shift to Canada next year so would like to catch up with him as much as I can .I have always had a soft spot for the n3pup a bit slow, still beats driving six hours, cheap to buy and run what do think of them?

 

 

[skyfox1]

Haven't had anything to do with a N3PuP they look like a Cub thats an aircraft l would like .

 

 

[Phillip King]

Hi Geoff have you the latest planes and cd from Zenith? On the cd the progresive photos of the fella building his 701 it shows how he has gone all around the L angles with a crimping tool and put tension in the rear fus good or bad idea do you think?