I
The Zenith CH750 plans arrived Nov 27th. It was cold and rainy outside but these plans were like gleaming beams that dazzled my world. I got ridiculously excited and thumbed through them repeatedly. It would be work. A lot of work.
A change comes over you. Organization was required. More than I had mustered in decades. First step: Inventory the drawings, all 129 pages of them. The number of parts is tremendous (no builder really wants to know how many up front). Thousands of holes drilled, deburred, parts clamped together and rivets pulled. Mistakes would be made. Aggravation and despair, victory and glory. I couldn’t look at the whole thing without sensing a long haul — but that pleased me because exactly what I sought was a long haul. If built from the kit, the CH750 takes about 400 to 500 hours. Scratch built …
II
Optimism is an awesome thing, it makes probable the improbable, makes possible the impossible. It came down to how I was going to spend time. That was what this project was really all about: To sit passive, watching real or fictitious lives unfold, tabloid and internet sensations — or to learn, build, fly. I recalled these lines from Goethe’s Faust:
Der Worte sind genug gewechselt,
Laßt mich auch endlich Thaten sehn;
Which wrongly but accurately translated means simply this: “Enough talk!” And so armed with plans and schemes I headed out to my shop for the preparations.