Model 111 Owners

[Flyin Farmer]

Hello, working on my 40 hour flight phase and have a question on flaps or flaperons. Clean stall is at about 38 to 40 mph indicated with 10 degrees flaps might be slightly less but not much at 15 degrees perhaps 2 mph less at 30 degrees stall is about 4 to 5 mph lower however I loose most of my roll control and would not be comfortable in a landing situation is this common with model 111s or do I have a rigging issue for now Iam resetting my flap handle stop at 20 degrees which seems to be max without giving up roll control. Thanks

[rv9ralph]

When flying my Model 3, I use flaps more for pitch trim than for landing.

Ralph

[Flyin Farmer]

Thanks for the response, if Iam correct I believe KitFox changed the flap linkage on their model 4 to help with issue

[Av8r_Sed]

Yes, it is common on the Model III to have limited roll control with full flaps. As you’ve discovered, full flaps doesn’t really help much so it’s best to limit it to half. It’s worthwhile to spend some time going through the controls with some detail though. Mine had a couple of spacer washers installed in the wrong order and a rod end was binding and eventually broke (fortunately not while in flight).

[napierm]

If you have the stock KF3 elevator you'll have a hard time doing a 3-point with flaps. They add more lift than drag and add enough pitch that the elevator struggles to get the plane into full stall in ground effect. End result is bouncing/floating. I learned to either land w/o flaps or quickly dump them to 3 point. And for me the 3-point landing was better/smoother than wheel landing.

[Av8r_Sed]

A gap seal between the horizontal stab and elevator helps a fair amount. Many ways to skin that cat. Mine is taped with a layer of reinforced packing tape on each side that meet each other in the gap. I also tend to use a little power in the flare to arrest the sink rate. This gives a little more elevator authority was well.

[Maverick]

I came across this today and wonder if it might work for a gap seal. I couldn't find a way to send an email to inquire as to whether this becomes hardened after time or not. It advertises flexibility but it is made from PVC. Would like to know what others think.
https://www.thenextsilk.com/products/tesa-waterproof-self-adhesive-caulk-strip-tape-sealer-for-kitchen-bathroom-more

[PapuaPilot]

I did my gap seal with 2" clear heavy duty Gorilla tape that I found at Walmart in the hardware section. I put one piece on the bottom of my horizontal stab and the other on the top of the elevator. They stick together and overlap about 1" and don't have much of the sticky part exposed. It's been on my plane for about 3 years now with no problems.

[jrevens]

I came across this today and wonder if it might work for a gap seal. I couldn't find a way to send an email to inquire as to whether this becomes hardened after time or not. It advertises flexibility but it is made from PVC. Would like to know what others think.
https://www.thenextsilk.com/products/tesa-waterproof-self-adhesive-caulk-strip-tape-sealer-for-kitchen-bathroom-more

A little bit of a guess, but I don't think that PVC is a very good choice for hinge material that is going to be bent back & forth many thousands of times. If it was urethane it might be better.