Not flying yet. FWF is done, and I'm waiting on a replacment backplate for the spinner. I messed up the first one. Paint is complete and the wings are back on. It's getting exciting again.

Ed

You asked about flying the 601XL in IMC and I assume that you meant "deliberately" rather than "shit happened and now I have to get down through the soup". If the later, then, well... of course! If you have to deal with it to get back on terra firma or more to the point, on terra safe-a, then so be it. Tighten the harness down and focus on the job at hand.

If, on the other hand what you meant is that you want to know if this is a good plane to plan on flying by IFR on a regular basis, my humble opinion is no. I think the XL is too light and will bump you around rather severely in IMC. If you have to do it once in a great while, that's one thing. If you make it a habit, it's quite another thing. I think the airframe will suffer and degrade as the result of the repeated buffeting. I would not expect to have much fun flying in an LSA getting thrown around like a rag doll either.

That's just my opinion and other more experienced flyers might have a very different perspective on the issue.

Ed

I feel much the same Rich. I'd like to be able to launch an hour or two earlier rather than wait for a fog to burn off if that is the sole IMC feature involved. Also as I mentioned, it is conceivable that I might unavoidably bust a cloud clearance letting down on the way into a destination or coming home. In that case I know I'm going to get bumped around a little while. The clouds are there because vertical air movement produces them... no vertical wind, no cloud... but that's a finite environment to transition. During the transition, it would be good to know that I have a reliable display of which way is up etc. Honestly, it is likely that none of these scenarios would have the official blessing of an IFR rating or an IFR clearance involved, so the fact that the FAA doesn't recognize my glass panel HSI as qualifying equipment for IFR is sort of irrelevant. If you intend to actually certify the plane for IFR, the glass panel probably won't cut it.

Ed

Rich, my wings are still on the cradle, I was finally going to hang them in early December. The cradle is perfect for removing rivets, do the underside of the nose skin first and cleco, then turn the wings around and drill out the top and nose skin, use clecos. I have a couple of folding extending Stanley sawhorses and will use a sheet of 3/4" plywood as my table. You will need a couple of 4x4's to raise the wing for Pitot and cleco clearance.

You want the table to sit low as possible, if you are vertically challenged, to lean over and work on the wing. The table should be level, but the wing has no washout and you are correct that it will all pull together, but I would give the wing adequate support before removing the top skin.

Like many others, I will have the fuselage and wings ready to install the Upgrade Kit and like you, do the fuselage first.

That's my story!

Hi Richard
For my fuel pass through I discarded the Jab USA supplied item and silver soldered a brass straight and a 90 deg elbow together so that the fuel line would lay flat to the firewall and not interfear with the rudder pedals. I was also careful to make sure that from the electric fuel pump forward that the fuel line always inclined and had no low spots. This is done to elliminate the possibility of air sitting in the system.

I like your bracket for the oil recovery bottle. It looks very neat, clean and functional.

I've just added 3 more photos http://www.zenith.aero/photo/albums/jab-3300-fwf

Regards
Phill Barnes

Rich, I document my Upgrade in a number of blogs, go to this link Upgrade Blogs Start at the bottom and work your way up.

Jake

Rich,

I used nu-vite three step polish.  If you hanger your a/c you will only polish once every couple of years.  Take you about 8 hours to get skin to mirror finnish.  but then you just wash it for a cuople of years.  Good Luck, me

Rich,
i find this site difficult to send replies. You asked about my prop. When we flew i was using a 51 pitch wood sensenich as recommended by jabiru. I later changed to an anjustable pitch fir from my farm. I believe jab now recommends a 49 pitch. Have about 690 hrs on my xl, BUT last landing on my grass downhill strip was a good landing-collasped my nose gear but was ok. Still have to repair it
My email is tonyplane@bellsouth.net. Be glad to answer any questions. Hope you get this
Tony

Rich,

 

My ram air ducts do not vary much from the instructions from Jabiru USA.  I glued in little dams over the front two cylinders that are about 3/8" high.  The most I did was to vary the very front of the ducts where they cover cylinders #1 and #2.  I think I had to build up the height of right side and reduced the left side height based on actual flight test CHT data.  I see you have the newer style of engine, as opposed to the initial solid lifter and initial fin design.  That is a plus as I heard guys with the old design had more CHT issues than poeple with later engines.  Unless Jabiru USA has any new instructions, for first flights I would just put the little dams over the front two cylinders and fly.  Initial flight tests will have warm CHT's and after the first 25 hours, they will taper down to nice levels.  Your first ground runs will have the engine CHT's warm up real quick and might concern you about being able to make it to the end of the runway for your first flight.  Just keep these first taxi tests short and observe the limits.  It will get better as you break the engine in.  My first 25 hours were in warm summer temps and I never had to cut a flight short due to CHT levels.  I recall, at around hour 20 or so, making a full power climb from ground (910 MSL) to 10,000 MSL with no power reductions due to CHT concerns.

 

Good luck,

 

Dave

Hi Rich,

I'll get the polishing materials I used next time I get to the hangar. I think I did sort of stumble across the holy grail of polishing. You haven't seen the bottom of my wings yet. Not good {:^)

Louie

Richard. I actually used CA(Model Aircraft building glue). The seal won't ever come off. It's permanent and would be a nightmare to change down the road.... But it's on there 1000%!! When the time comes to change it..... I don't know what I'll do. Either an new canopy or a hell of a lot of scraping and debonder if it'll work that long down the road. I used the thick stuff. Any hobby shop has it. I used the "foam safe" CA so it wouldn't cloud the canopy. Hope this helps! Cheers! Chad

Hello, Richard

I read your post dated 2014, when you were looking for a seal for the canopy.
I am in a similar situation... How did you solve the problem?

Thanks in advance for any tips

Carlos

Hello, Richard

Thanks for the info - fortunately I have solved my problem.

I searched all  over the 'net, and ended up ordering the seal from Uni-Grip, as described by Brian Manlove.

This seal is difficult to put in place, it's heavier than the provided seal, but it closes the gap very well and looks very nice. I'll post a picture when I'm done with the canopy: presently re-making one of the flashings.

Thanks for taking the time

Best

Carlos

Thanks for the reply Richard. Unfortunately, Tennessee is a bit too far from Southern California to drop in. Maybe when I get my airplane built I'll fly it over there!
I'm watching videos of CH 650 builds. I am excited.

I could probably finance a new airplane, but what fun would that be!? No I'm a builder. Before I buy the rudder starter kit I'd like to get a little practice though, so I am buying the RV-12 tool box kit. I can screw up everything possible and not have to fly it!