CH601XL Kits

[ianrat]

They have arrived!

My 601XL kit and the other two kits that are going to Brisbane have finally arrived.
After a little bit of confusion in the USA all of the kits have now arrived. My kit and one of the other kits arrived here in Brisbane but the other kit found its way to Sydney some how. The shipping company then trucked it back up here.

Spent the day unpacking the kits and i was impressed in how Zenith rapped all of the parts in paper before packing them into the crate. There were no missing parts. After helping scratch build a 701 the new kit comes with most parts completely formed and pre drilled and things like the inspection holes are already cut into the wing skins.

Now the fun begins with the putting it all together.

On a sadder note i was upset to here of loss of Garry Sweetnam. The plane that was lost is the one that i went for the test flight in. Garry will sadly missed.


Ianrat

[wanabigaplane]

Water got in, so I had to unwrap everything and get rid of the brown paper. This took ages! I built my workbench out of the packing case. The wood was pretty rough, so the top surface had to be from new material. I was most impressed by the completeness and workmanship of the kit. Jack.

[BigPete]

Well, you must have been excited because you forgot to take photos (wanamorepictures). Happy days.

regards

[ianrat]

No! just canot get out of the brothers camera.

Will post asap

Ianrat

[Thruster87]

[Water got in, so I had to unwrap everything and get rid of the brown paper.] Any idea if this occurred during transit on the high seas or at OZ container terminal.I'm waiting to get my kit soon but the garage is not ready yet, so will leave it in the packing box if it appears DRY Cheers T87

[ianrat]

When we went to pick up one of our kits it had been sitting in the yard uncovered for at least two days. The inside of the box was lined with black plastic. It would stop a fair bit of water. The second kit was picked up on the day that it arrived from Sydney by truck. The box was still in fair shape, no real damage only a couple of chips out of the ply.

Hope your kit arrives safely.

Ianrat

[wanabigaplane]

The box was plastic lined, but the way the plastic was folded allowed the water to get in.
I was away on survey when it arrived at my workplace, so it was left a few days out the back.

Jack

[ianrat]

Finally got them.

Here are the photos of the first crate that contains the two 601XL kits. We picked them up from the Brisbane depot. the box survived the trip fairly well. The third kit was picked up the next day. The crate looked exactly the same as the one in the photos.

I did not get any photos when we opened the crate, but inside looked just like Wanabigaplane's crate except there was two planes in it. Most of the parts were wrapped up together. Both of the canopies did not take up any more space that in Wanabigaplane's crate. The four fuel tanks and two under carriages took up some room.

I will put more photos up as they come.

Ianrat

[Captain]

Hey Jack. I hope that Sapphire isn't going to feel and be all unloved stuck away under the verandah. And are you going to change your forum name, or do you still want a bigger one than the XL?

Congrats & isn't it great fun opening those boxes full of kit bits. Geoff

[ianrat]

The plane is being built by myself and my two brothers. I will be making the tail, rear elevator and wings while the brothers work on the fuselage. This way we can both work on the plane every spare minute that we get. (not waiting for the others to come over to help) We then get together a couple of times a week to check each other and help.

The kit being pre drilled has made the rudder very easy to complete. it has only taken me about four hours of work to have it ready to rivet.


The brothers have been working on the fire wall.

The bench is from my place.

Ianrat