Installing Wings Solo

I'm building a Zenith Zodiac 601XL. As much as my wife would like to help, I'm not good about accepting it.

So there I am, a fuselage that's almost ready to fly and no wings on it. All the airplane pictures I have show wings on either side of the airplane. Here's how to put them there.

The first time took about a day. Now it takes a couple hours. OK, thats not great, but you *are* doing it yourself.

PostScript - Initially I created this for other builders, forgetting that non-builders will view this too.
Here's some background links that will help if you're not a builder. (yet)

[www.eaa.org] - The Experimental Aircraft Association provides active support for aircraft builders and restorers. If you're in America, chances are very good there's a chapter near you.

[www.eaa174.org] - My local EAA chapter. There are some guys in this chapter who have forgotten more about flying than I'll ever know. By the way, the chapter also has a couple of super tech counselors, Gary Collins & Howard Wells, who are eager to help when I get stumped.
http://www.eaa174.org/Newsletters/NL2007/EAA174%20News%200707.web.pdf - The EAA chapter 174 newsletter that was kind enough to mention my project on pages 2 & 3.

http://www.zenithair.com/zodiac/xl/index.html - This is the home page for my flavor of aricraft. Zenith makes a 4 seat version of this aircraft as well as 2 & 4 seat models of a STOL aircraft.
http://www.zenithair.com/zodiac/rudder.html - The rudder workshop. My wife & I knew nothing about aircraft building or working sheet metal. In a day & a half, we had built a rudder that we will be flying on our aircraft.

http://forums.matronics.com/viewforum.php?f=2 - An email list where other builders offer advice.

http://www.jabiru.net.au/ - The makers of my engine, the 3300. I was lucky enough to learn engine maintenance from Don Richter, the guy in Oz who designs & supports the engines.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jabiruengines/messages - An email list for people who fly the Jabiru
http://www.usjabiru.com/mainmenu.htm - My local Jabiru distributor.

http://grtavionics.com/ - The company that enables me to have a glass panel. For non-builders, that's a panel that doesn't have any spinny dials. Just a little monitor with more info crammed onto it that the dials can show.
I'vc installed the Horizon 1 EFIS and EIS6000 engine monitoring system. You can see what they look like if you follow the newsletter link.

Step 1 Introduction to your equipment

First off, you're going to require some specialized equipment. The first is a wing dolly. It's a stand that holds your wing leading edge down in slings.

The second is a wheeled movers dolly.

And if you have a slanted driveway, you will need all sorts of boards. Hint: Your airplane has wheels, your equipment has wheels, etc.

Note the yellow band clamp. You don't want this puppy falling off the dolly.

Comments

[velojym]

Nice. My better half and I are working on a CH801, though we're still working on the tail. It'll be a while yet. We're a couple miles from our airport, and will trailer the components there just prior to mounting the wings and tail surfaces.

[zmatt]

awesome finally a homebuilt instructable, i plan on building a rv-7 with my father and brother very soon.

[kkinney]

I'm glad you like it. I hope it's the first of many homebuilt Instructables. While you're building please keep a couple things in mind - 1) To teach or Instructable something, your audience is someone who knows nothing about the subject. You DON'T need to be an expert on that subject. 2) As soon as you learn something, teach someone else what you just learned. (Or write an instructable!) This helps the other person and reinforces what you just learned. Thank you for your kind comment, kk

[zmatt]

Change of plans, were ordering a zodiac CH650 cant wait to get riveting how is your bird flying?

[kkinney]

I truly wish I could answer your question! Structurally, I could fly today. There's a minor squawk about the magnetometer that prevents me from getting my final inspection. So frickin' close!! I went to the Open Hangar Day this year, my first since I started in 2001. I saw the 650 canopy and loved it. More than looking cool, it's an elegant solution to the fuse pucker problem behind the canopy. Best of luck on your build! Perhaps you could post a few Instructables. The absolute best advice I received is "Work on it a little bit every day." I didn't. and it's taken seven years.

[jab0592]

that realy is the dogs bollocks it!! :D ive always wanted a plane :D lol that realy is quite an amazing build good luck with the rest of it :D

[J_SCAP]

wow...... when am i going to need to know this

[killerjackalope]

When the terrorist force you to build a Zodiac XL at gunpoint, threatening to murder people one by one for every time you don't do the task and by this point the person they're going to murder is you so finally you look up the instructable and save yourself and everyone else they may get bored and kill..

[kkinney]

Umm....... Thank you?

[killerjackalope]

Ah well I'm actually interested in stuff like this... I fly in ATC quite alot so seeing someone build their own machine is something I'll look at... That and and 'I flew here in a plane I built' must be a great line lol

[kkinney]

That depends on if you're building a custom plane, what you're building, the order you're building it in and what components you have finished. I made this out for other Zodiac XL builders. If you're not in this group, you can safely disregard this Instructable. Regards, kk

[lemonie]

How far is your nearest airstrip (or equivalent)? L

[kkinney]

If you're aviation oriented, I'm abeam the numbers downwind for 24 at KISZ. If you're not, I'm within a mile of the nearest airport.

[mondaymonkey]

im a pilot, but lemme just make sure, are you gonna try to taxi that plane to the airport, cuz that will be very cool

[kkinney]

It would be cool. Although I'm pretty sure it would be monumentally unpopular with my neighbors. Particularly at 2AM when I'd be sure the streets are empty. We'll see.

[mondaymonkey]

AHAHAHA drag your wingless plane down the street at night....... that would be interesting

[lemonie]

Do you/can you take you plane there (from your drive)? I just have visions of you taxi-ing down the street in this. L

[jongscx]

ahh.. you cut me off on a taxi pun...

[lemonie]

I wasn't trying to make a pun, might not have spelled it correctly, but you do 'taxi' to a runway(?) L

[jongscx]

Well, the point was that "to take a taxi" could mean both 1) riding in a taxi to your destination, or 2) to perform a taxi, as you would to take a walk... either way, enough with the semantics.

[whiteboipumas]

thats really cool. hav u flown it yet?

[kkinney]

Thank you for asking. No, It hasn't flown yet, but I'm hoping this year. (But then I said that the last *two* years.)

[ewilhelm]

Nice. Are you part of some online forums focused on Zodiac home builds?

[kkinney]

If you're referring to the Matronics AeroElectric & Zenith newslists, then "Yes." http://www.matronics.com/forums

I'm also a member of the Yahoo Jabiru & Grand Rapids Technology groups.

Since my airframe is mostly complete, I tend to be more active on the latter newsgroups.

[tipsychimp]

and the next step is getting it out of your driveway

[kkinney]

Nah, I put the wings on Friday night, work through to Sunday, which is when I take them off again and stow it back in the garage. If I decide to get crazy, I'll put the prop on and drive it around the neighborhood without the wings on.

[John Smith]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[Andrew546]

yeah, in steps 2 and 7, that brick building on the right looks like it could be a pain to put wheels on. In addition, it appears that you have a limited amount of solid ground for the plane to roll on to the left of said building. That fence seems inconveniently positioned as well. How the heck are you going to get it out of there?

[joejoerowley]

wow thats really cool. Thanks for sharing that with the world.