Zodie


The seat back and gear channel went quick

Laid out the locations for the studs that will attach the motor mount. Checked this 3 times. It would be nice to have the motor mount and use it to line these up. But I won't get that for a while. The plans, the photo guide, and the other builders didn't seem to do this. So I just measured..... Three times.

The L angle on the top wouldn't quite fit. I went and used my brake to make a new angle.

Used a hole saw in my drill press to drill this hole. That did a much nicer job than the fly cutter.

I noticed that ZAC has changed the design for the top stiffener. Here is the original design and the parts that came with the kit. (per rev 2, 5th edition)

ZAC added an angle to the front, a plate and increased the size of the gusset. I think this is to beef this up for nose wheel loads. I am planning on doing about the same thing. I sent them an email. The nose gear is very stiff in the bearings. I noticed when I was flying one of the XLs that the rudder was kind of stiff. I now attribute this to this friction. I also asked ZAC what they recommend for this area.

A top view of the mod. You notice that I drilled the top angle. There wasn't a no rivet zone called out here on this part. Probably should be. I can fix it with a little creative spacing on the gussets on the other side.

I emailed ZAC and got this response about the mod to the stiffener: "For the S-LSA aircraft (used for flight training) we decided to use the same firewall reinforcement current in use on the CH2000. Please note there is no problem with the previous stiffener - this is what we have on our demo with over 970 hours." So I will not do this mod. Always good to check with the experts.

I got this tip from Kent Bauer. I needed something to seal the slots for the nose wheel steering rods. I used fiberglass cloth and High Temp RTV. I spread it out on a piece of wax paper. I used 2 layers of fiberglass, squeegee in the RTV and let it dry. Worked very well.

I then cut a thin piece of steel to match the slot and then will trim the seal to fit. Should work slick.

Laid out the forward floor and rudder assembly. Wow it is starting to look like something. I was going to move the pedals forward like a lot of folks had. I found out that with my revision of the drawings, the forward position is the standard.

I clamped on the longerons and center brace. Then put the 2X4 spacers to allow me to drill. Should work. Measured everything twice. Will probably measure it one more time before I drill.

Laid out the fuel components to see where they fit. I wanted to make sure I didn't drill some place I wanted to place a component. I am going to locate the fuel selector close to the bottom of the cabin. I am concerned about forcing the fuel up to the valve. I think it will be better to have constant head pressure. I ordered a 6" extension from: http://www.andair.co.uk/system/index.html Notice that I have the center wing section backwards. Didn't notice till after I took the pic

Here are the rudder pedals and brakes all installed.

A look with the wing going the correct way.

It was time to move off the table. I really liked the utility of this table. But I don't have room for it and need a different approach for the fuse.

It came apart easy. Sad to see it go

Moved it on to these saw horses but they are too high.

Made some saw horses that are lower and put it on wheels. I like the ability to move it. This requires leveling but Winter is getting close and I do want to park in the garage occasionally

Another view. I drilled and clecoed the firewall. I used the angle drill to drill pilots from the top. The redrilled from underneath. Starting to look like something.

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