| Date |
Work |
| 24th March 2008 |
Ordered Standard Kit from Zenith. |
| 3rd September 2008 |
Picked up the kit from Port Melbourne. |
| 4th September 2008 |
Carried out an inventory check. All present and undamaged. |
| 5th September 2008 |
Organised the parts and tools for rudder assembly. |
| 6th September 2008 |
Completed the skeleton of the rudder. |
| 7th September 2008 |
Completed the rudder skins. All primed and rivetted. |
| 8th September 2008 |
Completed the right hand flap. |
| 9th September 2008 |
Completed the left hand flap. |
| 10th September 2008 |
Right hand aileron ready for deburring and primer. |
| 11th September 2008 |
Left hand aileron ready for deburring and primer. |
| 12th September 2008 |
Horizontal stabiliser skeleton ready for deburring and primer. |
| 13th September 2008 |
Started Elevator construction. |
| 14th September 2008 |
Fitted elevator trim tab and servo. Fitted control horns. Ready to debur and prime. |
| 15th September 2008 |
Primed and rivetted the right hand aileron. |
| 16th September 2008 |
Primed and rivetted the left hand aileron and the stabiliser skeleton. |
| 17th September 2008 |
Drilled and clecoed the bottom of the stabiliser skin |
| 22nd September 2008 |
Finished assembly and clecoed the horizontal stabiliser. |
| 23rd September 2008 |
Deburred and primed the stabiliser ready for rivetting. |
| 24th September 2008 |
Deburred, primed and rivetted the elevator. |
| 25th September 2008 |
Rivetted the horizontal stabliser and fitted the elevator. Tail all complete. |
| 26th September 2008 |
Started the fuse floor. Rough cut all Ls and Zs. Drilled millions of holes!!! |
| 27th September 2008 |
Completed cutting and drilling the Ls and Zs. Started the rudder hinge and messed up the bottom plate. Ordered a new one from Zenith. |
| 28th September 2008 |
Drilled everything on the fuse floor to rivet size and clecoed. |
| 29th September 2008 |
Dissasemmbled the fuse floor, deburred, primed and rivetted. Installed the access door and nut plates. Checked out the side panels. |
| 30th September 2008 |
Cut and fitted the Ls to the rear fuse side skins. |
| 1st October 2008 |
Fitted the side skins and the HT area. Drilled to size and clecoed. |
| 2nd October 2008 |
Fitted the HT btacket, top hinge, cable fairings, rear seat channel and the gear channel.All ready to debur and rivet. Started firewall. |
| 3rd October 2008 |
Firewall ready to drill to size. Laid out parts for front fuse. |
| 4th October 2008 |
Drilled the firewall to size and clecoed. Drilled and clecoed the front fuselage. |
| 5th October 2008 |
Fitted the rudder and brakes to the front fuse. Clamped the front and rear fuses, drilled to size and clecoed. Set out the center section spar. |
| 10th October 2008 |
Spent the last few days getting the engine (O-200) from the docks and sorting out the additional bits I need. |
| 11th October 2008 |
Fitted the center section spar to the fuse. I need to shift the fuse off the bench on to some trestles to continue. |
| 12th October 2008 |
Made some wooden trestles. Moved the box with all the parts in outside the garage. I set up the fuse on the trestles. Leveled everything out. |
| 13th October 2008 |
Re leveled the trestles and fuse (again and again!!!). Fitted the instrument panel and rear seat back. Fitted the rear wing fitting. Need to cut the side skins. |
| 14th October 2008 |
Fitted the rear wing spar attach brackets to the fuse panel. Cut the rear side skins to match the attach plates. |
| 15th October 2008 |
Checking out more engine bits. |
| 16th October 2008 |
Site visit to another 601xl builder. |
| 17th October 2008 |
Marked and cut the opening for the gear mounting plates. Temporary fitted the aft, middle and baggage tray bulkheads. |
| 18th October 2008 |
Fitted the gear mounting fittings, uprights and gussetts. |
| 20th October 2008 |
Fitted the front fuse L angles and clecoed the side skins to shape around the firewall. |
| 24th October 2008 |
Fitted the rear spar attach channel. |
| 27th October 2008 |
Started fitting the baggage floor. |
| 28th October 2008 |
Baggage floor fitted, still need some more holes drilled. |
| 29th October 2008 |
Painted the engine bits. |
| 1st November 2008 |
Fitted the nut plates for the spar access panels. |
| 3rd November 2008 |
Fitted the rear seat back center and torque tube bracket. |
| 7th November 2008 |
Rear frame completed with flap motor bracket fitted. |
| 8th November 2008 |
Cut and fitted the upper fuse doublers. Will need more trimming when the clecos are removed. |
| 10th November 2008 |
Temporary fit of the wing attach uprights. |
| 11th November 2008 |
Drilled the rest of the holes and fitted the baggage tray. |
| 12th November 2008 |
Fitted one half of the rear top skin. I need to drill some correct size holes to retrieve some clecos! |
| 13th November 2008 |
Retrieved some clecos and finished the other side of the rear top skin. |
| 18th November 2008 |
Having bought some more clecos I managed to get started with the front top skin. |
| 20th November 2008 |
Waited for a friend to arrive so I could drill out the baggage area for the A4 size rivets. I had to remove the top skins. |
| 22nd November 2008 |
Refitted the top skins. Fitted the front hoop and rear seat belt fittings. |
| 24th November 2008 |
Trimmed the front top skin to fit the front hoop. Cut and fitted the L angles for the antenna reinforcment. |
| 1st December 2008 |
Spent some days working out engine details and researching parts. |
| 2nd December 2008 |
Drilled the firewall/side skins and clecoed in place. Drilled and clecoed the uppper longeron doubler. |
| 4th December 2008 |
Fitted the lower side seatbelt attachment brackets. Trial fit of the seat side panels. I found the parts supplied were different from the plans. Emailed Zenith. |
| 6th December 2008 |
Zenith replied that I should use some L angle along the top of the seat base. Actually shows that in the old photo guides!!! Wonder why the change. Drilled out the top skins for A4 rivets. |
| 10th December 2008 |
I eventually managed to borrow a set of wing jigs and setup the center section spar. Drilled the holes in the floor for the spar rivets. |
| 12th December 2008 |
Drilled and fitted the spar uprights. I still need to match drill the spar attachment holes. |
| 14th December 2008 |
I checked out all the rivet holes to see if everything is to the correct size. The fuse is about ready to dissassemble, debur, prime and reassemble. |
| 4th January 2009 |
Dissassembled the fuse ready for deburring and primimg. |
| 14th January 2009 |
Deburred and primed the fuse. Rebuilt to same stage as disassembled. My Tech Councillor suggested that as we live near the sea, I prime the whole inside surface that will be inaccessable after construction. Now a pretty green all over!! |
| 16th January 2009 |
Drilled the flap tube holes. Fitted the rudder and elevator fairleads. |
| 18th January 2009 |
Fitted the seat bottoms and generally tidied up the inside of the fuse. |
| 19th January 2009 |
Cut the notches in the main gear. Assembled all the tubes/tyres and wheels. |
| 20th January 2009 |
Fitted the axles and brakes to the main gear. Fitted the main gear to the fuse. Only a slight file needed for a perfect fit. |
| 21st January 2009 |
Fitted the nose gear. Still needs a prime and paint. |
| 23rd January 2009 |
Fitted the center console and panel top skin. |
| 24th January 2009 |
Started the canopy fit. Fitted the side rails and front and rear hoops. |
| 25th January 2009 |
Trial fit of the canopy. It was a hot day too! |
| 27th January 2009 |
Fitted the canopy side flashings, both inside and out. |
| 28th January 2009 |
Dissassembled the canopy for deburring and priming. |
| 29th January 2009 |
Finished trimming the rear skin for the stabilizer. Test fitted the stabilizer and rudder. I need to change the rudder hinge placement |
| 1st February 2009 |
Trimmed the top skins and fitted in place. Rivetted in place. |
| 2nd February 2009 |
Retrimmed the front top skin for better fit around the front hoop. |
| 3rd February 2009 |
Modified the top rudder hinge to allow full deflection. I need to order a new top hinge. |
| 5th February 2009 |
Primed and painted the canopy top rails and hoops. Fitted the latching mechanism. |
| 7th February 2009 |
Re fitted the canopy to check for the dimple positions of the side flashing. Trimmed the outside flashing to size. |
| 7th March 2009 |
I spent most of the month building the engine, something I really enjoy. The weather has been very hot as well and kept me out of the workshop. The engine is nearly finished. I just need a few more parts from Aircraft Spruce to complete the carb Air |
| 8th March 2009 |
I fitted the rudder pedals, control column and torque tubes today. I decided to use a nylon bearing at the ends of the rudders/tubes instead of bearing directly on the ally angles. Looks and feels much better. |
| 8th April 2009 |
I spent most of the last month building the starboard wing. No major dramas but a lot of time checking that things were all square before drilling and clecoing. I have full size fiberglass wing tips which looked pretty rough but turned out quite good |
| 9th April 2009 |
I picked up the engine mount and cowling today. The cowling looks very nice too. |
| 13th April 2009 |
Fitted the engine mount to the fuse. I needed to trim the firewall a bit to make things fit but it fitted perfectly. Some net talk was about strengthening the mount. The top mounts are just straight out from the firewall. |
| 15th April 2009 |
Fitted the engine to the mount. I need some shorter bolts. It is a temporary fit but will allow me to work out control runs and fuel lines etc. |
| 17th April 2009 |
Fitted the cables to the rudder and elevators. I have placed all the turnbuckles inside the fuse. They are accessible from the access door. |
| 20th April 2009 |
Spent a couple of days just finishing off the starboard wing. The control tube is now in place together with the balance cable. Strobes and wing lights are all working. |
| 25th April 2009 |
I spent some time designing and testing an aileron balance weight system. Its fits inside the wing. I have changed the design a couple of times so its getting better. |
| 30th April 2009 |
Started the port wing. Finished the skeleton with all ribs and nose ribs fitted. |
| 3rd May 2009 |
Re-drilled all the skeleton holes to the correct size. Fitted the top skin in place and also fitted the anti oil canning strips. |
| 4th May 2009 |
Drilled the top skin to the correct size. |
| 7th May 2009 |
Turned the wing over and fitted the bottom skin. The pitot head is installed. A little milestone today. I took the last piece (the nose skin) out of the box today. It is now empty and can be taken to bits. |
| 8th May 2009 |
Fitted the nose skin to the bottom of the wing and nose ribs. Drilled out the pilot holes to size. |
| 10th May 2009 |
Turned the wing over again and fitted the nose skin to the top of the wing. |
| 11th May 2009 |
Removed the nose skin again so I could check out the fuel tank. Cut the hole for the filler cap. |
| 12th May 2009 |
Disassembled the whole wing to debur and prime. |
| 15th May 2009 |
Spent a couple of days deburring and priming the wing skeleton. |
| 16th May 2009 |
Assembled the skeleton. Drilled the holes for the grommets for the electricals. |
| 17th May 2009 |
Deburred and primed the bottom skin. Fitted to skeleton and rivetted. Fitted the nose skin to the bottom. |
| 18th May 2009 |
Turned the wing over and fitted the deburred and primed top skin. Fitted the fuel tank and installed the wiring for the strobes and landing/taxi lights. |
| 19th May 2009 |
Fitted the nose skin, landing light and wing tip. Finished rivetting all over. Major construction is now finished. I just need to fit it all out!!! (90 percent to go) |
| 20th July 2009 |
Over the last couple of months I have worked from the tail forward. All the control cables are in. The empenage is all attached. The step fairings are all in an rivetted. I am presently installing the instrumentation and the engine controls. |
| 7th November 2009 |
At the recommendation of my AP I have decided to Sikaflex the hoops rather than drill and screw. I will post some pictures shortly. |
| 5th November 2009 |
Not much in the way of log entires but I have finished the instruments and wiring. The cowling is fitted, needs some baffelling sorted. I managed to crack the canopy on installation so had to get a new one from Todds. |
| 10th January 2010 |
Well after a long delay, I am now expecting delivery of the upgrade parts. Been a long time on hold and I am looking forward to progress again. |
| 4th April 2010 |
Well, I have finally finished the upgrades and have the wings, ailerons and flaps on. Polishing is near complete and I am looking forward to a first flight soon. |
| 16th April 2010 |
Had the FIRST FLIGHT today, what a buzz. A few minor issues to sort out before the next flight. Definitley worth all the effort. |
