Day 6 photo:

The wings are getting frames out! My assistant is trying to get out of the photo. Too slow…. The rest of the main assemblies are finished and covered. Paint might even arrive soon. I expect I can get the wings fully assembled in 2 days.

Day 7 and it looks like an aircraft! Still a lot of work to do but 7 days to get this far is pretty good. Tomorrow I will cover the wings. Next day will shrink the fabric and begin to paint. The rest of the surfaces are shrunk and painted. Plenty of work left in controls, adjustments, and final assembly after covering and painting.

Today was a slow day for building as I spent most of the morning transporting the Zigolo I built here last year to the tiny grass strip next to the Yellow river. Winds picked up by the time everything was transported and assembled. Takes 3 trips with their small trailer. So, I did one small hop and then went to lunch and back to the shop to resume the build. Managed to get the wings framed out and bottom fabric glued on.

Who needs tiedowns?

Then back to the little grass strip for another go at the test flight. Evening winds settled down so off I went. Another near perfect Zigolo is flying. Hardly needs any trim at all. I climbed up maybe 1,800 feet to play around some and enjoy the view. BTW, the Yellow River is quite brown. Goes well with gray air I guess.

Then back to the little grass strip for another go at the test flight. Evening winds settled down so off I went. Another near perfect Zigolo is flying. Hardly needs any trim at all. I climbed up maybe 1,800 feet to play around some and enjoy the view. BTW, the Yellow River is quite brown. Goes well with gray air I guess.

We had a classic Chinese banquet dinner to celebrate the successful flights and a Pilot friend from Beijing’s birthday. Plenty of food as usual. And even some donkey meat which I am told came from mountain donkeys and is a delicacy. Tastes like chicken….

Day 8

Completely finished the wing covering before lunch time.
Usually I would wait overnight for the glue to set before shrinking but it is
warm and dry weather here. Glue set quickly so I shrunk away.

The paint dries even faster so we slapped on 3 coats before
quitting time and managed to complete the controls and parachute installation
between coats. Only one more layer of paint and we will make the final assembly
tomorrow morning and wrap up this build in record time!

Day 9

FINISHED

My friend Shu Dong came to visit and helped attach the wings and ailerons. Then control deflection adjustments. Then done! And moved on to another city and another banquet. The food was excellent, except maybe the fired pig intestine. And that did NOT taste like chicken.

I suppose I should write more. But the photos speak for themselves. Any requests?

Next stop Shenszhen to visit motor and battery suppliers.

Next report will be on the electric motor tests. Now in Yangon, Myanmar.

CHIP