NEWS PAGE

11/19/2006 - I've not worked on the dog for many months now. I've had a good excuse though - I've been sick with esophageal cancer. Diagnosed in April, I've recently started work again and last weekend spent about five hours working on the plane. Nice to be back. The poor old thing is very dusty after a summer in the hangar so I'll have to give it a wash before it gets too cold. A couple of friends have been running the engine for me over the summer - thanks to Vern Hartzell and Van Lupo.

12/31/2005 - Didn't keep my promise. I've still been working in fits and starts, but not updating the site. But today is a big news day. I moved the dog to Mansfield airport - 1B9 for those of you that wish to look it up. It's a small airfield that I have been flying out of for the last few years. See the videos (Long download!!)

7/9/2005 - To my faithful readers - if there are any! I've been working on it, really. In fits and starts I admit but I'm making continuous progress. See the build log completion page for the latest entries. I'm admittedly going very slowly but for some reason I've been ignoring this web site. Strange, when I've avidly followed the progress of others on their sites and been very disappointed when all work seems to stop. But here I am doing the same. So I promise from now on to be more consistent about my work entries.

9/25/2004 - It goes!! Started the engine for the first time. Started immediately and runs like a sewing machine. Well, a loud one.

9/12/2004 - Wow. What a long time since I posted news. Anyway, I powered up the electrics today for the first time. And it all seems to work!

8/2/2003 - Installed the engine. Then took its photo like any proud parent should.

6/18/2003 - Engine arrived. Serial number 33A486. Lots of bits, little in the way of instruction.

6/4/2003 - Major event today. Plucked up my courage, emptied the bank account, and ordered the engine. I'm getting a Jabiru 3300, 120 HP, six-cylinder, dual magneto ignition.

2/16/2003 - Haven't done any work on the dog for a couple of weeks now - it's so cold in the garage. Daytime temperature today didn't get above 15 degrees F!

9/29/2002 - Big day today. The first roll-out of the Dog into the sunshine. I at last put it on it's own legs and pushed it out of the garage for a photo shoot. Very Motivating!

5/27/2002 - We've just had visitors from the UK. Our son Chris, his wife Siedah, and children James and Lucy. James and Lucy had a ride in the Dog.

3/14/2002 - I've added a build overview section to the Build Log main page, put together using Flash. It's a bit big though, I'll probably have to put it on its own page as some people will take forever to download it and it will restrict access to the main build log.

1/30/2002 - At last. I've started to put the big bits together! It actually is starting to look like an airplane. Very motivating.

12/30/2001 - Youngest son Kevin is visiting from the UK and did some riveting on the Dog. He hadn't seen it before and was pretty impressed with how well it's come on. I myself had been thinking that it's been lagging a bit but in truth I do seem to have done quite a lot in just a bit over a year. It's good to see the project through other eyes.

12/8/2001 - Started yet another new section of the aircraft today, the front fuselage. This is the part where the airplane starts to come together so I've been looking forward to it. Hopefully it's not long before I can sit in the airplane and attempt to make Rotax noises as I pretend to take the Dog into the air.

10/2/2001 - Started a new section of the aircraft today, the rear fuselage. It's great to start a new piece at long last.

I haven't been flying since the dreadful events of September 11th, not for lack of trying, the weather hasn't cooperated at all. Recreational flying was banned for a couple of weeks but is restored now but there are many new restrictions. I'm so glad I did the New York run last year and flew into Boston this year, I doubt I'll ever be able to do that again. Still, if these small restrictions help prevent a reoccurrence of those calamitous events, it's a small price to pay.

8/3/2001 - Added a Flights page to the site. I'm trying to ensure that I keep up with the flying while I build so I'll try to capture some of the joy and share it.

7/24/2001 - I've reached the 200 hour point. According to Zenith I should be around half way through the build process. And in truth I do feel a pretty good way along. However, the devil is in the detail, the last 10% of the work takes 90% of the time, whichever epithet you fancy, I'm pretty sure that I'll take longer than they say. The metalwork is the easy bit, there's electrics, instruments, avionics, engines, a lot of work yet to do. I really need to start planning what stuff I am going to fit in this machine.

7/22/2001 - Another long break from building, due to a business trip and vacation in the UK. Had a great time visiting everyone including my favorite riveter James, my grandson. Lucy my granddaughter was christened on this trip and I'm looking forward to getting her input on the Dog as well.

Also flew today for the first time in ages. Took a friend and his son to Martha's Vineyard for breakfast. Beautiful day. Dreadful high initial approach into MVY but a go-around soon fixed that.

6/23/2001 - Had a group of friends around last night for a dinner party and we held a rivet-in. See the Rosie page. They all think I'm nuts. They have varying degrees of these thoughts for sure, but the basic one is - he's nuts.

5/20/2001 - Not doing too much work lately, we're having a kitchen refit and the garage/workshop has been taken over by refit stuff. Took the opportunity to get the undercarriage legs, rudder pedals, and other steel items plated. A great job by Absolute Metal Finishing of Norwood, MA.

4/30/2001 - I'm making dumb mistakes. I screwed up the left aileron yesterday and had to send for a new one. Then I go and do almost the same thing again on a center wing rib, recoverable thank goodness. It's just too easy to become careless with these things.

4/25/2001 - It's spring at last. A mixed blessing. Easier to work in the garage, but constant pressure to help in the yard! I went flying recently after just a month layoff and was bouncing all over the runway (in a crosswind, but no real excuses). Must make sure I fly regularly and the building doesn't take over.

4/21/2001 - Winter was quite a problem all round. Not easy to fly or to work in the yard. Also, a lot of my parts are stored outside in the original crate. Lots of snow and snow-melt this year, so needed to make sure the crate remained dry and out of the melt water. Examined the parts recently and they are all doing OK - no corrosion or dampness.

4/15/2001 - Really back up to speed lately - when I can avoid being dragged into the garden for yard work. Lots more work to the wings than I imagined. Lots of Rosie the Riveters today.

3/14/2001 - Still very slow. Had a longish business trip then family visiting from the UK. At least had a chance to get more people on the Rosie list - my son Chris, daughter-in-law Siedah, and grandson James, who did require a little help! Grand-daughter Lucy, at three months old, turned down my offer.

2/17/2001 - I've done little so far this month. First, it's still very cold in the garage. Second, my work is very busy at the moment and I'm generally getting home in the evening a bit wrecked, certainly not in a good state to start drilling holes in airplanes. Hopefully things will ease off in a month or so and I can get back into it more comprehensively.

2/6/2001 - Zenith released a service bulletin to warn that some wing splice plates have been manufactured with insufficient edge clearance. Measured mine and sure enough the edge clearance is 6mm instead of the 10mm minimum. I'm pleased that they have attended to this but concerned that the mis-measurement is so large. They are replacing the aluminum plates with steel ones to compensate.

2/4/2001 - A bit on non-Zodiac related news. I went flying today and landed on a lake. Without floats. I flew to Alton Bay, New Hampshire, which is normally a seaplane base on Lake Winipesaukee. Every winter when it freezes deeply, it is plowed to form a 3000' ice runway. What a blast. Took me four approaches to get down - my excuse is that I was also flying a Warrior for only the second time. It was very busy, it's a popular place. Must go for breakfast next time.

2/1/2001 - The wing is coming on well but it's taking a lot longer than I thought. I pretty much assumed it was a simple structure - well it is really but there's a lot of it and I'm being careful. Most of the structure is done at this point, but still the wing locker and aileron to do even once it's riveted together. I prevaricated a bit over the wiring and the pitot tubing, which is really so simple at this stage I'm embarrassed to have put it off for so long.

1/16/2001 - More photos coming shortly. I've borrowed a camera from work and taken a few shots. Need to get them downloaded at work and put them on the site. The photos will obviously be more grouped together, but can't have everything in life, can we??

12/30/2000 - Back to work after a visit to the UK to see family and grandchildren for Christmas. Had a great time and visited lots of friends as well. See picture for one of my favorites! Suffered a bit of withdrawal from the building process which quite surprised me, hope that's a good sign.

12/11/2000 - Visit from Will Thorne, the EAA Tech Counselor. He seemed pleased with what he saw. He gave me suggestions on what to do to tidy up my square/triangular holes for the stabilizer rear supports and how to get around having drilled through a couple of rib crimps. Common sense really but good to learn.

12/10/2000 - I've started a new page - The Rosie the Riveter page. Lots of people are interested and want to take a hand in the project, so I'll let everyone who wants to add a few rivets to the aircraft. The main reason is so that they can share in the success of the project, also in the liability of failure!!

12/9/2000 - Not too much news really, just steady building. I'm gaining in confidence day to day, which I must be careful doesn't turn into overconfidence. It's pretty cold in the garage in the evenings (and during the day) but moving around and concentrating seems to keep me quite warm. Now I've almost finished all the tail surfaces I'm probably going to take a few days off. Today is viewing day by the way - I've had two or three friends come over to see what I've done so far. They all seem quite impressed with the size and the sturdiness of the aircraft. I think they've got visions of a ragwing ultralight till they see it.

11/20/2000 - Well, it's not tomorrow, but close. The crate arrived as advertised and as big as advertised. I had a willing crew of five guys plus the driver to help, so all should have been well. But!

The truck was small but with a lift-gate at the rear. The lift gate wasn't big enough for the crate but the driver had done this all before and expertly guided us to maneuver  the crate so it overhung the lift gate then began to lower it to the ground, thus tilting the crate between the truck floor and the ground. It ended up at 45 degrees just balanced on the truck bed. Then the lift gate broke down. I was terrified that the crate would fall - 1. hurting someone, and 2. wrecking the plane before I'd even opened the crate. Eventually we got it off safely and moved it on furniture dollies into the garage. 

My thanks to my helpers - Jeff Manney, Carl Hamblin, Paul Wood, Dave Adcock, and Reg Jackson, together with the unnamed truck driver who kept us all laughing.

Unfortunately I was too worried about the crate to take a picture which would have been among the more memorable ones. I took one of the crate in the garage though after I'd removed the lid ready to start checking off the bits. As you can see, it's pretty big.

The crate is very well packed. All the parts are well protected with thick paper or bubble-wrap. I began to fold the paper as I removed it from the crate as I figure I'll need to use a lot of it to protect parts during the build but after folding about a dozen and a half large sheets I got fed up - it was going to take all night just to count parts let alone fold the paper. So very soon I had a paper mountain up against the garage door.

I then spent about three hours that evening going through the parts list and checking off the parts. It's worth doing this carefully so you can let Zenair know if anything is missing or damaged although the latter doesn't seem likely. The crate is so substantial that even now that it's almost empty I can hardly move it on my own! (Although it should be - it cost enough!!)

I wasn't able to start construction this weekend as I joined Kath in Chicago (she was there on business) but I'm looking forward to the long Thanksgiving weekend to start drilling and riveting (and, of course, deburring).

11/15/2000 - It's almost arrived! The crate, all 800 lbs, 9 by 4 by 4 ft, is in a local delivery warehouse. I'm rather hoping that the problems of taking delivery of this beast are the biggest I'm going to face until it flies. Some hopes!

The delivery company haven't got a truck that can unload the crate, so I'm having to get a pool of friends and work colleagues to help. I hope eight of us and three furniture dollies will be enough - that will give us around 100 lb each. The crate will be delivered tomorrow. Update to follow tomorrow.