Where have I been?

Friends,

Wow, a whopping 8 months since my last blog update...so what's been going on?

Since November 2017, I have worked a lot on the project, but that all largely went on hold once winter set in. The 2017-2018 winter season was so cold I could not heat my shop/garage the same way I had in previous years. I tried several alternatives, but nothing worked. I switched gears and finished up a basement project unrelated to the Zenith build.

I also had emergency surgery, had to deal with a rental property that was destroyed by my tenants, among many other things. From April-July, I did nothing but work on the rental property. I was able to sell it, though, so that's a relief.

In addition, I bought an airplane. That's right, I bought a plane! I purchased a 1962 Cessna 172D with a Stene STOL kit. Prior to buying the Cessna, I had only logged about 11 flight hours in the last 10 years! Since the ultimate goal with the Zenith is to fly the darn thing, I figured I better get back in the sky and knock the dust off my piloting skills. I looked for months for a suitable factory airplane to serve me while I finish the Zenith. I figured that the 172D with STOL kit is pretty good certified approximation to the Zenith, even though it's a lot bigger and heavier.  However, it gives me pretty good STOL performance in a tricycle, high wing package. I'll be doing some pretty solid training and practice with it, in hopes that I'll be ready to transition to the Zenith when the time comes. I got the plane for a really good price and it was local to my home airport.

The nose art was on the plane when I bought it. The former owner is an Air Force veteran, who had the nose art added in tribute to "The Ruptured Duck," of The Doolittle Raid. Not sure if I'll keep the art or not. But for now, she's a great VFR bird for training, practice and loads of fun!

Back to the Zenith:

I haven't given up. My shop has been full of other projects and such since about February, so the Zenith has just been in moth balls since then. Now that all side projects are largely done, I'll be getting back into the Zenith soon. I'm finishing up a DIY airplane tug for the Cessna right now. My last progress on the Zenith was in February 2018, when I worked on the elevator. I shot a ton of footage of the elevator build, but then the memory card malfunctioned and I lost over half of it. There is no way to get the footage back unless I re-shoot it while building a new elevator. You can guess that's not going to happen, So my next project update video will only have a little elevator footage.

More to come!

Update & Bending Brake Video:

Friends, it's been a long time since my last update. I've put some work into the elevator assembly, but I had a lot of time away from the project over the summer. Life gets in the way of building sometimes! Now that we're heading into cold weather here in Michigan, I'll be spending a lot more time in the shop. I also decided to step up my game in video quality and production efficiency. I purchased new camera and microphone equipment to help speed up the filming process and allow me to get the kinds of video shots I really want. I also learned a new video editing software suite and re-formatted how I edit and publish videos. Hopefully, this investment in equipment and knowledge will translate to better quality videos for you, as well as making them much easier and less time consuming for me to produce. The first video I've produced in the new format is about bending brake choices and options for the Zenith STOL CH750 builder. Check it out below:

Now, with the new video equipment and my summer project out of the way, it's time to get cracking on the plane itself!

Cheers!

Exciting Announcement: I got invited to be on a podcast!

Friends,

I've spent considerable time working on my YouTube production quality (still a long way to go). I want to make the content more watchable and exciting, but all in the hopes that the information I present is clear and easily digestible for fellow builders and enthusiasts. I've also been working on my keywords, titles and descriptions to make the information more easily located for other builders. In the last several months, that seems to have paid off! My subscriber list is growing every day, and there is a lot more feedback/discussion in the comments section.

One of the results of the increased exposure is that I was asked to be on the Evadot.com podcast, hosted by Michael Doornbos! Mr. Doornbos is a fellow Zenith builder working on his own 750 Cruzer kit project. In the podcast we talk about our own projects, but also general aspects of experimental aviation and building airplanes in your garage. You can check out the episode here:

Evadot Podcast - Ep. 104: Building Flying Machines In Your Garage

Also be sure to check out Mr. Doornbos' YouTube channel, where he chronicles, among other things, his 750 Cruzer kit build!

I have a lot more pictures and video content coming, so stay tuned!

Cheers!

More delays, but finally back to work.

Friends,

Work and personal obligations have just been non-stop lately. Being able to work on the project has been an impossibility most days. In the last month, I've managed a little shop cleanup and organization, and managed to get all my parts in .063" rough cut. It took about 6 hours total to lay out all these parts onto .063" stock. Later today, I hope to get them filed/sanded down to finish size, and maybe even formed (most of them are flat pieces anyway). The upper fuselage channel is going to be the biggest challenge. It's nearly 4' long and has 3 bends along the length! Here are a few pictures of the layout of parts and the rough cut pieces:

Hard to see with the glare, but the upper fuselage doublers and other parts are nested in this layout:

Although I have electric shears that work well, the jigsaw was better suited to cut out all these parts nested so closely together:

Lots of little parts laid out in close proximity to minimize waste material. If you don't have to remake too many parts, a 1/2-sheet (4' x 6') of material is plenty to do the whole plane.

Larger parts rough cut, to be finished on band saw and belt sander. A few of the smaller parts still need to be separated from each other:

Cheers!

Why I chose the Corvair engine conversion for my Zenith STOL CH 750

Friends,

As a follow-up to "Why I chose the Zenith STOL CH 750," I thought I'd go into some detail about why I chose a Chevrolet Corvair engine conversion for my project. The first part of the video mostly about why I chose the Corvair specifically. The second part of the video is somewhat about the Corvair, but also details a lot about automotive engine conversion considerations. So, if you are interested in my reasoning for the Corvair engine choice, or if you would like more information on what is involved with choosing an automotive engine conversion, check out my videos below:

Why I chose a Corvair engine conversion - Part 1:

Why I chose a Corvair engine conversion - Part 2:

Why I chose the STOL CH 750

Friends,

Almost every aircraft builder is asked at some point why he or she chose a specific design to build. It's certainly a fair question, and one I'm always happy to answer. However, if you're building a Zenith STOL CH 750 nowadays, you'll invariably be asked why you are not building a Zenith 750 Cruzer instead. Further, after maybe giving some additional answers, some folks will even tell you that you should be building a Cruzer instead. I've often found that interesting at best, and annoying at worst. Who decides what airplane is best for me? I do!

If you would like to know more about why I specifically chose the STOL CH 750, and why I would still choose that design if I had to choose today, check out the video:

So many delays, I made a video about dealing with them!

Friends,

As noted in my last blog post, I have experienced more than my fair share of delays and setbacks in the last 12 months. I figure that other builders may experience similar delays over the years it takes for us to finish our projects. Thus, I created a video about how to persevere in the face of such delays, and how I maintain at least some progress when it feels like you're not getting anything done on the project!