Oz build SS7

[rosslr]

Great news about getting the wings on Phil. Love to see the pics of her now. And I think there will be a few people here interested in hearing your report of the flight with Brandon the Wingman! Have fun.

Paul, I assure you the camera lies - the wiring is not anywhere near the professional category but for the first time, I was happy with the result. Like all the jobs in building the Kitfox, I reckon I just get to understand how it SHOULD be done when the job is finished! Experience is a great teacher.

cheers

r

[rosslr]

Another day of trial a fit, trim a little and try again ... tedious but very nice to remove the covering from the turtleneck see the result! I had forgotten to install the spacer strip under the rear edge of the skylight. so a bit of time taken to lose everything off and install it before starting. Still have to attach the camlocks tomorrow.

At lunch time we looked through our build manual and realised that we only have the wring root fairing to do! Apart from a lot of checking and adjusting and tidying up, I think we are nearly finished! It will be 2 years next Friday since we started. Time to start thinking about all the paper work in prep for the pay off!

cheers

ross

[airlina]

Pretty amazing Ross that you did this build in 2 years. Shows what a dedicated effort can accomplish. Took me 4 years on my Series 5. Been flying mine now since 2003 and I still enjoy flying 199CL today as much as that first flight. Lots of adventure awaits. Thanks for the photo journal along the way. Bruce

[jrevens]

I agree Ross... you have really accomplished a lot in a relatively short time. It looks beautiful, and it will really be a wonderful airplane to fly! Good going!

[rosslr]

Thanks John. I know that you will not have made the stuff ups I have though! You will certainly have a very high quality Kitfox by the look of your work!

cheers

ross

[rosslr]

We got the turtledeck fixed today with the cam locks - not a particularly difficult job but I notice that the middle of the turtleneck is quite 'floppy' if I press on it - it this normal? I am imagining it will flex a fair bit with the airflow over the windscreen and onto the turtleneck. I can't remember if this is the case in the Kitfox's that I have flown in or not. I will have to make a few 'spacers' to go between the turtleneck material and the cam locks to get the hands of the cam locks to sit flush . Again, is this what others have done? Advice appreciated.

cheers

ross

[airlina]

Ross, when i was building my Series 5, I would see other kitfoxes at airshows that has various contraptions wedged between fuselage structure and the turtledeck to keep it from oil canning. In an effort to solve this problem I bought an aftermarket domed turtledeck from LP aeroplastics. The only time mine does any oil canning is when I slip aggressively, but otherwise the dome has worked well.Bruce

[Floog]

Ross,

The turtle deck on my plane is 1/8" thick. I'd have preferred something a little thicker but I'm sure it's about function and especially weight savings. It is certainly 'floppy'. It's the first thing I was concerned about during the first taxi test. Lot's of vibration. I put a weather strip in the slot to dampen it. In flight it's a non-issue. Incidentally, the trailing edge of my TD is the ONLY leak I've seen in flight through rain. I plan to put a weather strip there as well.

By the time you read this, you probably have FLOWN! YEE HAW

[rosslr]

Thanks Bruce and Doug. I get the impression that the flex I am seeing is normal. As a matter of interest Doug, I tried to weather strip the rear end but there was insufficient tolerance in the non-adjustable cam locks - even for a thin strip - it distorted the turtleneck where the extra pressure was exerted.

I thought I would hear that people had riveted a piece of angle across the middle of the turtle deck - but that would probably look ugly I guess.

Anyway thanks for the replies.

And no, no flown yet Doug ...... but it just may have left the ground yesterday for a brief second when taxiing ..... still got a few little jobs to go, heaps of checks, weight and balance, paper work, a work trip over west and a week up with the Bali community. Some time in Nov. I suspect.

thanks again and cheers

r

[rosslr]

Today we had the Pitot/Static tests (required for our certificate of airworthiness) done by our friend Pete who runs a medium size aircraft maintenance business in a nearby town. All checked out within limits but I needed to modify the manual suggestions for the connections of the Pitot tube to get acceptable pressure leak down results. So that one is one more job done and then we had the pleasure of their company for lunch! We still have to conduct a test on the transponder system, conduct the weight and balance system and do the final checks..... and paper work.

cheers

ross