About The Project:

The airplane is a home-built, scratch-built Zenith CH 750 STOL. Building from plans/blueprints is a challenging way to build an airplane, since most of the parts you use to build it are not prefabricated. I chose the Zenith CH 750 STOL for its rugged design, its STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) characteristics and its aluminum construction. Zenith Aircraft Company has designed this airplane so that it can be built from scratch or from a kit by the average person. They provide excellent technical support for both kit and scratch builders. In addition, I'll be installing a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair 164 cid horizontally opposed, air cooled, 6-cylinder engine, with special conversion parts to make it suitable for airplane duty. This is what the airplane will look like when I'm done, although I'll have a different paint scheme:

Follow my progress below!

Sunday, November 20, 2016

A ton of progress on the firewall!

Friends,

This weekend has been a whirlwind of building and video editing! I spent a full day assembling the firewall and I now only have a few finishing touches to put on it. I'm waiting for some additional materials that are on back-order before I can finish it. But it went from a pile of parts to a real firewall assembly. I also spent a full day editing my videos for the horizontal stabilizer build, along with some other videos. Anyway here are some pictures of my progress on the firewall:

Back side of firewall (toward the cabin) showing supports:

Front of firewall showing stiffeners, reinforcing plates and central gear channel:

Side view of Central Gear Channel & Gussets. The bronze Cleco in the circle denotes pilot hole for 5/8" rod that holds the nose gear bungee:

Full view of the front of the assembled firewall. Still need to make cover slides for the nose gear steering rod slots toward the bottom, and attach 2 short stiffeners to the upper channel:

Top of Firewall upper stiffener showing through hole for nose gear fork. A Nyloil bearing block (material on back-order) gets bolted in underneath the hole and is matched to the through hole:

Once I get this deburred and primed, I'll be able to fully rivet this structure together and set it aside until I'm ready to attach to the front of the cabin. I'm still a long way off from that, but it's exciting to see all the substructures coming together.

Next up, I'll be working to finish the elevator and mount it to the horizontal stabilizer. After that, I'll be skinning the flaperons and starting the wing spar webs. Exciting stuff. Making parts was awesome, but seeing them come together in the shape of an airplane is incredible.

Cheers!

1 comment:

  1. Excellent job so far! Keep up the great work!

    Joe in Oshkosh

    ReplyDelete