12/04/06 - My new "Rudder-Cam"
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12/04/06 - A rudder modification to mount a video camera.
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1/31/03 - Here is what I saw on day-one of the rudder building workshop. Zenith had all the parts and tools ready for action.
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1/31/03 - This is me making the first few holes in the new parts. Lots of fun here.
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1/31/03 - These two guys were working beside me. Frank is from New York and Ben is from Colorado. Zenith put them together for this project. The rudder belongs to Frank.
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1/31/03 - Two workshop attendees Mike and Kim from St. Louis, MO. The guy in the background is our Zenith workshop leader, Roger.
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2/1/03 - The completed rudder.
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5/07/03 - My completed rudder safely stored in the garage.
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11/16/05 - All that was fun but I decided to go with a real servo - here's the innards for iquiring minds.
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4/20/04 - These are the parts for my trim motor. The black thing is a cut-down automobile electric mirror motor.
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4/20/04 - The Limit Switch assembly to be installed in the box.
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4/20/04 - The ends of the box.
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4/20/04 - The assembly with control rod attached (It will be longer when installed in the elevator)
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2/22/03 - Take a look at my "Humble Beginnings" photograph. This is after making the first cuts in my first order of aluminum. Bending around the forming blocks follows this move.
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2/22/03 - I had to start somewhere, so here it is. My first bending of aluminum around the first form blocks. 0.016" Aluminum bends pretty easy.
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2/27/03 - Since we are on the subject of "Firsts," here's my first home-built assembly after cutting, bending, drilling and installing the Clecos.
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3/8/03 - The control horns cut out and ready for drilling and bending. This is 0.063" aluminum. I labled the sticker with the bend, hole and rivet locations.
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3/8/03 - These are the completed horns after bending and drilling. I had to bend the large horn from the back. READ THE DRAWINGS CAREFULLY! Lesson learned.
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3/8/03 - Bending the lower control horn in progress. Notice the larger, completed bend in the background. 90 deg. straight up.
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3/8/03 - Here's my first complex bend on the bender. It is very similar to the elevator bend that will have to be made later on a much larger scale. This is the elevator trim tab.
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3/9/03 - Here is my first deviation from the drawings. I added end-caps to the elevator trim tabs. I made tiny forming blocks and cut, bent and drilled. It adds almost no weight and adds a great deal to "fit and finish."
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3/17/03 - I finally got some zinc chromate and sprayed all the parts I have completed. These were the only parts ready to be riveted, so I was able to use my rivet gun. Worked great.
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3/20/03 - The hinge arrived for the trim tab so I was able to complete a part - The trim tab.
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3/20/03 - Drilled and cleco'd together.
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3/20/03 - A view from the bottom with the "horn" installed. First time to use A5 rivets.
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3/20/03 - After finishing the trim tab I practiced the bend for the elevator skin. A nice, snug fit. Now if only the large section will fit so well after it is bent.
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3/22/03 - Finally found a machine shop with a suitable bender and bent the elevator skin.
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3/22/03 - A long awaited chance to build a large part of the airplane.
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3/22/03 - Daddy's helper.
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3/22/03 - George comes out to investigate.
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3/22/03 - Time for a pause to spend some time with the assembly manual and take a pause from building.
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3/23/03 - Cutout for the trim tab successful. Trim tab installed with clecos.
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3/23/03 - I chose the "L" shaped cutout in the elevator skin for the control brace.
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3/23/03 - A tricky bit of business installing this "L" bracket inside the elevator.
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3/23/03 - The upper and lower control horns are installed along with all bracing.
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3/23/03 - Another long day of work on the elevator. Almost complete except for some trimming, filing deburring and riveting.
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4/7/03 - Everything is now riveted except the front edge where the hinge will go.
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4/7/03 - Here's a shot of the cut-out for the rudder movement. No clecos!
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4/7/03 - And the completed elevator. Now it's time to start planning the Stabilizer. Now where did I put the number to Aircraft Spruce?
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4/17/03 - The 6' piano hinge arrived via UPS. After priming with Zinc Chromate I installed it for a fully completed elevator. The Stabilizer aluminum arrived also, so that work is under way.
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2/27/03 - Here a day's work on the stabilizer parts. All done with the ribs, now it's time to find a big bender for the two spars and stiffners and stabilizer skin.
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2/27/03 - The form blocks I made for the stabilizer ribs. These are identical to the end ribs, just cut down a bit. I made them from scratch instead of ruining the end blocks.
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3/1/03 - This is what it comes down to. Clamping the aluminum between two blocks, then beating it with a hammer. A finished rib is laying on the vice.
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3/2/03 -This is 0.025" aluminum and it is quite a bit harder to bend than the 0.063" metal. You also have to be carefull with crimp placement or a "bottle-cap" effect will appear.
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3/4/03 -This is how I make some of the small parts. Stick a paper drawing of the part on the aluminum, then cut it out on the band saw, then sand to exact fit. Drilling and bending if necessary.
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4/20/03 - Here's a jig I made to cut aluminum with my circular saw and it also makes a great straight edge for marking.
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4/20/03 - The Joy of Plans-Building. I had to make this part twice because the first one was too wide after I bent it. The second one was just right.
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4/21/03 - In order to bend the rear spar doublers, I decided to leave them attached to a larger sheet for the bending process, then cut the angles and this gave me an idea (see next photo).
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4/23/03 - Instead of cutting the angle, then making the shim for the rear attachment bracket, I incorporated the shim in the doubler.
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4/23/03 - For added strength and because I could, I made the bottom doubler the same way.
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4/24/03 - Here's a shot of the rear attachment bracket, the spar and the doubler/shim cleco'd together. You can see the shim here is a part of the doubler.
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4/25/03 - Clecod back together after deburring and priming. Notice that I missed drilling one hole - I saw it before any rivets were pulled.
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4/25/03 - Finished with the rear stabilizer spar.
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4/26/03 - 1/4" particle board makes a good 219mm spacer for the front attachment brackets.
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4/26/03 - All of the front spar parts clecod together.
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4/26/03 - These are all the parts to the front spar drilled and deburred and primed ready for assembly
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4/26/03 - I got a little ahead of myself here. I need to remove the rivets for the attachments so I can install the stabilizer skin.
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4/26/03 - All of the ribs clecod to the front spar.
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4/26/03 - The skeleton stuck together. There's still a lot of drilling and riveting to do.
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4/29/03 - Now it's held together with clecos. Next step - take apart and debur.
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4/29/03 - Finally a finished stabilizer skeleton. The front attachment brackets still need to come back off.
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4/29/03 - After removing 14 A5 rivets, the front attachment brackets are removed. They have to come off so the skin can be fitted to the frame.
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5/1/03 - I decided to put the elevator next to the stabilizer to make sure everything was going to fit.
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5/1/03 - I have to give ZAC a lot of credit for this one. The plans call for a peice of plywood with a 24mm spacer to bend the stabilizer skin It worked great.
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5/1/03 - This is really big milestone. The ZAC recommended bending procedure worked perfectly. I made it a little big so I need to do some trimming.
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5/1/03 - I put the frame inside the newly bent skin just to make sure I had enough metal on the top and bottom.
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5/2/03 - Preparing myself for the final phases of tail construction, I studied the drawings and photos from the latest Photo Assembly Manual.
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5/2/03 - The Stab Skin was carefully marked and checked, and re-checked, then I drilled the holes for the ribs and the spars.
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5/2/03 - The skin was again placed on the skeleton, then re-checked for fit, and to my relief, the holes all lined up with the centerline marks.
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5/3/03 - The bottom side gets back-drilled through the ribs and spars, then the clecos follow.
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5/31/03 - Before removing the clecos, lift the assembly and carfully mark the locations of the front attachment brackts (This is why I had to remove the Front Attach. Brackets). Next, it all comes apart for deburring.
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5/4/03 - Drill out the marks for the front attachment brackets, then use a chain-saw round-file to complete the process.
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5/4/03 - The assembly will be removed from the "jig" several times, so these pivoting hold-down blocks work well to hold everthing in place.
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5/4/03 - After de-burring and priming the inside, it all goes back together, this time with rivets. A little sleepy-head woke up early, so I recruited some help.
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5/4/03 - Now the top must be marked, drilled, back-drilled, deburred, then reassembled and riveted. An Aircraft Spruce Aluminum box was a good support for the bottom side.
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5/4/03 - For back-drilling the top, you are supposed to strap everything tight. This was also done to mark the locations of the ribs and spars prior to drilling.
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5/4/03 - Now for a final look inside. I found that the straps weren't necessary to re-close, just the 1X2 boards to even out the pressure.
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5/4/03 - Now it's time to check the alignment of the elevator to the stabilizer. I checked, re-checked the distance from the front to back before drilling the hinge.
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5/4/03 - After revoming the top for the last time, I had to clean out all of the shavings from the hinge-drilling.
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5/4/03 - One last thing before closing everything up. I didn't like the way the hinge left a wrinkle in the skin, so I added spacers on both sides of the elevator and stab. to even this out.
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5/4/03 - And the completed elevator/stabilizer assembly. I still need to install a few rivets, but a major milestone has been realized. Now on to the wings.
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5/7/03 - The Stabilizer/Elevator assembly safely stored in the garage.
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5/5/03 - The first step in making fiberglass tips for the stabilizer - the blank cut and sanded to fit. My first attempt involved using the end rib blanks, but they were too small.
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5/10/03 - the mold form which will be filled in with Body filler, then sanded.
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5/10/03 - Body filler added to the mold. Sanding comes next.
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5/13/03 - Sand the body filler. Use the side edges of the wood as a guide. Don't sand down to the wood on top because it sands at a different rate than the filler.
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5/13/03 - Apply more filler for holes and where I sanded to the exposed wood. Another round of sanding to follow.
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5/13/03 - I used the orbital sander again - the perfect tool for this - and now we have a very nice-looking blank (positive).Now I need to somehow seal this.
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5/14/03 - One thin coat of resin, let dry, sand, then apply a second coat of resin, very carefully to avoid drips. Let dry,
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5/15/03 - Apply mold release (wax), then mix up resin and apply cloth, then matting. You have to work fast since this stuff dries in a hurry.
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5/15/03 - After the resin starts to harden, trim the excess fiberglass and attempt to remove the mold. At the time of this posting I don't know how I'm going to get this out.
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Step 12 - Victory! After MUCH persuasion, the blank is out of the form. Now another 12 steps or so and I should have some usable end tips.
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5/17/03 - Sand the mold and fill bad places (bubbles) with body filler, sand again, apply a thin coat of resin, then sand again then cut four identical blocks of wood and attach to four corners. (how many steps was that?)
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5/17/03 - What went wrong? Everything. I mixed too much catalyst and the resin started hardening too soon. The release didn't work. I'm lucky I didn't destroy the mold! If at first you don't succeed....
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6/22/03 - I spent half a day sanding and removing the old epoxy, then filling and sanding some more. This coat is applied then sanded off to reveal holes. It has been a month since the previous photo was taken.
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6/22/03 - Another few hours of sanding and polishing to a mirror finish. Mold release wax, then spray mold release is applied. Fingers crossed.
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6/22/03 - This is the tricky part. I have wasted a lot of resin experimenting with just the right amount of catalyst. The recommended amount makes it harden too fast.
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6/22/03 - Two layers of glass applied. Now let's see if it will let go of the mold.
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6/22/03 - Success! The part released from the mold with very little damage to the mold and a perfect blank ready for cutting and sanding.
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6/22/03 - Here are the three critical parts. The positive, the mold and the blank that will be sanded and cut some more for a perfect fit on the stabilizer.
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6/292/03 - Here's a shot of both stab. tips completed and sprayed with primer. The original "positive" is shown as well as the mold that is still in one piece.
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6/29/03 - I know this is not necessary, but for peace of mind, I installed (fiberglassed) a 0.016 strip where the tips rivet to the stabilizer skin.
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6/29/03 - This is a great fit. The mold was made from an exact replica of the ends. One step not shown here is the aluminum "fit ribs" inside the back part of the tips.
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6/29/03 - The stabilizer is back in it's storage location. I really wanted to rivet the tips in place, but something just kept telling me to leave the cleco's in place.
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Parachute Photos *New*
Engine Photos
Fuselage Photos
Wing Photos
Other Aviation Related Photos
12/04/06 - My new "Rudder-Cam"
12/04/06 - A rudder modification to mount a video camera.
1/31/03 - Here is what I saw on day-one of the rudder building workshop. Zenith had all the parts and tools ready for action.
1/31/03 - This is me making the first few holes in the new parts. Lots of fun here.
1/31/03 - These two guys were working beside me. Frank is from New York and Ben is from Colorado. Zenith put them together for this project. The rudder belongs to Frank.
1/31/03 - Two workshop attendees Mike and Kim from St. Louis, MO. The guy in the background is our Zenith workshop leader, Roger.
2/1/03 - The completed rudder.
5/07/03 - My completed rudder safely stored in the garage.
11/16/05 - All that was fun but I decided to go with a real servo - here's the innards for iquiring minds.
4/20/04 - These are the parts for my trim motor. The black thing is a cut-down automobile electric mirror motor.
4/20/04 - The Limit Switch assembly to be installed in the box.
4/20/04 - The ends of the box.
4/20/04 - The assembly with control rod attached (It will be longer when installed in the elevator)
2/22/03 - Take a look at my "Humble Beginnings" photograph. This is after making the first cuts in my first order of aluminum. Bending around the forming blocks follows this move.
2/22/03 - I had to start somewhere, so here it is. My first bending of aluminum around the first form blocks. 0.016" Aluminum bends pretty easy.
2/27/03 - Since we are on the subject of "Firsts," here's my first home-built assembly after cutting, bending, drilling and installing the Clecos.
3/8/03 - The control horns cut out and ready for drilling and bending. This is 0.063" aluminum. I labled the sticker with the bend, hole and rivet locations.
3/8/03 - These are the completed horns after bending and drilling. I had to bend the large horn from the back. READ THE DRAWINGS CAREFULLY! Lesson learned.
3/8/03 - Bending the lower control horn in progress. Notice the larger, completed bend in the background. 90 deg. straight up.
3/8/03 - Here's my first complex bend on the bender. It is very similar to the elevator bend that will have to be made later on a much larger scale. This is the elevator trim tab.
3/9/03 - Here is my first deviation from the drawings. I added end-caps to the elevator trim tabs. I made tiny forming blocks and cut, bent and drilled. It adds almost no weight and adds a great deal to "fit and finish."
3/17/03 - I finally got some zinc chromate and sprayed all the parts I have completed. These were the only parts ready to be riveted, so I was able to use my rivet gun. Worked great.
3/20/03 - The hinge arrived for the trim tab so I was able to complete a part - The trim tab.
3/20/03 - Drilled and cleco'd together.
3/20/03 - A view from the bottom with the "horn" installed. First time to use A5 rivets.
3/20/03 - After finishing the trim tab I practiced the bend for the elevator skin. A nice, snug fit. Now if only the large section will fit so well after it is bent.
3/22/03 - Finally found a machine shop with a suitable bender and bent the elevator skin.
3/22/03 - A long awaited chance to build a large part of the airplane.
3/22/03 - Daddy's helper.
3/22/03 - George comes out to investigate.
3/22/03 - Time for a pause to spend some time with the assembly manual and take a pause from building.
3/23/03 - Cutout for the trim tab successful. Trim tab installed with clecos.
3/23/03 - I chose the "L" shaped cutout in the elevator skin for the control brace.
3/23/03 - A tricky bit of business installing this "L" bracket inside the elevator.
3/23/03 - The upper and lower control horns are installed along with all bracing.
3/23/03 - Another long day of work on the elevator. Almost complete except for some trimming, filing deburring and riveting.
4/7/03 - Everything is now riveted except the front edge where the hinge will go.
4/7/03 - Here's a shot of the cut-out for the rudder movement. No clecos!
4/7/03 - And the completed elevator. Now it's time to start planning the Stabilizer. Now where did I put the number to Aircraft Spruce?
4/17/03 - The 6' piano hinge arrived via UPS. After priming with Zinc Chromate I installed it for a fully completed elevator. The Stabilizer aluminum arrived also, so that work is under way.
2/27/03 - Here a day's work on the stabilizer parts. All done with the ribs, now it's time to find a big bender for the two spars and stiffners and stabilizer skin.
2/27/03 - The form blocks I made for the stabilizer ribs. These are identical to the end ribs, just cut down a bit. I made them from scratch instead of ruining the end blocks.
3/1/03 - This is what it comes down to. Clamping the aluminum between two blocks, then beating it with a hammer. A finished rib is laying on the vice.
3/2/03 -This is 0.025" aluminum and it is quite a bit harder to bend than the 0.063" metal. You also have to be carefull with crimp placement or a "bottle-cap" effect will appear.
3/4/03 -This is how I make some of the small parts. Stick a paper drawing of the part on the aluminum, then cut it out on the band saw, then sand to exact fit. Drilling and bending if necessary.
4/20/03 - Here's a jig I made to cut aluminum with my circular saw and it also makes a great straight edge for marking.
4/20/03 - The Joy of Plans-Building. I had to make this part twice because the first one was too wide after I bent it. The second one was just right.
4/21/03 - In order to bend the rear spar doublers, I decided to leave them attached to a larger sheet for the bending process, then cut the angles and this gave me an idea (see next photo).
4/23/03 - Instead of cutting the angle, then making the shim for the rear attachment bracket, I incorporated the shim in the doubler.
4/23/03 - For added strength and because I could, I made the bottom doubler the same way.
4/24/03 - Here's a shot of the rear attachment bracket, the spar and the doubler/shim cleco'd together. You can see the shim here is a part of the doubler.
4/25/03 - Clecod back together after deburring and priming. Notice that I missed drilling one hole - I saw it before any rivets were pulled.
4/25/03 - Finished with the rear stabilizer spar.
4/26/03 - 1/4" particle board makes a good 219mm spacer for the front attachment brackets.
4/26/03 - All of the front spar parts clecod together.
4/26/03 - These are all the parts to the front spar drilled and deburred and primed ready for assembly
4/26/03 - I got a little ahead of myself here. I need to remove the rivets for the attachments so I can install the stabilizer skin.
4/26/03 - All of the ribs clecod to the front spar.
4/26/03 - The skeleton stuck together. There's still a lot of drilling and riveting to do.
4/29/03 - Now it's held together with clecos. Next step - take apart and debur.
4/29/03 - Finally a finished stabilizer skeleton. The front attachment brackets still need to come back off.
4/29/03 - After removing 14 A5 rivets, the front attachment brackets are removed. They have to come off so the skin can be fitted to the frame.
5/1/03 - I decided to put the elevator next to the stabilizer to make sure everything was going to fit.
5/1/03 - I have to give ZAC a lot of credit for this one. The plans call for a peice of plywood with a 24mm spacer to bend the stabilizer skin It worked great.
5/1/03 - This is really big milestone. The ZAC recommended bending procedure worked perfectly. I made it a little big so I need to do some trimming.
5/1/03 - I put the frame inside the newly bent skin just to make sure I had enough metal on the top and bottom.
5/2/03 - Preparing myself for the final phases of tail construction, I studied the drawings and photos from the latest Photo Assembly Manual.
5/2/03 - The Stab Skin was carefully marked and checked, and re-checked, then I drilled the holes for the ribs and the spars.
5/2/03 - The skin was again placed on the skeleton, then re-checked for fit, and to my relief, the holes all lined up with the centerline marks.
5/3/03 - The bottom side gets back-drilled through the ribs and spars, then the clecos follow.
5/31/03 - Before removing the clecos, lift the assembly and carfully mark the locations of the front attachment brackts (This is why I had to remove the Front Attach. Brackets). Next, it all comes apart for deburring.
5/4/03 - Drill out the marks for the front attachment brackets, then use a chain-saw round-file to complete the process.
5/4/03 - The assembly will be removed from the "jig" several times, so these pivoting hold-down blocks work well to hold everthing in place.
5/4/03 - After de-burring and priming the inside, it all goes back together, this time with rivets. A little sleepy-head woke up early, so I recruited some help.
5/4/03 - Now the top must be marked, drilled, back-drilled, deburred, then reassembled and riveted. An Aircraft Spruce Aluminum box was a good support for the bottom side.
5/4/03 - For back-drilling the top, you are supposed to strap everything tight. This was also done to mark the locations of the ribs and spars prior to drilling.
5/4/03 - Now for a final look inside. I found that the straps weren't necessary to re-close, just the 1X2 boards to even out the pressure.
5/4/03 - Now it's time to check the alignment of the elevator to the stabilizer. I checked, re-checked the distance from the front to back before drilling the hinge.
5/4/03 - After revoming the top for the last time, I had to clean out all of the shavings from the hinge-drilling.
5/4/03 - One last thing before closing everything up. I didn't like the way the hinge left a wrinkle in the skin, so I added spacers on both sides of the elevator and stab. to even this out.
5/4/03 - And the completed elevator/stabilizer assembly. I still need to install a few rivets, but a major milestone has been realized. Now on to the wings.
5/7/03 - The Stabilizer/Elevator assembly safely stored in the garage.
5/5/03 - The first step in making fiberglass tips for the stabilizer - the blank cut and sanded to fit. My first attempt involved using the end rib blanks, but they were too small.
5/10/03 - the mold form which will be filled in with Body filler, then sanded.
5/10/03 - Body filler added to the mold. Sanding comes next.
5/13/03 - Sand the body filler. Use the side edges of the wood as a guide. Don't sand down to the wood on top because it sands at a different rate than the filler.
5/13/03 - Apply more filler for holes and where I sanded to the exposed wood. Another round of sanding to follow.
5/13/03 - I used the orbital sander again - the perfect tool for this - and now we have a very nice-looking blank (positive).Now I need to somehow seal this.
5/14/03 - One thin coat of resin, let dry, sand, then apply a second coat of resin, very carefully to avoid drips. Let dry,
5/15/03 - Apply mold release (wax), then mix up resin and apply cloth, then matting. You have to work fast since this stuff dries in a hurry.
5/15/03 - After the resin starts to harden, trim the excess fiberglass and attempt to remove the mold. At the time of this posting I don't know how I'm going to get this out.
Step 12 - Victory! After MUCH persuasion, the blank is out of the form. Now another 12 steps or so and I should have some usable end tips.
5/17/03 - Sand the mold and fill bad places (bubbles) with body filler, sand again, apply a thin coat of resin, then sand again then cut four identical blocks of wood and attach to four corners. (how many steps was that?)
5/17/03 - What went wrong? Everything. I mixed too much catalyst and the resin started hardening too soon. The release didn't work. I'm lucky I didn't destroy the mold! If at first you don't succeed....
6/22/03 - I spent half a day sanding and removing the old epoxy, then filling and sanding some more. This coat is applied then sanded off to reveal holes. It has been a month since the previous photo was taken.
6/22/03 - Another few hours of sanding and polishing to a mirror finish. Mold release wax, then spray mold release is applied. Fingers crossed.
6/22/03 - This is the tricky part. I have wasted a lot of resin experimenting with just the right amount of catalyst. The recommended amount makes it harden too fast.
6/22/03 - Two layers of glass applied. Now let's see if it will let go of the mold.
6/22/03 - Success! The part released from the mold with very little damage to the mold and a perfect blank ready for cutting and sanding.
6/22/03 - Here are the three critical parts. The positive, the mold and the blank that will be sanded and cut some more for a perfect fit on the stabilizer.
6/292/03 - Here's a shot of both stab. tips completed and sprayed with primer. The original "positive" is shown as well as the mold that is still in one piece.
6/29/03 - I know this is not necessary, but for peace of mind, I installed (fiberglassed) a 0.016 strip where the tips rivet to the stabilizer skin.
6/29/03 - This is a great fit. The mold was made from an exact replica of the ends. One step not shown here is the aluminum "fit ribs" inside the back part of the tips.
6/29/03 - The stabilizer is back in it's storage location. I really wanted to rivet the tips in place, but something just kept telling me to leave the cleco's in place.