Oz build SS7

[rosslr]

G'Day Jono,

Thanks for keeping the pressure on but I'm having a break. in Melbourne, then over to the coast. After that Perth for a week and up to Bali for the rest of Feb. Then avionics!

See you MarchQ

cheers

r

[rosslr]

Well, it doesn't take long to be bumped to page 3! I must admit that I have been watching and enjoying the posts while been over in Bali enjoying myself. Thanks for the posts guys! But I am back now and will hopefully have regularly updates to bore you all.

OK, well, that last few days has been spent catching up with the program and finishing off a few small unfinished jobs - adding some tinnaman nuts to the rear cover plates, spraying out the butt ribs and starting to fit the doors. And a quick trip to Melbourne to pick up the engine. Say it quickly and I don't feel the pain in the wallet! After a lot of research and weighing up pros and cons, we have settled on the Rotax 912 iS Sport. Now its time to plan the electrical system, start on the panel and wait on the FWF Kit to arrive from across the paddock.

It is exciting to be entering the next phase! I've even made some initial approaches to S&R Aviation to plan a bit of training prior to flying.
cheers

r

[Esser]

Nice Ross! I bet you can't wait to start hanging that. We are still waiting for our precover inspection and then we will be covering. Engine will start being hung right after that. We went with the 914 with a fuel injection system. Lots of mountains near us.

[rosslr]

Hi Josh,
Yes, I've been watching your recent progress and its good to see you back into it - you are going really well by the look of it !

cheers

[Jono]

Hi Ross,
Great to see you're back into the build! I hope to bring the Kitfox over to Mt Beauty for Easter (weather dependent) think you'll be around?

Keep posting updates :-)

Jono

[rosslr]

Started on the strut fairing yesterday and finally worked out the instructions. I know a lot of guys have left the cuff off and made other fairing in the join V but I found it relatively straight forward and neat finish. Can anyone tell me why it is necessary to hysol the fairings to the wing strut? this looks to me like a a very messy and unnecessary job. I was thinking of tacking it in a few spots. Today will do the other side and start filling and fairing the ends.

It is entertaining at the airport this week with a Mountain Flying program being run by the glider club!

cheers

r

[jiott]

In my opinion the strut fairings should be glued to the struts (probably tacking in several places is OK) because otherwise they can twist quite easily. They are in effect little wing airfoils and if they twist out of alignment with the airflow, they can have an effect on your overall wing lift. This would mess up your careful and precise wing rigging efforts IMHO.

Gluing them on is not really that hard to do if you use the plastic syringe for the Hysol before you snap them on.

[rosslr]

Hi Jim,

yes, you are right. Was being lazy I think! Anyway, I got into one side this morning and Hysol'd it on after which I filled all the voids with expanding foam. that will give me good base to use the epoxy filler to fair the end and voids.
Also got one door hung today. Tomorrow we have the SAAA (Sports Aircraft Association of Australia) Technical Counsellor visiting - an important part of the process. He is a bit of an electrical guru too and is going to help me plan out the wiring.

More tomorrow

cheers

ross

[rosslr]

Should have also mentioned that I use the cross bar that joins the front and rear lift struts at the top as a reference point for setting the angle of the fairing. having set the front fairing, I then used a straight edge between the front and rear fairings to make sure they were set at the same angles. Hoping this cross bar indicates the cord of the wing!?

cheers

ross

[Paul Z]

Started on the strut fairing yesterday and finally worked out the instructions. I know a lot of guys have left the cuff off and made other fairing in the join V but I found it relatively straight forward and neat finish. Can anyone tell me why it is necessary to hysol the fairings to the wing strut? this looks to me like a a very messy and unnecessary job. I was thinking of tacking it in a few spots. Today will do the other side and start filling and fairing the ends.

It is entertaining at the airport this week with a Mountain Flying program being run by the glider club!

cheers

r

I think they need to be glued so they don't move. I could take some pictures of how my SLSA was done, very clean and simple. When we were at Oshkosh last year, with the planes on display someone put a dent in John's sheet metal faring. They do dent rather easily, and when you get in & out of the plane I have more than once used the strut to pick myself up to get into the plane, a bad practice I am sure but none the less it would cause damage to the sheet metal faring.