Marty_d

Thanks Mike. I might pull a carby off and take it into Enzed. That way I'll get the right thread.

Can you get the banjo stuff aftermarket? I did contact Bert Flood about the fuel setup but they said it would be prohibitively expensive to get Rotax stuff. Even the compensator tube which is basically a bit of bent aluminium pipe is around $1,000. (I made one myself out of a piece of hard fuel line, with a ridge formed at each end to hold the short rubber hose each end).

Hi, I'm a bit confused about the fuel fitting to the carbs. 912/914 parts list shows part 941853 which is a double ended male thread, however in the Rotax Heavy Maintenance Manual it shows a banjo bolt going straight in and the original part crossed out. Anyone know what the inside thread size is? Is the banjo bolt system necessary or can it just be a barb to thread type fitting? Thanks, Marty

Hi, I have to confess my ignorance here, I have no idea what the numbers on tyres mean. I want to get a set of bigger tyres that fit the rims I have. I don't really want to spend a fortune doing it (I've seen 21" tyres advertised for almost $600 each). So below is a photo of my nosewheel - it has the numbers 15 x 6.00 - 6 on it. What does that mean? It's not 15 inches diameter, it's around 13 (unless I haven't pumped it up enough). If I want to get bigger tyres, eg 21", where's the best place to get them? Some forums in the Zenith site discuss bigger tyres for $30 each - golf cart? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks, Marty

Always safer with a Trojan.

Wouldn't want that canopy coming unlatched in flight.

Ok, just checked the plans and they state the prop centre is 1100mm off the ground, mine is 1040, so I've lost 60mm somewhere. Possibly the best option would be to make a bigger nosewheel fork and mount the axle lower, that would then give the option to change to a bigger tyre later too. Talking to a couple of people who have big tyres, they only lose 1-2 knots in cruise and have much better landing experience (plus an added measure of safety). So that's probably on the cards. Yep done that. That actually encouraged me to look seriously at the Meglin. Trouble is, the Ukraine factory want the whole price up front and then it's a 4 month turnaround before you get the prop. That made me a bit nervous when Russia is knocking on their doorstep - I really hope there's no invasion, but there is a risk that manufacturing could be disrupted and there's no guarantees. So going with the Bolly, they advise 70" 3 blade for STOL or 66" 3 blade for better cruise. My initial reaction is 70", but there's another 2 inches less clearance so down to 150mm instead of 200. That's true, but there's bugger all movement in the nose suspension (rubber "puck" system) so if anything the maingear is what would settle when fully loaded, which would actually give slightly more clearance. I might go over to the Zenith site and see what all the 701 users say about ground clearance. Thank, good to know.

Hi all, I need some advice. Starting to look at props for the 701. At the moment looking at 3 blade 66" Bolly. However I just measured from ground to centre of the prop hub, when the plane is on its undercarriage, and it's only 1040mm (41"). If there's a 66" prop on it (and if the 66" is total prop arc diameter) then there's only 8" (200mm) from the tip of the prop to the ground. Is that enough? Or do I need to extend the nosegear (not ideal) or put bigger tyres on (possible)? As always all thoughts appreciated. Cheers, Marty

It is for Mando - he wears a jet pack occasionally!

It's a Star Wars thing Mark.

Yes, I wasn't saying I wasn't going to do it, I was saying it reminds me that I have to do it.

Thanks for the reminder guys... I'm not finished cutting into my cowl!

What I've learned about fibreglassing is: Lay, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, repeat. Laid some carbon fibre over the filled bits, and because it's "rough side out" (ie not coming out of an internal mould), used microballoons to fill over. Still, it's come up pretty well. I reckon one more fairly thin mix over the whole thing and a final sand with 240 grit and it should be good to go. Now - DZUS. Anyone got any experience of fitting them? Hints, tips, tricks? Is the wire bit riveted straight to the inside fibreglass or do you use an aluminium doubler? Etc. The second picture is of a mould I'm making for a couple of blisters to go on the real cowl - the throttles are binding so need a bit of space above them. I'm hoping to use the same mould for both blisters, I think the curvature of the cowl is similar enough on both sides. Third picture is of my project for son Harry - a Mandalorian helmet. We made it from cardboard pieces, then papier-mache, then I've been adding filler every time I do some fibreglassing on the cowl. Will coat it with about 5 layers of thin fibreglass cloth, fill and sand again, then paint.

Is the bottom aircraft the same type? Looks different. For example canopy looks smaller, the rudder hinge is more upright than the others and the rudder/fin is a different shape.

It looked like the landscape was deserted, but what if there were hikers or campers somewhere under him? What if the crash did start a fire? And then he ignores the safe landing spots with his chute and chooses to try to get close to the crash. What if he broke a leg on landing, especially as he didn't get mobile phone coverage? Overall extremely stupid. I agree with the analysis and other comments - hope he doesn't fly again.

Not that it'll ever be an issue for me.

Tosser. "I was only 170lb and that was the minimum pilot weight for this aircraft"... really? They make planes that can't be flown by anyone under 77kg?

I notice you said "first" and not "only". Still, I think you're a better man than me!

I kind of like it, but if they wanted it to look like a Spit, they should have deepened the rear fuse and had a smaller canopy.

Unfortunately it was a bit damp and cool today so no fibreglassing (and the forecast for the rest of the week isn't much better.) However I did fit it back on the plane and happy to report that the ring is still in the right position.

I took a deep breath and cut the ring today to separate the top and bottom cowls. All went well apart from a couple of little nicks where the Dremel blade went through to the outside, nothing that a bit of bog won't fix. Below is a photo of the cut, the cross section shows how much the green polystyrene deformed when polyester resin went on it. I've now sanded back and applied a coat of epoxy to both sides of the cut, will rough it up and then put a couple of layers of carbon fibre all over the new section. Last day of holiday tomorrow so hopefully will get that done. Actually, before I put on the carbon I might put it back on the plane to make sure there's been no change in clearance with the prop drive plate.

Is that a blue golf ball serving as a knob in the third picture?

Finally some fibreglassing weather - the week from Christmas to New Year was excellent down here (today it started raining again!) I made a mockup of the firewall, screwed the cowl to it in the spots it's going to be connected, and moved the whole thing up to the carport. Resin stinks! Unfortunately the other thing polyester resin does is cause foam to deform. I had started slathering the outside of the ring with a mix of poly and microballoons, but it shrunk the outer surface of the foam (see first pic). So I did what I should have done in the first place, and coated the foam ring with epoxy. After that went off I spent about 4 days doing coats of microballoon, sanding, repeat. Fairly happy with the end result - I've run out of micro balloons so will have to get some more to fill a couple of very small divots, then I can cut the top cowl away again, cover the ring with carbon fibre and do some final filling. I've been sharing my carport with another family - a couple of swallows and their 4 chicks. The nest is getting a little crowded now. Poor mum & dad spend all day on the wing, ferrying back food for the kids - at first they would buzz me if I was in the carport but now they just ignore me.

I'm finding problems at this stage too. Had the throttles all set up and then when the top cowl was on, found I couldn't move the throttle. Obviously it's so close to the Bing carbs (or one of them, anyway) that it binds with the cowl. So now I have to put bulges over the carbs to get it to fit. Luckily I have a spare top cowl to experiment on as far as position and hole cutout etc.

A couple I forgot to attach on Sunday - header tank to filter, and then the electric fuel pump onwards.