First, Build a Shed

[Cherrybark]

March 9, 2016 was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I had placed an order for as S7 kit. The deposit had been paid and funds were set aside for the balance. The tentative delivery date was towards the end of April. On this day I had to send an email to Debra McBean admitting my garage to workshop conversion would not be completed and I needed to postpone delivery by a month. Of course, Mary took it all in stride, gave me a late May estimate, and some lucky builder received their kit earlier than expected.

I determinedly mow my own lawn and we maintain our own landscaping. Equipment, bags and jugs of chemicals, and assorted junk built up over the years so the first step was to build a shed to de-clutter the garage. The simple shed turned into four weeks of wheel barrowing two yards of crushed limestone, framing, roofing, bending nails, and hanging sturdy doors. Completed, the 8 x 12 shed was quickly filled leaving a nice empty space in the garage.

It gets hot here in the Piney Woods of north east Texas and, with triple garage doors facing West and no hint of insulation in the attic above the garage, it would be miserable working in the garage in the summer and not too comfortable in the winter. So the next project started. First tear down perfectly good sheetrock, rip up the attic floor decking above the garage, hang new lights, insulate the garage doors, and install new electrical outlets. Then hand the project over to trusted contractors to insulate the walls and ceiling with closed cell foam, sheetrock and paint (including the new foot sized hole I put in the ceiling), and install a mini-split A/C unit. As they worked I build a few rolling shop tables and re-decked the attic floor.

After almost three months of work I now have a comfortable place to build. The pile of left over lumber will be used for wing and fuselage rotisseries. This simple task will be the official start of the build and I'll start tracking hours. Once completed, I'll be anxiously waiting for the trailer!

These forums are great for both information and motivation. I'll try to maintain this build thread through the project.

[PapuaPilot]

Happy anticipation! Let us know when you get your KF.

[Av8r3400]

Very nice looking shed.

I read this hoping you weren't going to say you would build your plane in there… :eek:

[TahoeTim]

You have way more patience than me. I would have rented a mini storage or order a Tuff Shed and have it dropped in the yard the next day :)

[colospace]

Carl,
Having previously lived in the DFW area for 10 years (and being married to a native Texan so we visit there often), all I have to say is your obviously a smart man. I see a nice Kitfox coming forth from that garage. (Nice bike by the way.)

[Esser]

Very nice looking shed.

I read this hoping you weren't going to say you would build your plane in there… :eek:

I had the same thought.

Your garage looks like a nice work space though. Much more spacious than my tiny 20X20. I take my hat off to the guys who do it in a one car garage. I would have never believed that was possible.


Looking forward to watching your progress.

[TahoeTim]

That bike may turn into a rotax engine, LOL

[Cherrybark]

It is a nice amount of room but the clutter of construction hasn't started. At some point my wife may have to chalk a "Do Not Cross" line to preserve the space for her Explorer.

The bike is a Triumph Bonneville, the model I lusted after when putting around on a Honda 350 in the early 70s.

[Cherrybark]

I was pretty pleased that my major "getting ready" projects were completed just a few weeks before the estimated delivery date. Then those imps, who just can't stand for everything to fall neatly into place, raised their ugly heads. The Kitfox factory received a batch of spars that weren't up to their high standards so my delivery date has been pushed out a few weeks. As I commented to Debra, I truly appreciate their commitment to quality and the wait won't be that long.

Meanwhile, part of the pile of lumber was turned into rotisseries for the wings. The 1 1/2" PVC pipes are waiting until they can be matched with the spacing of the spars.

[Cherrybark]

I still need a rotisserie for the fuselage and like this very attractive design from Kebopa3's build thread. I have not found dimensions of the fuselage online and am hoping someone can provide approximate measurements after looking at his stand. If I have the general height of his nose and tail supports and an estimated length between them, I can build the basic stand then complete the final assembly when the kit arrives.

Kebopa3 hasn't been active on the site for several months so I haven't tried messaging him directly. I though about a "Fuselage Dimension" thread but am leaning towards documenting a complete build on this thread. Admittedly that seems awfully ambitious for a guy who doesn't even have a kit yet. But having a group of friends watching over my shoulder will be great motivation.

[Esser]

Hey Carl, looking good. If I were home I could give you the spar centres for you to finish your rotisserie but I'm in Toronto. Same for the fuse measurements. I would advise you that if you decide to go with the fuselage rig, put the rear support further aft as there is in aluminum tube that gets installed under neath the fuselage and terminates roughly a foot from the back of plane. I just think you might not want that aluminum tube supporting the weight of the plane.

[avidflyer]

The spar centers from the model 1 to 4 are 27 1/2". Center to Center. I believe the later models are the same. Jim Chuk

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for the spar measurements. I'll probably wait until the wings arrive, place the support boards against the spar ends, draw circles, and then cut holes for the PVC tubes. Just being paranoid about getting things "just so".


After Esser's comment about an aluminum tubing running through the area of support shown in the earlier fuselage rotisserie, I kept looking for other ideas. JohnB showed a very clean looking design in the thread linked below. I'll try to contact him for measurements and to identify that mount attached to the plywood on the nose.

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=6917&highlight=fuselage+rotisserie

[Cherrybark]

This morning Michael Rabe and his dog Bear (Partain Transport) delivered my Kitfox! While Bear romped in the back yard with one our dogs, Michael coached a neighbor and me through the unloading. I knew of Partain's reputation for taking good care of aircraft but it was nevertheless impressive to see how carefully everything was packed and how methodical Michael was with unloading.

Thanks to the forum the pre-build wings fit perfectly on their rotisseries and the fuselage will be mounted on one in short order. Brandon produced another pair of beautiful wings. The factory did a great job securely padding and wrapping everything for shipping. Debra McBean's suggestion of flat black power coating is very pleasing.

The picture makes things look crowded but it's a 3-car garage and there will be plenty of room once things are organized. Heat index of 108 this afternoon here in East Texas but the newly air conditioned garage was a comfortable 78.

I am very happy with my decision to build a Kitfox!

[DesertFox4]

Enjoy the build Carl. Nice shop.
Brandon does build a nice wing. Probably the most requested option and you can see why.:D
Best of luck. Send up white smoke signals if you get stuck on some part of the build.

[efwd]

Awesome Cherrybark. I also have the flat black. I like it but its like a chalk board when you start putting the seat pan in and out. Mask the surrounding structure to avoid it. I saw a frame at the factory masked off when I toured and quickly understood why the tape was there once I started work in that area. :)

[Cherrybark]

Very nice suggestion to mask the area. Thanks for passing that along.

[PapuaPilot]

You did make a great decision in getting a Kitfox. Enjoy the build and don't be afraid to ask questions on the forum. There are a lot of people here that can help you when you need some help. It is also possible to find a wealth of data by doing searches.

[Brandon Petersen]

Hi Carl! It was my pleasure to build your wings and help your dream come true. I'm glad you're happy with them!

Brandon

[Cherrybark]

Nice to have you stop by Brandon. While contemplating the upcoming work on the tail feather ribs, it occurred to me that Kitfox needs to have a video of Brandon teaching how to do such beautiful work. If you'll get right to it, I'll put off the work for a couple of days...

[Cherrybark]

I thought it would be convenient to have the fuselage on a rotisserie for the assembly work but it hasn’t been much of a help. Having it elevated does make it a better work height while seated on the almost obligatory red stool. The tail end is supported by an aluminum strap bolted to the tail gear hole. That end of the rotisserie blocks work on the empennage and I’ll resort to a simpler saw horse approach.

With the tail blocked, I started with Flight Control Installation. I was tired of "getting ready" and, with the plane in the shop, wanted to get on with building. There is enough reaming in this stage to practice before getting to the dreaded holes on the stabilizer and elevator. Bolts didn’t always fit the reamed 3/16” holes so I rolled up little tubes of 220 grit sandpaper and sanded for the final fit. There are plenty of 3/16” holes to ream throughout the project and two 3/16” USA made reamers are in the mail as replacements. Bushings were painless using a long bolt, nut and fender washers as a press.

I’ve been keeping a daily work log, mainly as a reminder of the adventure once the plane is complete. Installing the flap handle will be long remembered. When starting a new section I pull all of the required parts and check them off on the diagram. After making three passes through the fuselage related boxes, looking for the single bolt that mounts the flap handle, I finally remembered I had left it in place after reaming the holes. Then I made repeated searches for the tiny roll pin. It was checked off the inventory sheet but was nowhere to be found. My wife, who invariably takes only a few seconds to find things in the pantry or refrigerator after I’ve given up, made a couple of passes through the bags before throwing up her hands. I wasted over an hour before realizing the Ace Hardware ten minutes down the road would have a stock of roll pins. At $0.11, I bought two so I could drop one on the floor when I got back to the garage. Drilling the 1/16” hole through the detent pin went well and I’m still patting myself on the back. Nice to have a drill press.

Other useful tools during this phase were drift pins and a metal dental pick was helpful with the washers in the control column. I also treated myself to sets of Gearwrench 1/4” and 3/8” sockets as well as their combination wrenches with ratchets in the box end. My ancient Craftsman tools were well worn and it is a treat to have new hand tools.

The parts supplied with the kit was very thorough, right down to zip ties and electrical connectors. The manual is well written with clear diagrams. I’ll agree with those who have describe the work as building a very large, very detailed model airplane. It is worthwhile to think through steps before diving in and very satisfying when something new is completed.

I’m 48 hours into the build and having a great time.

[Cherrybark]

I'll soon be starting on the horizontal airfoil ribs and will eventually be installing ribs in the vertical. While I would dearly love to have a good reason to purchase a band saw, I'm not sure the small job of trimming these ribs is sufficient.

I haven't test fitted the ribs yet so no idea how much trimming is required. Can anyone give me an idea how much material might typically be removed and perhaps offer ideas for a hand tool approach to this job?

[rosslr]

Hi Carl,

I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your posts! I finished last year but your descriptions brought back memories. Fitting the elevator, and I too felt proud of drilling the hole for the pin in the flapperon handle! I reckon I was sure to have broken a drill on that one!

As for the need for a bandsaw - I did use a cheap one and it was useful. But I reckon the trimming could be done using a dremmel tool and fine cutting wheel, and finishing it on a sander.

I am sure others will kick in here with advice shortly, but keep it going and you will be covering and painting in no time!

cheers

[Cherrybark]

Thank you for the kind comment Ross.

Before ordering a Kitfox I spent a few weeks reading through the Discussion section of the forum and bookmarking helpful sections. The build threads offered real insight into just what it takes to complete this project. Documenting my build is a simple way to make a contribution.

[efwd]

Hey Carl
sounds like your enjoying the build as I have been. Ive slowed down considerably though. Im only a few months ahead of you but you may be passing me up soon it sounds like. I started March 15th. A Dremel tool is a must in my opinion. I didn't get one until late May. The little sanding drums make short work of extending the notched area of those ribs. With a plastic cutting disk you can make short work of the seat pan also and radius the corners of your cutouts with the sanding drums. I bought an inexpensive band saw for the bench top. That thing is really weak though. I had to buy a metal cutting band but dulled on the first use when cutting the metal pipe for the rudder pedals. It does OK when cutting small wood ribs and plexi glass but it seems I have difficulty following the line as the blade wants to twist and then track some other direction. I am getting better at it as I started just letting the blade do the work and quit feeding the material too fast. Keep up the posts since youll be passing me up soon and I can learn from you. Whish I had found the builders tip section here before I started work.
Eddie

[TahoeTim]

I also used a dremel with a sanding drum om the ribs. I bought a dremel viba tool for the door plexi. It worked great. I took the door hinge material to a machine shop and had them cut out professionally. I think it cost $50 but it was cheaper than a band saw. I blocked up the tail and installed all the tail ribs on the plane. It was a breeze.

I rigged my wings with the fuselage on the ground and then mounted it on the landing gear, no wheels, to do the rest. I also finished the wings while mounted to the plane. No rotisserie. I'm at the covering stage so I think I will have to use a rotisserie for the wings now. :)

After a few winter months off, I am jumping back in to finish my plane this summer.

[Cherrybark]

A Dremel has been my "machine shop" for years. Very handy devices and one quickly gets over the expense of sanding disc and other bits when considering alternatives.

I've been dreading reaming the horizontal stabilizer bushings after reading comments of slowly twisting reamers with vice grips or grinding the end square and using a small wrench. That brought visions of spreading the task over two or three days in order to not go craze with the drudgery. Looking at the 7/16" reamer I decided to try and grind a hex shape that might fit the ratcheting box end of a 5/16" Gearwrench combination wrench. I introduced the reamer to Mr. Bench Grinder and soon had a rough hex that was good enough for the box end to get a secure grip. The pictures show how rough the hex shape can be. The small box end clears the aluminum tubing but blue tape protects against an awkward slip. Reaming all of the bearing tubes took a little over 10 minutes, including stopping to take a couple of pictures. It was such a pleasant surprise that I went ahead and installed the bearings using the drill press / sandpaper "lathe" and frequent test fits. It all went without a hitch.

[TahoeTim]

you discovered half the secret

i posted how I ground a hex in mine, added a knuckle, extension, and a socket wrench and cranked them out in a few minutes. i pressed my bushings in with a bolt and big washers super fast before the glue set up. no hammer ;)


good job!

put your fuse on the gear and you'll see how nice the height is and how stable it is. i stuck my gear legs on furniture dollies (filled in with plywood) and built the whole thing that way. I had the tail on another dolly and an egg crate so I could roll it around. I sat in it a thousand times and wired it up that way.

[Cherrybark]

Tim,

Almost certainly I read your post while studying the forum and the idea, if not the source, came to mind when looking at the problem.

This is a great resource for builders but organizing the suggestions or successfully searching for just the right phrase is difficult.

[Esser]

I agree about putting it on landing gear. It's a nice height and the only thing you have to do on the bottom is that aluminum stringer. You could do that while it's still on a rotisserie.

[TahoeTim]

I will do my bottom stringer last while it's upside down for covering. You don't have to follow the manual page by page :D

[colospace]

I really appreciated being able to rotate in my fixture during the covering process. I only put my gear on once all the fabric and tapes were on (no paint as I used Oratex).
Sure was a super feeling to see it on its gear once I got to that point.

[jrevens]

Same as Gary... I didn't want to mount my landing gear, only to have to take it off for covering. I waited until the fuselage was covered (with Oratex also).

[Cherrybark]

Progress seemed to slow to a crawl over the past few days. One of the tasks was installing the floor boards. While match drilling the board and playing with clecos for the first time, I thought "Hey, now I'm really building an airplane!". I'm re-reading other build threads while moving through the build. Esser had the same thought during this stage. It's interesting to be traveling the same path as others on the forum. And I cannot repeat too many times how much I appreciate others documenting their builds.

Like a few others, I fooled around with boats for several years. West System epoxy comes immediately to mind for coating plywood and I had the materials on hand. Most boat work is outdoors and their "Slow" catalyst is favored for extended pot life. In an A/C environment, you have time to kill ever after "painting" all five boards. I used a cheap chip brush and threw it away after each coat. With West you can recoat after the surface reaches "masking tape tacky" so three coats on one side is possible in a day. This is a very useful product and the odor, not objectionable at all, brought several boat projects to mind.

The boards fit too snugly after coating and needed a little trimming. And the center console isn't going to fit without a little sanding. A little touch up epoxy will take care of the raw edges.

Should you decide to try West System, their dispensing pumps are highly recommended. The most common hardener is a 5:1 ratio and the pumps make measurement simple. The pumps can be left in place when stored.

When the front board is actually down that left side doesn't look so bad.

[Cherrybark]

While reading Esser's thread I came across his work to reduce drag in the control stick by shimming the aluminum block on the right hand side. This block needs to be nicely aligned with the white "nylon" block on the left side. Seems easy enough but I fiddled with washers and sanding the nylon off and on over three days before being completely happy. Other work was getting done but the drag kept nagging at me. Everything would be beautifully smooth, final torque, drag! No clue how many times it took but the controls work smoothly now and it was definitely worth the effort.

Tip. The tubing above the cockpit is the same diameter as the control tubing. Cutting a piece of sandpaper and "blue" taping it to this tube makes it easy to do quick sanding of the nylon block. Sand, slide the block onto a clear section of tube, tighten, test for drag, rinse and repeat.

After the third or forth disassembly I realized the nyloc nuts were going to need replacing. Happily, assortments of common bolts, nuts, pins and other "consumables" are just a phone call away. I ended up with washers under all four corners of the aluminum bearing block. As TahoeTim pointed out on the other tread, adding washers often requires slightly longer bolts so threads will extend beyond the nyloc nut. The final assembly included these longer bolts and new nyloc nuts.

[Cherrybark]

It's been years since I did any safety wire work. Here's my version of wiring the flapperon mixer bolt.

[Cherrybark]

After tacking ribs in place with super glue and taping, I whipped up a batch of Hysol, picked up my trusty pate knife and made fillets. A smear of an alcohol dipped finger and I was pretty pleased with the results.

I put stiffeners on every rib that couldn't be glued to a metal rib. It's a little weight but I'm more worried about having secure ribs during covering.

[Cherrybark]

With the stabilizer & elevator ribs in place it was time to varnish. Mixed up a batch of varnish, rolled the work table outside and got to work. It seemed natural to rotate each airframe to vertical then walk from one side to another varnishing one rib at a time. The thinned epoxy did flow nicely - a little too nicely in fact. After the second coat dried I rolled the table back into the shop and noticed just how messy the job had turned out. One downside of flat black powder coating - every tiny drip, splatter and run of shiny epoxy varnish sparkles! A 3M pad knocks off the shine and roughs up the varnish so I'm not worried about adhesion of the fabric glue. But what a mess I made during this step.

Part of the fun of building is that almost every step is a brand new process to learn. Lots of balls in the air at the moment. Rather than playing on the internet, shouldn't I be studying choices of avionics or learning more about engine installations? Hard to plan the critical path of this project schedule with so little experience.

[efwd]

Awesome Carl.
I masked off the entire vertical tail and sprayed my varnish. Pain in the A..
I have used brushes ever since. I too learned about the drips after turning my horizontal over.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

Work started on the center console installation today. While laying on the floor and threading a long 3/16" bit up through the fuselage to match drill the two aft mounting holes I admitted the bit was almost certainly going to drift and the hole wouldn't be close to nicely placed. Taking a clue from the pre-drilled front mounting tabs I unclamped the console and worked on the mounting tabs from the top - dimpling with a center punch, drilling a small starter hole, and finishing with a 3/16" bit. Then it was back to the floor to match drill the console, but now the long bit had a nice starter hole and the job went well.

I'm concerned about the placement of the "detent" assemblies for the flap and adjustable rudder pedal levers. To put off drilling the rivet holes, I decided to assemble the rudder pedal levers - another job involving drilling a 1/16" hole through a stainless rod. For the flap handle I used a piece of wood with a V-notch to secure the rod. Frankly, I think I got lucky to pass through the middle of the rod and not break the tiny bit. Some time in the past I came across the idea to use a block to hold the rod and guide a bit through the center. A scrap piece of 1 x 4 was drilled with a tight fitting hole for the rod. A pre-drilled pilot hole neatly guided the 1/16" bit right through the middle. No doubt this is old hat for many members but I was pleased to have remembered the idea and wanted to pass it along.

Any comments or photos showing the position of the flap and rudder pedal detent assemblies would be appreciated. That's the next job.

[efwd]

Hey Carl
I can tell you how I added more work to my center console install. When I was dealing with the forward flange it seemed the flange may have been bent a tad more than necessary. I allowed the console to sit deeper so that it contacted the tab on the firewall. This effectively leveled out the console a bit more and as a result the adjustable pedals and flap detent brackets sat further down. I then had to grind off about 1/16th inch of the brackets off so that when I pushed the button down on the handles the steel rod would not drag along the bottom of the brackets as I pulled the handle through its travel. In hind sight I should have taken some of the bend out or shimmed between the console flange and it mount tabs on the airframe. Hell, Im not sure now if I could have pushed the console forward or not. I would say try to mate the forward end of the console first maybe. Might have helped me out. All in all mine worked out well in the end.
Eddie

[jiott]

Carl,
Locate the flap and rudder pedal detent brackets as close as you can to where they are shown in the manual. Don't overly obsess about exact placement because when you actually rig the flaperon push rods there is quite a bit of adjustment available in the rod end threads. The rudder cables are installed to fit.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for that note Jim. Just finishing up the trim servo today and console is next on the list.

[Cherrybark]

The last couple of weeks have seen steady progress but the jobs have required lots of fitting, clamping, checking and rechecking before finally drilling holes in the fuselage. I continue to be impressed with the descriptions and drawings in the manual. Sometimes have to remember to stop and read through a process to understand the complete job, rather than simply running down the steps.

Took two days to install the console with flap and rudder adjustment detents. Near the end of the first day I admitted the collection of spring clamps weren't suitable for the job and made a trip to the hardware store for some small C-clamps. Should have remembered to wear glove while working with the Hysol. Odd that such a small amount of epoxy could get on so many things! Alcohol to the rescue!

Tips in the forum to swap handles or rotate them 180 degrees eliminated all scraping on the console slots but I need to come up with some way to prevent scratching during normal use. Haven't found that solution in the forums yet.

Removed the console to make room for playing with the rudder pedals.

[Esser]

I was thinking some thin felt on each side might do the trick just to get it away from the edge

[Cherrybark]

Took five days (23 hours) to build and install the rudder pedals. This isn't a difficult job but I was fussy about friction in the inner bearings and repeatedly checked the assembly before matching drilling the pedals to the torque tube. Another of those jobs you need to get right the first time or time and money are going to be wasted ordering new parts.

It didn't help that I spent a couple of hours looking for the 2nd inboard torque tube bracket. Repeatedly opened every box, looked on every shelf, no joy. The drawing in the manual shows one set of pedals and it took an embarrassingly long time to realize a single inboard bracket supported both torque tubes.

At first the assembly didn't allow the mounting holes of the outboard brackets to center on the fuselage tube. It's not critical they be perfectly centered but I didn't want to have problems with the nut or torque wrench socket rubbing against a wall. Used a bench sander belt to remove about 1/4" material from the outboard ends of both rudder pedal assemblies to have the holes satisfactorily located. Clamps, measure, measure, measure, drill, whew!

Of course, after torquing down the brackets, there was friction on both outboard pedals. As with the control stick, I was willing to patiently work to reduce the friction now rather than have it bug me over the years. There is a nice thread in the forum with ideas on straightening the torque tube. But, with my modest shop, I went with shims. Ended up with single washers under both outboard mounting brackets. The mounting screws are long enough to have plenty of thread through the nyloc washers.

To figure out where the torque tube was dragging on the bearing, I colored each of the four bearings with a black marker, torqued the mounting bolts, and swung the outboard pedals back and forth 20-30 times to rub away the marker. Removing the assembly and looking at the bearings showed where the tubes were rubbing. Shimming the outboard brackets as a first step reduced much of the drag. Then it was repeated "painting", mounting and working the pedals to identify high spots and slowly eliminate friction on the outboard pedals.

Only a small amount of material was removed from each bracket. In some cases, a "shoe shine polishing" with a strip of 1/2" 150 grit sandpaper shaped a bearing for a better fit. Where the weld spots rubbed the outer bearings, the "drill press lathe" and sandpaper were used to round the nose of the bearing or the offending weld spot was smoothed with a Dremel sanding disc.

Finally the bearings and torque tubes were cleaned with alcohol, lightly greased and torqued into place with new nyloc nuts. Twenty three hours on one part of the assembly! But I will be pleased with the light controls for years to come.

[Cherrybark]

After the days of rudder pedals, installation of the pedal springs, brake master cylinders, and rudder cable pulleys were a snap. Finished the day by installing the rudder. Now comes a few days of installing the air foil ribs in the vertical stabilizer and rudder. Nice to be working with the now familiar Hysol and epoxy varnish.

166 hours into the build. Not racing to finish, just making steady progress and enjoying every minute.

[Floog]

Carl, you are a meticulous builder! And it WILL pay off down the road.

I just wanted to mention something to consider. I am a long legged pilot, so I set up my peddles as close as possible to the firewall for max legroom. Turned out, a little too close! One of the actuator hydraulic fittings (pilot side, left peddle) was denting the firewall! I fixed it by rotating the cylinder base 90 degrees (toward the center). By doing so, I think you can get another inch of travel. The cylinders can be rotated any of four positions without affecting the pivot point.

[Dave S]

................on the console slots but I need to come up with some way to prevent scratching during normal use. Haven't found that solution in the forums yet...........

Carl,

I don't like things rattling or scratching around either......found a simple solution was to place a length of the 1/2" sticky backed anti chafe tape from the polyfiber materials on the inside of the detent plates so the flap handle could smoothly slide along that instead of having any metal to metal contact.

[Dave S]

While we are on the subject of flap handles & rudder adjustment, thought I'd share an experience I had.

PLEASE REMEMBER - THIS WAS A PRE JOHN MCBEAN FUSELAGE I HAD - MADE BY THE DEFUNCT SKYSTAR CORP JUST BEFORE THEY FILED BANKRUPCY.

Had an opportunity to sharpen my gas welding skills where the rudder adjustment anchors had been mostly cut through during the assembly weld. Attached photo - notice that the small dark area along the inside edge is all that held the side to the base of anchor. The side part dropped off with a little "plink" when I pressed on it with my finger. A little hot wrenching with the gas torch/4130 rod, painting and good to go. If anyone picks up an earlier started kit to finish, might be a good point to check.

[Cherrybark]

Dave, thanks for the suggestion of using the 1/2" sticky back, anti-chafe tape. I'll give that a try.

Doug, I have to give credit for being "meticulous" to the builders who posted ideas and solutions as they worked through their projects. The initial rudder pedal drag wasn't terrible and, honestly, I'm not sure I would have given it a second thought if others had not discussed it.

A lot of my confidence in taking on this project and my expectation of building a really nice plane, comes from the knowledge base and helpfulness of people in this forum. Of course, starting with a well thought out, very complete kit, and having factory support just a phone call away doesn't hurt.

[efwd]

Amen Carl. John and everyone here are very nice to have around.

[Cherrybark]

Things slowed down at the "Airfoiled Vertical Tail Assembly" stage. After doing the horizontal ribs, there isn't really anything new here but the work went in small bursts with lots of idle time to catch up household chores while waiting for epoxy to cure. The ribs required very little trimming and the kit included more than enough strips for the rib stabilizers.

Rotating the fuselage 90 degrees on the rotisserie made the varnishing more convenient. I try not to load the brush but the thin varnish, foam brushes, and odd surfaces that grab and wring out a stream of varnish, make for an unattractive job. This time I taped the metal tubing around the ribs so it's a neater job than the horizontal ribs. Maybe I'll have the technique down when it comes to wing ribs.

I've been thinking about polishing the landing gear and decided to practice with the control sticks. Started with 220 and worked through 1000 grit with sandpaper that was on hand. Finished with the three stages of "BrightWorks" polishing compound. Maybe an hour of work and very pleased with the results.

Used an old dish rag and dish towels to polish and tossed the rags in the washing machine without giving it a second thought. Opened the machine after the load was complete to find a normally bright white drum and agitator smeared with black waxy polishing residue. Called my patient wife for cleaning tips and was handed a box of Mr Clean Magic Erasers. They worked reasonably well but, after she left the room, I grabbed a can of brake cleaning fluid, soaked a rag, and the washer was cleaned with a few wipes. Threw away the waxy rag, remembered to turn the cycle to Hot Water, and ran the towels through another cycle to flush the break fluid. "What dear? Oh, I think you're smelling the polishing compound." Make that my "very" patient wife!

Drilled the lower tabs on the rudder and installed John Pitkin's "adjustable rudder stop bolts". This is a very nifty idea. Next project is the rudder farings.

[efwd]

LOL Carl. The moment I read "tossed the rags in the wash" I new what was to follow. I have done that with shop rags before after changing the oil in the the cars. (speaking specifically of the oder) Surprising that you have made it this long without experiencing what women dislike about us! Im considering doing the same with my gear. I picked up some sample product at Airventure from Nuvite. Nuvitechemical.com. they were polishing very old dingy fuselage skins to nearly a mirror finish.
Eddie

[GuppyWN]

The lesson learned should be - don't do laundry!

It's a process that I've honed over 25 years. Shrink a sweater here. Bleeding colors there and before you know it you're banned from the laundry room!

[Cherrybark]

It's been weeks since the last update. "Grownup" responsibilities sometimes get in the way of airplane fun and it's all too easy to let one missed day turn into two or more. But having the project in the garage / workshop makes it simple to put in an hour or two of work at odd times, so progress continues.

The fuselage is at the stage that it is time to mount the wings and the build journal shows 253 hours of work. That logged time doesn't begin to include all of the hours spent reading the forum, looking a pictures, and trying to decide how to best do a task. Repeatedly, something that seemed difficult, turns out to be straightforward once completed. And, once completed, these small tasks that can be so time consuming for a first time builder, just disappear into the overall project. I can remember how much time was spent fitting the cable guides, sanding down the tight fits and securing the loose ones with Hysol. And there was a day of grinding down the installed rudder pedal and flap detents, and repeatedly installing the console to make sure those controls move freely. I can begin to understand a builder never just kicks the tires and lights the fire during a pre-flight.

Several forum threads have been useful but I want to point out the step by step construction photos on Bob Meyer's Facebook page. Bob seems to have taken just the right picture at every stage of the construction. It's become a habit to reference his work when moving to a new task. I've sent him a private message of thanks and encourage others to view his album.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=100307413475671&set=a.100305216809224.453.100004892370248&type=3&l=9f3a0c208e&theater

[Cherrybark]

After posting the comment about Bob's photos I realized Tom Waid's (Tropical Tuba) website needs a special mention. Tom has pages of photos and comments on the assembly steps. He and I have similar backgrounds of, "simply messing about in boats", SCUBA diving, and appreciation of West System Epoxy. I enjoy his writing and link you to his home page so you can spend hours exploring rather than jumping directly to the Kitfox information.

http://tropicaltuba.com/

I'll quit now rather than get sidetracked linking to other informative threads and sites.

[jrevens]

Thank you for mentioning both of those guys, Carl. I was aware and very appreciative of Tom's site, but didn't know about Bob's. I met him at OSH... he's a great guy, and he built a beautiful airplane. I'm not on Facebook (my wife spends enough time there for both of us), but I just went and looked at Bob's pictures - all 462 of them! I'm so impressed by people like these 2 (I know there are many others also) who have taken the time to so thoroughly document their projects and share them with everyone. What a great resource!

[efwd]

Hey Carl
I was wondering where you went. I almost posted an inquiry only two days before your post. Im fixing to get to covering but I haven't received my Oratex fabric yet. Every day now is another day later than they proposed. Took the Sport Air workshop for electrical/avionics this past weekend. Not excited about the prospect myself so I will be ordering wire bundles to hook up things vs pinning every wire myself. I was going to offer up to you a hand full of the grommets that I used to pass the pitot tubes through the wing ribs. Personal message me with your address, I will send them too you. I have 3x more than needed. I had to order minimum of 50. I needed 12 to get the two tubes through but you may only need 6 if your using the kit supplied pitot tube. They have the exact spacing to accommodate the rib web. I couldn't locally purchase them myself as I couldn't find anyone who carried them. It is also helpful to get the holes done with a step drill before the tanks are installed as the step drill is long enough to enter the tank on the other side among other reasons.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for the offer of the grommets Eddie. PM on the way.

[Cherrybark]

Before reading the manual, rigging the wings seemed like a major undertaking. After a couple of readings the mystery began to clear. It went something like this.

"Hey, I never noticed the factory pre-drilled a hole in the trailing edge spar. I get it, pin that spar, position the wing, and drill a hole in the other spar to match the... Wait a second, how am I going to see through the front spar to match drill? Ah, that's why the reference measurements were made to the second mounting hole. But there is absolutely no way am I going to get the hole in the spar perfectly positioned. Oh, that's clever, drill a small hole, shape with a file, then ream to a perfect fit. These Kitfox guys are pretty smart cookies."

As when using clecos for the first time, mounting the wings will feel like I'm really building an airplane. A chance to step back from looking at individual trees and see the whole forest as it were.

[Cherrybark]

Are these tiny little nuts really the only thing that prevent the lift strut bolts from falling out, the wing ripping away and me falling to earth in the familiar "death spiral" the media warns us about? Or did I pull the wrong parts from the wing hardware inventory?

And, yes there should be washers, this is just temporary while rigging the wings.

[jiott]

Yes that little nut is really more than meets the eye. It is what is called a "prevailing torque" nut-it has a deformed all steel thread that actually grips much better than a nylock nut, and has more threads than a nylock. In this application it has no load on it other than vibration and its only purpose is to prevent the bolt from "falling" out. Yes you can go ahead and stake your life on it.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks Jim,

I checked the part number more than once. But I did expect a nylock here and it seemed prudent to ask for confirmation. The things one learn while building an airplane

[PapuaPilot]

Yes, the MS21042 series nuts are every bit as good as the nylock MS21044 nuts. They save weight too.

The main thing I wanted to pass on it that these nuts are typically used one time and replaced with new to assure the locking feature is working. There is a table in AC43.13-1B that gives value for the running/prevailing torque (i.e. the torque just to make it turn) that must be present for the reuse of locking hardware. The problem with the table is it starts with 7/16"-20 nuts, so it isn't very helpful for the typical 3/16" and 1/4" hardware.

One thing I did during my construction was to use non-locking nuts when I was doing all of the trail assembly and saved the actual locking hardware for final installation. Doing this saved time too because you can spin them on by hand and snug them if needed. I actually used some non-aviation nuts from the hardware store, but made sure they weren't used during final assembly.

[colospace]

I have been doing the same as Phil using hardware store nuts for non-flight temporary assembly. To help insure that they do not get over looked later, I first "color" the flats with red fingernail polish or a red permanent marker.

[Cherrybark]

Color is a nice idea. I have little pieces of bright tape stuck near nuts that haven't been torqued yet.

[DesertFox4]

I do the bolt/nut marking a little different. Used this on the first build and all through the 2nd so far. Finished bolts/nuts get the yellow fingernail polish only when they are final torqued and not before. Anything without a yellow stripe across the bolt and nut is considered temporary. This also works nice for pre-flights later to see if any bolts or nuts have moved and broken the "seal". Also the DAR can use this during airworthiness inspection to satisfy himself that all critical items have been finished.

[David47]

Just some added info on locknuts. The deformed thread locknut you're using provides the locking capability of the nut to the bolt. It does this by the friction generated when you screw the bolt through the deformed thread. It's not quite the same as positive locking such as when you use a a castellated nut and split pin, but the friction is sufficient to retain the nut on the bolt even in vibration environments. You should also know that these nuts are qualified to a specification that requires them to be subjected to all sorts of testing, including ensuring they retain their locking capability under a range of vibration environments. The nylon nuts do the same thing, but the deformed thread type locknut is a better option IMHO for this type of application. Having said that, if you were to remove the nut for some reason, I'd recommend replacing it with new. Reusing the nut would not guarantee the same amount of friction given that the thread has already been deformed first time around. Hope this helps.

[efwd]

Interesting that your nuts are the lead color. Mine are the same color as the bolt. Vibration must be the purpose behind this nuts use here. It was my understanding that these deformed nuts are purposed for high temp areas like engine components or those close by. Nylon in normal temps.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

Great details on these deformed thread locknut. I'm glad I asked the question just for the knowledge gained.

Dropped by Fastenal and picked up an assortment of "plain" nuts to use in temporary assemblies. Useful sizes are 10-32, 1/4-28, and 3/8-24 (landing gear). Not a chance my Lowes or HD had these in stock.

My wife donated a bottle of bright red nail polish to paint the temporaries. She'll pick up a bottle of bright yellow for marking nuts after they are torqued.

[jrevens]

Interesting that your nuts are the lead color. Mine are the same color as the bolt. Vibration must be the purpose behind this nuts use here. It was my understanding that these deformed nuts are purposed for high temp areas like engine components or those close by. Nylon in normal temps.
Eddie
There have been all-metal lock nuts of various thread-gripping designs for many decades. This MS design for nuts came about later. Yes, it is "high" temperature, but it was designed mostly for weight savings with superior, or at least no decrease in strength. These nuts are available in several materials. There are steel ones with the same type finish/plating as conventional AN "nylocks", basically cadmium with an additional post-treatment that gives them that copper/gold look. Then there are the same nuts out of steel with a dry lubricant coating, giving the finish a dull dark gray color. There are also stainless steel ones that are silver-plated. There are probably others also. All of these coatings provide lubrication, as well as corrosion protection. The silver is especially good as a lubricant for the SS, that will not create tiny particles flaking off like dry lube (graphite, "moly", etc.), and it has a much higher melting point than cadmium - especially important in applications like spacecraft, assembled in clean rooms to avoid any contaminants. My friend Gary ("colospace") could probably speak to this more intelligently than I, as he worked as an engineer on spacecraft. All of this is off the top of my head, and probably more than you wanted to know. It is also possibly incomplete or flawed. I'm sure others could add to or correct if necessary.

[jrevens]

...
Dropped by Fastenal and picked up an assortment of "plain" nuts to use in temporary assemblies. Useful sizes are 10-32, 1/4-28, and 3/8-24 (landing gear). Not a chance my Lowes or HD had these in stock...

Lowe's or HD will almost certainly have the 10-32 & 3/8-24. Only the 1/4-28 is a little problematic. You can get those at your local Ace Hardware though... just for future reference. :)

[Cherrybark]

Tried Lowes first but no joy. Admittedly, Tyler Texas might not have the most complete Big Box inventory.

I'll amend that statement to say I couldn't find the correct sizes at Lowes. And it was one of those days that the employees had evaporated back into housewares or wherever they go.

[colospace]

Re. the metal lock nuts. On all the satellite programs I worked on for so many years, we only used full metallic locking nuts. I wish I had kept my binder with all the specs on the various hardware we used (whose going to need that anymore?), but certainly we used the MS21043 and MS21044 a lot. My programs were more concerned about being certain of positive locking for the launch environment than some minor concern for metal particulate generation. Mind you we were concerned about metallic particulates, but we were pretty aggressive about maintaining cleanliness in general. And we had 100% mission success and long-lived satellites too as a result. That said, there were other programs in the same company that avoided the all metallic nuts and used the fiber locking or sometimes even locking compounds. On my plane, I have used some MS21043 nuts with NAS620 reduced OD washers where there was reduced flat area available in some structural channels, but I mostly use the kit's fiber locking nuts except for critical stuff under the cowl.

[Cherrybark]

Wings mounted, aligned, and spars drilled.

A Kitfox will just fit in a 32' garage space. A window alcove one one side and a home entrance area on the other gave just enough room to walk around comfortably. Having read the section of the manual a couple of times and gathered the needed supplies, I figured the job would take about a day. Of course, it took longer. Everything was perfectly lined up by the end of the second day but I decided to wait till morning and do one last check before drilling. Besides, it was Friday, Fall weather brought cool evening temperatures, and the local high school had a home football game.

Checked measurements one last time Saturday morning. Drilling and reaming the hole was uneventful. The wings are back on their rotisseries, the garage cleaned, and I'm looking forward to playing with clecos.

The rigging process was made much easier with that $40 digital level from Home Depot. I was skeptical about the accuracy, but flipping the scale on a relatively level surfaces gave consistent answers. There are "mold marks" on the ends of the level that can be lined up with a "wear line" on the spar to make certain the level is parallel with the spar. Zip tying the digital level to a 48" i-beam level, then taping a 1/2 block near the end of the longer level made a perfect tool for the job.

The $50 Bosch laser measure was the other key to accurate rigging. Setting the Bosch on a mark on the spar and aiming for a 1/2" sticky note square on the rudder mount post, made it easy to take measurements - shooting three or four measurements to make certain the small square target was being hit. Out of interest, I tried to measure with a metal tape and was quickly frustrated by the sag.

Both of these ideas were gleaned from the forums. Perhaps someone will stumble across them here.

This was a very interesting part of the build and a milestone in the project.

[DesertFox4]

Excitimg time in the build process. Drilling those important holes after checking and rechecking measurements a couple times is a milestone.
That's a day in my build that really stands out.:)

Congrats Carl.

[jiott]

Yes Carl, you're done with the main things that will make the Kitfox the nice flying machine that it can be. Its a good feeling. I remember going to bed that night and running over the process in my mind; thinking I did everything per the book as carefully as I could without rushing or taking any shortcuts. Then I could confidently move on to the other phases of the build.

[efwd]

Only a "couple" times?!!. Man, I took those measurements a dozen times and still went to bed to sleep on it as Carl did. LOL
Oratex is scheduled to arrive Tomorrow by 10:30 am. Get to have my boys help roll the airframe over tomorrow.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

Lift strut and spar reinforcement fittings are finished. The reinforcement fittings were the least intimidating so I started with them. After a lot of fussing with the first pair, the job went smoothly. There were enough clecos on hand to do four spar ends at a time. After drilling, prepping for bonding, and buttering with Hysol, the routine was to pull a cleco, wipe with alcohol, drop in cup of acetone, install rivet, repeat. After all the rivets were installed an alcohol wet finger on the gloved hand smoothed the Hysol around the edges and the blue tape was pulled. Then there was the cleanup routine of "flexing" each cleco in the cup of acetone to rinse and a final wiping with a paper towel.

Lift strut fittings, and cleanup, took almost four hours each, so I did one fitting and called it a day. Happily, I caught my mistake of not using longer rivets in some of the holes after the the first fitting. Even luckier, it was a fitting with only four rivets so it didn't take too long to drill out the shiny new rivets and replace with the correct length. The white paint marks remind me to install long rivets in those holes. And I did grind down the sides of a hand rivet tool to install the rivet that is missing in the photo.

A pneumatic riveter, Drill Doctor, and two 12-packs of quality #30 & #40 bits are a real help. I've become a little snobbish about having a sharp bit in the drill and the Drill Doctor makes it simple to keep the collection sharp. Very pleasing to have curls of aluminum twisting up the bit.

It's almost obligatory to post a picture of a lift strut fitting full of clecos. But, the memory of Hysol oozing from the fitting seems much more reminiscent of this particular job.

[Esser]

Wise choice with the pneumatic rivet puller. After I finished this job I needed to hold several cold beer to ice my hand. Nice progress Carl.

[colospace]

Absolutely agree about the pneumatic puller. I finally got one after doing the first wing wrecked my hand for weeks. The first rivet I pulled with it on the second wing was so amazing that I actually called my wife at work to have her on the phone as I pulled the next couple. Pure bliss.
I didn't think the Drill Doctor was supposed to work on bits as small as #30. If they do, I need one of those too.

[Cherrybark]

The Drill Doctor is fairly new to me, being purchased for the Kitfox build. I have the 750X but don't remember any particular reason for choosing this model. This video shows how the sharpener works.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=drill+doctor+video&view=detail&mid=0BB13431A50BB5A2E75D0BB13431A50BB5A2E75D&FORM=VIRE

The tricky part with the small bits is getting the "alignment jaws" to catch the correct part of the bit. Good lighting, a pair of small needle nose pliers, and a second bit to act as a pusher for these short bits has let me reliably position them. The video will help this make better sense. And practicing on a 1/4" or 3/8" bit is probably a good first step.

Sharpening takes away very little metal and a quick look with a magnifying glass (my $10 Wal-Mart readers won't do) will tell if you need to try again.

[Cherrybark]

Butt ribs and brackets drilled and ribs are ready for varnishing. On each side of the fuselage, one of the neatly drilled holes in two of the butt rib brackets "missed" the fuselage tube. A third hole was drilled and now the plane is a little lighter.

The jury struts were easy to align with tight strings running along the lift struts and vertical strings with nuts acting as plumb bobs. "Dear, come check my work please!" Cleaning Hysol from clecos is old hat now.

Odd how some of the stages of the project become milestones. The butt ribs won't truly be installed until after they are varnished, but verifying the rigging, fixing the #1 and butt ribs in place, and having everything line up nicely feels like a real accomplishment. Celebrated the occasion by smoking three racks of baby backs on the Weber Smokey Mountain.

The logbook says 333 hours into the build - not counting hours of browsing the forum, head scratching, and repeatedly watching Trent's gorgeous flying videos.

[jiott]

Yeah I also missed the tube on a couple of butt rib brackets and had to drill a third hole. I put "non-functional rivets in the bogus holes so they looked functional to the general public. I know they wouldn't fool anyone on this forum. It was easier than using filler and touch-up paint.

[efwd]

Ohhhh. Ok I will rivet my extra holes also.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

Might as well do the same.

[Cherrybark]

Took a couple of readings of the bubble door instructions and a call to John McBean before I was ready to tackle fitting the door glass. The first cut, fitting the top of the glass to the hinge area, went well enough but it was very slow. The thin, brittle cutoff wheels, purchased with my ancient Dremel, took several passes and snapped if they weren't held true to the cut. After the top cut, I peeled back the plastic from the outside of the bubble and marked a dashed cutting line.

The material to be cutaway was wide along one side so I decided to use a Jigsaw to remove excess material before doing the final, closer cut with the Dremel. The crack in the bubble door just appeared. Didn't even have the courtesy to make a sound! That stopped work for the day.

The crack was a couple of inches long in the corner of the window near the passenger's elbow. Seemed like the perfect spot for an EAA decal so I used an acrylic bit to drill a stop hole and the cutting job continued with just the Dremel wheels. Found the second crack while polishing the rim with a sanding block. This one ran across a triangle of the bubble and meant the end of the road for this piece of acrylic. My tinted bubble was now a nice practice piece of acrylic. For the record, the close toothed side of a Japanese Ryoba hand saw is an interesting cutting tool for acrylic.

Frustrated with the bubbles, I switched to sloshing and leak testing the fuel tanks. Then busied myself checking a few items of the Fall ToDo list: clean gutters, mulch leaves, put up Christmas lights, move plants into the greenhouse - anything to put off fitting the second bubble.

In an email exchange, Eddie (EFWD) said he had good results with the Dremel EZ Lock Plastic cutoff wheels. This evening I started work on the second bubble and the cuts are much easier with the right tool. I'll fit the door to the pilot side frame and, not really expecting Santa to be that generous, get in touch with Debra and order a replacement for the passenger side.

The picture is of a cut in progress. The plastic is peeled back from both sides of the bubble and taped out of the way. Then a piece of 3M green tape is laid along the cut line and a strip of aluminum clamped to act as a guide. You'll see a strip of green tape under a clamp on the left. This secures the end of an already cut section so it doesn't flop around loosely stressing the glass still being cut. I think a wobbly cutoff piece caused one of my cracks.

[Av8r3400]

I used a 4" angle grinder with cutoff wheel to cut mine. Worked very well.

A reciprocating jig saw is probably the most dangerous tool on these.

[Jerrytex]

Probably the same concept as the 4" angle grinder, but I had good luck cutting acrylic with the cheap 3" high speed air cutoff tool from Harbor Freight.

[Cherrybark]

I considered my 4" edge grinder. But I'm a wild child with that tool and it will buzz through anything that gets in it's way. The Dremel isn't always the right tool for the job, but it's slower to cut and seems like I have more control.

[jiott]

Sorry to hear about your bubble trouble Carl. I agree with AV8r that a jig saw is the worst thing to use on acrylic. Apparently you didn't read the multi-page information sheet that comes with the LP Aero acrylic doors and windows-you should. In there it warns about not using reciprocating saws among other very important tips. A band saw is OK.
Acryic requires kid-glove handling. I created a very small 1" crack on one of my bubble doors by using a standard (non-acrylic) drill bit to slightly enlarge a hole-turning the bit BY HAND if you can believe it. Fortunately the crack didn't run and has been stable for 3 years now, but I keep an eye on it.

[colospace]

I used the Dremel with cutoff wheels to get close, and then used a 3" portable belt sander to finish. Worked well, but the sander was really messy. It's dust collection was negligible.

[Cherrybark]

Because it's all to easy to be misunderstood on forums, I want to be clear that it is absolutely my fault for using the wrong tool, a reciprocating saw, on the acrylic. The thought of using a jig saw with fine tooth plastic blade came from exploring the web. And clearly, the internet doesn't know everything!

Happily, this is a mistake that can be corrected by writing a check. I haven't miss-drilled holes in the fuselage, cut off a finger or anything serious. And I'm very happy with the cuts and fit on the second bubble.

The shipment from LP Aero was beautifully packaged with foam and lots of paper to support and protect the acrylic. However, and I just double checked, there wasn't a multi-page sheet of instructions.

[jiott]

I did the same as Gary-Dremel to get close, then belt sander to get to the line.

Carl, maybe that multi-page instruction set came in the windshield box. Have you checked there?

[Cherrybark]

I haven't open the windshield box but will take a look. Thanks for the tip.

[Dave S]

Hey Carl....never let a little oop..oop deter you! I recall the comment by a good friend of mine who was a manager.....he said he would never hire anyone who hadn't made a mistake because that probably meant they haven't done anything!

Anyway - to confess a bit:o....my little boo-boo was getting overly enthusiastic about progress on the wing build.:rolleyes:...... neglected to secure one of the loose spars for the other wing, which curiously started to roll :eek:beyond the builders reach and dented itself beyond any hope of salvage when the floor interrupted its trajectory.......like you said - That's what the checkbook is for!;)

Somewhere in the culture of building and flying there is a concept that there will be deals....so we deal with them.

Looking forward to more reports of progress on your build.:) Keep the faith

[Esser]

I used a 4" angle grinder with cutoff wheel to cut mine. Worked very well.

A reciprocating jig saw is probably the most dangerous tool on these.

I second using a grinder. I made on the cuts on my wind shield. You can actually get very straight lines with a grinder. I used a 6" because it's what I had handy. I then took an 80 grit sanding block to smooth and profile. If I needed something tighter, it was a 1" dia small sanding drum on a dremel.

You will be amazed at how fast the grinder works. I had my wind shield trimmed, in under 30 minutes and that was after a couple on and offs to check stuff.

[Cherrybark]

The Christmas holidays were a great distraction from building. I did make progress but it was sporadic.

Lots of small jobs including sloshing and installing the fuel tanks, #2 rib and lower false ribs. My biochemist daughter explained why sloshing acetone and gasoline releases a gas and quickly builds pressure but I was too overcome by fumes to remember the details. The #2 ribs and false ribs were fairly simple.

Kitfox does offer an optional banjo fitting for the fuel line. The photo shows how little material had to be removed from the rib so the finger strainer can be cleaned in the future.

Used plenty of Hysol when installing the piece of trailing edge between ribs #1, 2 and 3. Then, when it came time to install the reinforcing flaperon brackets on the ends of those ribs, it took lots of careful work with a Dremel to remove the rock hard epoxy.

[Cherrybark]

I wasn't happy with how the fuel sight guage plates turned out so I picked up some thin stock from a BigBox store and made new ones. Did a great job matching the airfoil shape of the rib and spotting the fuel line holes in just the right position. Used a step drill to size the holes so a single layer of anti-chafe tape could be wrapped around the fuel line. Even painted the plates before installing them.

When it came time to install the plate and fuel line, it dawned on me that future maintenance was going to be a real chore with the solid plate preventing access to the zip ties securing the fuel lines to the tank. So that's why Kitfox sheared the plates! A few minutes with the Dremel and a shot or two from the rattle can and I was back in business. It wasn't until a couple of days later I noticed the lettering runs right across the face of the fuel tube. At some point I'll remove the plate, cut the zip ties and rotate the hose. Already the sheared plate has served its purpose.

All part of the fun of doing the best job one can.

[Cherrybark]

Another learning experience was deciding to use solid rivets on the trailing edge of the flaperons. "Spruce" offers a wide assortment of solid rivets and, surely, the AN470AD "hard" rivets must be the best for this job. I used the familiar "Ground Down Vise Grip Pliers" as a rivet tool and practiced squeezing two or three in some scrap aluminum. As my grandfather would have said, "It'll take two grown men and a young boy to install these!". A couple of days later an assortment of AN470A "soft" rivets arrived and the flaperon trailing edge was riveted.

If you have a use for an assortment of hard, solid rivets they are free for the asking. There are small bags of AN470AD-4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 3-3, and 3-4.

If you are considering using solid rivets on the flaperon trailing edge, the softer AN470A-3-3 might suit.

[jiott]

I thought the soft rivets came with the hardware kit. They did with mine.

[Cherrybark]

This time of year East Texas sometimes gets a few days of clear, dry weather with temps approaching 70 (F). Managed to time three coats of varnish and a couple of brushed coats of Stits Exoxy primer on the spars and drag tubes. Very fortunate to do this job with the garage doors opened. A couple of neighbors stopped by while out for a walk, but they knew all about Huckleberry Finn and whitewashing fences so I had no luck passing the brush around.

The ongoing projects at this stage are the flaperon linkage and the Laker Leading edge.

[Cherrybark]

I saw a bag of soft, counter sink rivets and the manual mentions you might want to use solid rivets if you have the tools. But the inventory on the drawing calls for tiny pop rivets. I was concerned the solid rivets would be required later in the project so ordered from Spruce.

The builders with multiple Kitfox projects under their belts must breeze through these steps.

[jiott]

Yes you are right, the manual called for pop rivets, but I used the soft solid rivets and there were tons left over for their other purposes.

[efwd]

I bet they do work way more efficiently than we who are building our first. I spent hours fabricating two shelves and mounting my Garmin and my VPX module to them only to find out a day or two later that the shelves I made actually came in the firewall forward kit that I had not inventoried yet. Anyhow, I disassembled what I had made because Kitfox makes theirs bigger than I did. All redone now.

[Cherrybark]

Big push on the flaperons over the last couple of days.

The pictured factory tip is just a test fit. The final placement brought the trailing portion tighter and just a little work with Superfil will have it ready for painting. The balsa tips on the tail feathers wasn't that difficult but I appreciate this simple, quick solution from Kitfox.

Aligned and drilled the flaperon control horns then assembled and drilled the trailing edge hinges. The workbench height worked out nicely with the rotisserie. All of the hinge parts were assembled on the flaperon and the positioning was obvious. The Popsicle sticks at either end acted as base and target for a laser ruler to make sure the #1 and #9 fittings were parallel.

Postponing the counter weights made this an easier operation. At this stage I won't be able to resist reassembling the plane and waving the control surfaces around. It will be a good time to double check that no steps were skipped and make a more organized version of the "Don't Forget To" list.

One correction, in the interesting of not leaving inaccurate information on the forum. It was Tom Sawyer not Huckleberry Finn who was whitewashing the fence for Aunt Polly. Huck was surely out fishin' or, though I don't remember it mentioned in the book, buzzing the church with his Kitfox!

[jiott]

Lookin good Carl!

[efwd]

Looks good Carl.
I know what you mean. I intended on assembling the thing without fabric, pushing it out into the sun and taking pictures. Ehh, too much to do to waist more time than I have already. Your almost ready for covering! Have you ordered your Oratex yet? Count on 6 weeks lead time.

[Cherrybark]

Haven't ordered Oratex yet but the time nears. I have a few more decisions and tasks to do before fabric time and need to make a list and tentative schedule so I don't have bottles of glue expiring.

Took another look at Stewart Systems with the idea of completing up to the final top coat, then moving the fuselage and wings to a friend's paint booth about 45 minutes away. The topcoat would be a 3rd party, perhaps Ranthane, since there have been too many reported problems with Stewart's top coat. I'm a complete noob at spraying and don't have the skills to do this work. What killed this approach was the necessity of having a paint booth to spray some of the undercoats. It didn't take too much though to nix the idea of building a temporary paint booth in our attached garage.

I'm not going to go through the dollar calculations to compare Stewart's to Oratex. It comes down to the fact that, with Oratex, I can do the work myself in the attached garage and keep the project moving forward.

[Cherrybark]

One Laker Leading Edge down and one to go. I liked the look and the simplicity of the straight lines on Esser's project and decided to do the same.

The trailing edge of the glass was trimmed, 30 3/4" from the end of the ribs, to give a clean edge. The LLE is thin and can be easily cut with a pair of kitchen shear scissors. Clecos set the alignment, extra adhesive tape on the main ribs and small spring clamps on the false ribs held the mat against the ribs. On the bottom of the wing, the tape strips were wrapped around the spar to form the shape. Once the tape was in place, the Clecos came out and went through an acetone cleanup.

This isn't a difficult job and at this stage of the project, you'll have enough experience with Hysol to know you don't have to rush to beat epoxy cure times. There is a definite sense that this has to be done correctly and the LLE has to lay properly against the spar extrusions and the ribs. Once the Hysol cures it had better be correct.

[Cherrybark]

Belt and suspenders approach to supporting the trailing edge bracket. Carbon fiber practice arrows came from Amazon since it was so much cheaper than any of the local sporting goods or archery shops. The full length shafts have some flex but short lengths, bonded in the trough are stiff as boards. One arrow was long enough to do both the channel insert and "extra" rib.

[jiott]

Certainly can't hurt anything, and the weight is negligible. Probably do that myself if I was building another one.

[Cherrybark]

I took advantage of very early Spring weather to complete a few landscape projects to get them off the list before Summer. The brick yard weighs pallets to calculate a price so I know it took 6613 pounds of stones to line the shade gardens. And after moving that rock, I know my back doesn't shrug off that kind of work like it did a couple of decades ago. But the major yard projects are done so it's back to the plane.

I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I read and re-read the build manual instructions on installing wing tips before deciding they just didn't apply to the tips with the space for landing lights. I decided to position the tips on the metal mounting tips, make sure they were aligned correctly, and draw my own cutting lines by measuring a constant distance, nominally 1/4", from outboard of the rib capstrip. After thinking through this solution I realized the answer was probably already in the forum. Bingo! Esser and JohnB had this conversation, complete with pictures, back in 12/13.

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=5203&highlight=trim+wing+tips

I'll add pictures to show how the tip of the leading edge spar is cut away to let the landing light "pocket" fit flush against the capstrip. I know the metal strips are riveted / bonded until the wings are covered. Think I will postpone installing nutplates till then as well so the space taken up by fabric and tape won't be an issue.

Nice to be back working on the project.

[SSFoxBuilder]

Looks like we were working in unison today, Carl.

[Cherrybark]

Great to see your project Dustin. I've wondered how many builders were moving along at generally the same stage of the build.

[Cherrybark]

Finally decided on a layout for the Oratex and got the fabric ordered. No word on an expected delivery date. It depends on what color runs the factory has in the pipeline and what happens to be in stock. Decided on Fokker Red to go with the flat black tubing.

Used High Fil as fairing material in places where the Laker Leading Edge meets the main rib capstrips and the stretch along the fuel tanks. The "short" edge of the LLE was a little rough in places so it's sanded down. And, once I started looking, there were several small Hysol and varnish stalagmites to smooth. Oratex has the convenience of not requiring paint. But that comes with the downside of not having a buildup of layers to cover up rough spots. Just like every paint project, prep is key.

Came up with a punch list of small projects to keep busy before covering. One of the projects is installing Garmin Auto Pilot servos. Kitfox offers an installation kit and copying their installation will save time and aggravation.

[Cherrybark]

While talking to either Debra or John I learned Kitfox sells a mounting kit for Garmin Auto Pilot Servos. As you would expect, the kit comes with an inventory sheet and the usual collection of labeled bags of parts - right down to a two tube, hand injector of Hysol.

With this kit you can completely avoid headaches from fabricating brackets, ordering rod-ends, and trying to figure out how to mount the servos. Both servos connect to idler arms with bushing as standoffs between the rod-ends. It took about two hours to inventory parts and test fit the servo brackets.

The only nagging concern is the pitch servo is mounted in the tail of the plane, just forward of the rear elevator idler arm. My plan was to cover the fuselage before installing instruments. It's going to be seriously aggravating if that servo doesn't operate.

[efwd]

Wow! Thats Clean. Wish I had asked John about mounting. I spent hours fabricating and fitting my servos which may look like crap to some but their in and accessible. I certainly never thought about mounting them further aft thats for sure. Easier.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

I'm confused by the manual drawings of the cuts in the Tail Access Covers for the airfoiled tail.

I assumed the final plates will have cuts with backing strips so an access plate is removed from the tail buy unscrewing the nuts around the perimeter and gently bending the plate and slipping the stabilizer and elevator tubes through the cuts in the plate.

Surely I'm reading the drawing wrong but Final Assembly Page 61 shows the rear cut extending fully across the access plate with the backing strip only covering the bottom half of the cut. On page 63, the aft hole in the access plate shows a cut from the bottom of the plate, the continuing cut to the top is gone, but a new cut extends to the rear of the plate. In both situations a section of the access plate will be completely cut off.

The cuts for the Standard Tail make more sense. Each hole has a single cut running from the hole to the edge of the plate, with appropriate backing plates.

To add to my confusion, on page 59, the pattern for the backing plates shows rivet holes drilled on either side of the length of the plate for a total of six holes. The instructions for mounting the backing plates call for six rivets to secure the backing plates to the access plates but the drawing only shows three rivets per plate. Surely you don't rivet the backing plates across the cuts. Doing this would require drilling rivets to remove the access plates.

Clearly I don't understand this assembly. And the process has become like one of those optical illusions. Once you see it one way you're stuck until someone points out the oddly shaped candelabra is actually two faces looking towards each other.

Does anyone have pictures of these completed parts?

[jiott]

Carl, Yes the drawings are confusing and not correct. The backing plates on page 59 show all holes, but only one side is rivet holes, the other side is holes for the self-tapping screws you will use. Page 61 is not correct for the airfoiled tail. Use the cut pattern shown on page 63. Don't use the standard tail pattern; it will require way too much bending to get on and off. The pattern on page 63 shows two cuts at right angles to each other; the backing plate only goes on the vertical cut. The horizontal cut doesn't really need a backing plate to stay in position, although I suppose you could put one there if you wanted, but in my experience it is not needed. On the very rear where the access cover screws onto the fiberglass fairing, I highly recommend you reinforce the backside of the fairing with a strip of aluminum (just use Hysol to attach it). This will give those screws something more substantial to tap into and help avoid stripping them out during your frequent removal of these access covers every annual.

While I'm spouting off on suggestions, make sure you put a round inspection cover on the belly of the airplane right under the elevator rear idler arm. Every annual you need to inspect and lube the ball joints and a cover makes it easy-peasy. Wouldn't hurt to also put one under your rear AP servo maybe.

[jrevens]

I used little Tinnerman clip nuts around the perimeter of those panels - I believe they were included in the kit. I used some slightly different ones on the rear 4 holes. Then I used some "Tric-nuts" on the steel tabs that are welded to the fuselage. It would have been just as good to use the clip nuts there too. So, those little SS screws have a replaceable "nut" to screw into. I can post some pictures showing how everything went together for me if it would be helpful, Carl.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for the quick answers and suggestions guys. Reinforcing the fiberglass is obviously a good idea and I wouldn't have thought of it until the holes weakened. And now I know the real name for those "clip nuts thingies".

Definitely need an inspection plate under the AP servo and I'll remember to put another under the idler arm. While I'm taking notes, what lube do you use on the ball joints?

Pictures would be great John.

[PapuaPilot]

Almost everything in the Kitfox is lubed with LPS-1. That will work on the Hiem ball or rod ends (ball end thingies;)).

Another lube that I like even better is Triflow, we use in our shop. It is a Teflon based lube.

[efwd]

I specifically recall assembly of the mixer calling for "bearing grease" on the pivot bolts. I can't imagine reapplying every annual. Are people not using bearing grease at these points?
Eddie

[jrevens]

I did, Eddie.

[jiott]

Yes, bearing grease on the pivot bolts, and Tri-Flow on the rod ends. I do not regrease the pivot bolts every annual, just check them for free motion.

Like John I also used the "clip nuts" on the access panels. The manual tells you to use them along the top and front, but says to use self tap screws into the weld tabs on the bottom. I found that to be nearly impossible in the thick steel tabs, so I used the clip nuts there also and am glad I did.

[efwd]

Glad to hear you guys did the tinnerman clips on purpose. I did it since I oversized the holes being inattentive during that procedure.
Eddie

[rosslr]

I drilled and tapped the lower tabs.

cheers

r

[Cherrybark]

For anyone who might stumble on this conversation while searching for information on the tail access plates, John posted detailed photos on his "John's Build" thread. This link will take you to the relevant page.

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=63432#post63432

[Cherrybark]

Mounted the wings and flaperons to make the rigging adjustments before covering. The door alcove on one wall and a window bay on the opposite give just enough room to walk around the plane. Of course, the needed tool is always on the other side of the fuselage. The ubiquitous, "Little Red Shop Stool" gets lots of use sliding back and forth under a wing.

I'm glad I took this sidetrack to rig before covering. It's very easy to reach through the naked fuselage to adjust rods. The downside is the flaperon horns are only secured with clecos and there is some slop. The final adjustment of the connection rods will be made after the flaperons are painted and the horns riveted.

Didn't think to take a picture until the flaperons were removed.

[efwd]

looking great Carl.
I don't understand why we would not be able to pull those flapperon horn rivets at this stage. The holes are drilled and it seems there is no different location that these horns can reside now. Fortunately the control rods are all pretty accessible through the cockpit after cover anyhow.
Eddie

[jrevens]

I agree, it does look great, Carl! I left my flaperon horn rivets out for a long time, knowing that it might be handy to help locate the slotted openings in the turtle deck by inserting some short tubes in the spar tubes of the flaperons that could be telescoped in or out while swinging the flaperons. I finally just went ahead & riveted them to be done with it.

[David47]

Although nowhere near this point in my build, I was thinking along the same lines as you Carl in doing the rigging prior to covering. Unlike you, I don't have the length in my shed to strap the wings on so I'll have to drag it outside to do it. Fortunately, you, Eddie, John, Jeff and others are far enough ahead of me so that I can learn about any pitfalls beforehand. I enjoy reading all your threads. Keep up the great work.

[Dave S]

D47

Not enough room in the shed?...No problem!

FWIW - a Local Kitfrox builder completed his bird in a small single car garage...I think a lot of builds take place in smaller places:)

[jiott]

Regarding rigging before covering, I believe the build manual tells you to rig the wing sweep, dihedral, washout, jury struts and rudder cables before covering. If you are considering rigging the controls before covering, that really isn't necessary. All control rod end adjustments are easily accessible after covering, except for the elevator idler arm located in the tailcone. However even this is easily accessed if you put one of those round inspection covers right underneath it on the belly. You will want to do this anyway for future access during annual inspections/lubrication.

[Cherrybark]

I started to go ahead a rivet the control horn but something nagged from the manual so I double checked. The suggestion is to wait until after painting to rivet so the paint doesn't gum up the nylon bearings. I've become so accustom to seeing the clecos sticking out of the horn, maybe I should make tiny little, "Remove Before Flight" ribbons.

[David47]

Yep, I'll have to do what you did Dave. I have enough room outside the shed, although without the snow !. We dont see the white stuff here in Australia unless you head for the hills ... and even then ... and I think if you're keen enough, you'd do a build in a closet!

You're right Jim about the rigging, but like Carl, I like the idea of ease of access to everything with no covering. Having said that though, I'll do a double check again after covering. A bit of "measure twice, cut once" . Also good advice on the access hole under the rear elevator idler - thanks.

[efwd]

OK, I'll admit. I will be the one to answer the question about whether you can rivet the horn in before the glass goes on. In a lapse of concentration, I went ahead and riveted the left flapperon horn before I read the manual again and noticed I should have waited. So, I have one side riveted and the Right side still clecoed. :o

[Cherrybark]

Just a few more items to complete before starting covering. Really looking forward to seeing airfoil surfaces rather than the internal bones and ribs.

I'm trying not to drive my self nuts figuring out mounting locations for two pieces of equipment - an Artex ELT 345 and a Garmin GTX-45R Remote Transponder.

There are several examples of other builders' installations with fabricated mounts secured to the frame with clamps. A big consideration is how easy it will be to service the devices down the road. While moving the ELT from place to place, it occurred to me just how simple it would be to mount both units on the inside floor of the cargo bay. Run bolts up from the bottom of the floor, secure with nyloc nuts, rest a fender washer on top, then the equipment mount and final nylocs to secure. A grounding cable would be required but I was planning on that anyway.

I don't envision carrying a lot of cargo so the room wouldn't be missed. This seems like such a simple solution. Am I missing something?

[PapuaPilot]

That isn't a bad idea. Many certified planes have the ELT in the cargo area. The biggest concern I see would be the wiring harnesses and ELT switch; you need to make sure they won't get damaged when you have cargo. You could possibly make a cover or box and put the transponder and ELT inside to offer protection.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for the response Phil. And covering with a box is a nice added touch.

[jiott]

Many guys remove the baggage compartment and floor for every annual condition inspection. I don't personally do it myself because I have come up with ways to see the critical control rods and cables without doing so. Any electronics mounted inside the baggage area would make this annual removal a pain, especially the wiring harnesses and antenna cables that must pass thru the baggage wall. I wouldn't do it myself. There is plenty of room just outside the baggage area, either to the sides or to the rear. Just my thoughts.

[jrevens]

I would agree with Jim. And if you use the "standard" Kitfox cargo "sack", ready access to the side areas, and an ELT there, can be easy due to the Velcro attachment of the sack along the edges.

[Cherrybark]

Okay, okay, all excellent points about likely needing to remove the floor. And, even after cutting and sewing a slot in the bag for wiring, it's probably best to avoid disconnecting cables when not necessary. So it's back to constructing an aluminum frame with clamps to mount to the frame tubing.

As usual, the forum is a great resource for asking questions and getting quick responses.

[efwd]

Where you been Carl? I was considering calling to see what you've been up to? Too much Yard work?

[Cherrybark]

It's been a long, cool Spring and my wife had several projects in mind. I got a little carried away on a couple of them, forgetting how little fun it is to move yard after yard of organic topsoil in a wheelbarrow. If I could bring myself to sell the pickup I'd have an excuse to hire people to do this sort of work.

The Kitfox has been getting some attention but it's mainly along the lines of small jobs caught here and there.

A SteinAir box arrived today with an assortment of boxes making up a G3X system - another complete puzzle to build. And I have unopened boxes from Oratex over in one corner. It feels like I've been more of a receiving clerk than a kit builder. Next steps are to install the ELT and remote transponder, then start playing with Oratex.

[jiott]

I put my Dynon remote xponder on one of the triangular shelves I installed behind the instr. panel.

[efwd]

Playing with Oratex can be really rewarding. I think you will appreciate the small steps towards being done with a part. Nearly finished a wing this week. Only leading edge tapes and end tapes remain. I have yet to determine if I have to order more tape. I will order 6" tapes if I have already enough 2" tape to cover the second wing to this stage. If I need addtl 2" tapes then I will just use it and the 4" to finish the leading edge.

[Cherrybark]

The Garmin GTX 45R Remote Transponder comes with a very nice, tight fitting, rack mount case. Once the case is mounted, the transponder unit slides neatly in and out with a cam locking mechanism. A photo from JohnB showed the transponder neatly mounted behind the pilot's seat but, once I started looking, the current version of the case only has mounting holes along the thin sides for horizontal mounting. Since the transponder fits so snugly, it's not just a simple matter of drilling new holes. There have to be dimples for the countersink bolts to "hide" in.

The installation manual mentions a vertical mount case as an option and, with fingers crossed, I gave SteinAir a call hoping for a case swap. Wonderful company to work with and "Chris" understood the situation immediately. In fact, he had previously investigated the vertical case for another customer. Garmin does offer the case, certified for helicopters, and selling for the princely sum of $1,500. I put the comma in so you wouldn't think I miss-typed $15. Chris offered the obvious solution of making L's to create mount. A few hours of cutting, belt sanding and drilling and the case is mounted. I'm amazed how much time can be spent fiddling with something like this. But I'm pleased with the results.

[Cherrybark]

I'm trying not to be too intimidated by Eddie's covering job on the wing. Really looking forward to that part of the project.

[David47]

A few hours of cutting, belt sanding and drilling and the case is mounted. I'm amazed how much time can be spent fiddling with something like this. But I'm pleased with the results.

Carl, Know what you mean. Designing, making stuff, fitting up, adjusting and installing takes time. Imagine if we all had to start from just basic plans and no kit !. Those who came before and built from plans or modified existing designs have my utmost respect.

[Cherrybark]

A big box of Garmin G3X toys recently arrived from SteinAir. Uncounted hours were spent reading the online Garmin manuals to learn mounting and wiring details. It would be very helpful if the "Homebuilders' Skunk Works" department of Garmin to wrote a simplified manual. But I'm sure the corporate lawyers have a lot to say about that. Happily there are very helpful forum builders who were a great help on getting started with the wiring design.

One of the recent small projects was installing the Kitfox Factory trim position sensor. This involves mounting and removing the horizontal stabilizer a couple of times while making adjustments. The rear bolt, that the stabilizer pivots on, has always been difficult to install. There are access holes in the adjacent ribs but it's always taken a drift pin to install and remove this bolt and I end up using a second drift pen not for alignment but as a punch. It always nagged that this was going to be a very difficult task during final assembly of a covered plane. It's embarrassing to admit how long it took for it to finally dawn on me that since the bolt slid easily in and out of the bushing and mounting post without the elevator, it was the elevator that wasn't lining up correctly. A close look showed the rear of the mounting post was too thick. A couple of minutes with a Dremel sanding drum and the elevator is a piece of cake to mount.

Any recommendations for a touch up paint for small places where the powder coat has been removed? Does an automotive touch up paint last?

[Cherrybark]

It's finally "Oratex Time". With the help of a PVC tube, wing stands turned into a fabric dispenser. Mom was a home economics major and taught her son how to sew more than buttons. That led to an interest in quilting so I just happen to have a cutting mat, rolling cutter and long rulers on hand. This part of the plane should be fun. The magnetometer and pitot mount aren't installed yet but I'm ready to play with fabric.

[rosslr]

H Carl,

Good progress and I enjoy your posts. Yes, the covering is a fun part - will be even more so with your skills!

There was a small pot of touch up 'paint' included in my kit for the powder coating - not in yours? I am not sure how special it is but it appeared to come form the powder coat mob and made just for this task - maybe Kitfox has some?

chers

ross

[jiott]

Carl, I used the Polyfiber epoxy primer as touch up paint where powder coat was removed, and also for a protective primer on many aluminum parts and spars.

[PapuaPilot]

Carl,
You are right about the amount of the time it takes to figure out the installation and wiring of a G3X system. Once I got it figured out I really enjoyed the fabrication of the harnesses, etc. One of these days I need to add the Garmin WAAS GPS to complete the ADSB out, I already have the GTX23ES transponder and GDL89R (ADSB in). You will really like the G3X once you start flying.

How challenging do you think it would be to install the trim potentiometer on a completed plane? I ran the wiring, so it would just require the installation and rigging in the tail.

[Cherrybark]

The Trim Indicator Kit comes with two brackets, a potentiometer, and an assortment of machine screws, nuts, etc. The instructions have you bond one bracket to the fuselage for mounting the pot. The second bracket is bonded to the elevator and serves as a "finger" to push the pot button in and out. My 2016 fuselage came with a "pot support" bracket already installed and drilled. For reference, there is 1.5" distance between this bracket and the elevator support.

I would think you could do the job without having to remove the elevator. You could pre-drill the pot support bracket so the pot is held high against the fuselage tube as in the the picture. On an unfinished plane, the elevator has to be mounted to find the correct position for the finger bracket so you are ahead of the game there. The difficulty might be figuring out how to clamp the brackets while the Hysol cures. After the Hysol is set, the finger can be gently bent so the pot button ranges from fully pressed to open as the elevator moves. The pot comes with a foot of shielded 3-strand, maybe 22 ga. wire - and a neatly printed tape label saying which color does what.

[PapuaPilot]

Thanks Carl, that doesn't look to bad. My plane doesn't have the bracket, so it will require structural adhesive to install the tab and brackets.

[David47]

Carl, I had exactly the same problem with fitting up the tailplane. Removal of material required on the fuselage mounted fitting. But in my kit, I have a small bottle of white acrylic touchup paint for this exact type of problem. Maybe check your kit. It should be there and you received your kit only 6 months or so before mine.

[bholland]

Carl,
My kit was delivered just before yours I think and it had a small bottle (maybe 1-2oz) of touch up paint as well. I also have used Stewart System primer/paint and it matches really well. I can send you the colors or a picture/part# of the touch up paint if you need it.

Brett,
Building SS7
mykitlog.com/bholland/

[Cherrybark]

The Kitfox touch up paint was back ordered when the initial kit was delivered. I had forgotten and Debra is sending a bottle with the Firewall Forward Kit.

[Cherrybark]

Fokker Red Oratex. Fabric has been initially attached to the bottom side of the elevator. After heat activation, the glue requires several hours to completely bond. At that point, a heat gun or iron is used to shrink the fabric. Glue is drying on horizontal stabilizer pieces in the foreground.

There is absolutely no odor, even sticking your nose right up to the bottle of glue. The glue applies beautifully with sponge brushes and, for quick jobs, brush can be cleaned with water.

I know the Oratex fabric doesn't appeal to everyone. But I have no experience with a spray rig and appreciate the time savings of this covering system.

[David47]

Really like the red you've chosen Carl. I think there are pro's and con's for whatever covering system you use. Whatever suits the builder is good.

[efwd]

Hey Carl, I found a reasonably priced 6AWG crimper on Amazon. Pro'sKit CP-251B Ratcheted Crimper for Non-Insulated Terminals, AWG 22-6. There is one costing slight less even.
Eddie

[jiott]

When I needed to crimp connectors on my heavy battery and starter cables I just cut them all to length and strpped the insulation and then took the whole mess of them to my local battery/electrical auto shop and they crimped the connectors on for very few dollars.

[efwd]

I considered that too but inevitably Im bound to come across some other cable that I was not aware of. I like tools too.

[Cherrybark]

The local Interstate battery store was what I had in mind. But this is a small town and "building an airplane" is an interesting story. Meant to mention this approach on the "Root Plugs" thread.

[Cherrybark]

Milestone today - the vertical stabilizer covering is completed. The elevator was finished a few days ago. But finishing the stabilizer has been a goal since Gary posted a photo of a red stabilizer on his "Turtle Build" thread. "EFWD Build" and "John's Build" also have nice photos of Oratex work.

I get a chuckle out of the "Cover a Rudder in 90 Minutes" video Oratex has on YouTube. It does show the process but completely ignores the recommended glue dry times between steps. Working on the elevator and stabilizer in parallel gave me enough "fabric time" and planning the electrical system filled in project time.

Rudder next then, after dealing with curves, I suspect the long wing panels will seem simple.

Brett Holland, a forum member, and his wife Cathy were in the area and dropped by for a visit. Really nice to compare projects with him.

[Cherrybark]

The kits change over the years and my "June 2016" model has a couple of fairly new touches. The welded tab for mounting the trim indicator was mentioned in an earlier post. I recently learned this "Hmmm, seems like a great place to mount an ELT" is fairly new as well. You can see the tip of the ELT antenna peeking up behind the radio. There is a pre-drilled antenna mounting plate in just the right spot.

[DesertFox4]

Looks very good Carl.

[colospace]

Looking real nice Carl. And it must be really sweet to have all that working space that I see in your photo.

[efwd]

Looking great Carl. Hmm I don't have those things and I only purchased 6 months before you. Things Change. We didn't have the STOL wing option either. :)

[Cherrybark]

There would be more room if my wife wasn't determined to keep 1/3 of the garage as a parking space. I get revenge when she backs out of the air conditioned garage and her windows fog over! I keep encroaching and won't be surprised when "Do Not Cross" tape finally appears on the floor.

[David47]

Your progress is really good Carl and that red is gonna make your airplane look very smart. Keep up the good work.

Maybe you need to build a second shed for the car ..... !

[Cherrybark]

Horizontal stabilizer, elevator and rudder are covered and tucked safely out of the way. Now the wings are being prepped for covering, spending lots of time filling and sanding for a smooth surface.

We live in a small, friendly neighborhood and this garage window faces the street. A few friends are keeping track of the build - interested husbands and bemused wives. The red tail feathers on display will stir attention.

I think the gentle curves of the stabilizer made it easiest to cover. The sharper curves of the elevator makes the perimeter finishing tape more of a challenge. The rudder presents the interesting problems of how to cover around the three "pipes" at the bottom, blend in the flat area in front of the cable horns and, finally, do a neat job with finishing tapes. That is the order I would recommend.

[Cherrybark]

Starting to be a lot of red in the garage. Took just over a week of steady work to get the fabric glued and tightened. Now I have to burn holes in the fabric that I've tried to handle oh so carefully. Then comes the reputedly calming job of rib lacing followed by yards and yards of finishing tape. Or, this being Oratex, should I say meters?

Just as with a couple of earlier tasks, a nagging, "This is a big deal, don't screw it up", kept repeating in my head. But, all in all, it wasn't terribly difficult and I really like the red. Thinking of flat black on the painted surfaces to match the powder coating.

Working on covering gave the same feeling the first cleco job did. "Hey, now I'm really building an airplane!"

[efwd]

Hey Carl
Have you decided on the type of lacing? Round or flat, dewaxed?

[Cherrybark]

Despite having purchased the round Oratex unwaxed, I going to use the kit supplied flat waxed. As others have done, I'll run the thread through a clean cloth before lacing then clean the surface area with alcohol or some other solvent to get rid of wax residue. After the lacing is complete, I'll run blue painters tape along either side and brush glue before applying finishing tape - paying attention to drench each lacing cord. I haven't had any trouble with the blue tape and always pull it while the glue is still wet.

[efwd]

I attempted to video my technique on achieving the tight starter knot using the round. If you are using the waxed type you may not have the same difficulty of achieving the tight starter Knot. If you do have difficulty I will send the video..

[Cherrybark]

Thanks Eddie. I need to spend some time watching videos and practicing on exposed ribs.

[Cherrybark]

It seemed pointless to repeatedly post, "covering wing", but today the first wing is completed and that's worth a post.

Rib lacing was done with flat waxed, running it through an alcohol damped rag. Little if any wax residue while lacing. Paid attention to drenching each lace while gluing before the reinforcing tapes covered the job. Got carried away and ran a thumbnail along the sides of the 1" anti-chafe tape and the laces to make crisp lines. You can spend a lot of time fussing with stuff like that.

One of my two primary instructors, auto-tow at the Fault Line Flyers Club in the Austin area, was Eddie Ross. This club died and was rejuvenated a couple of times and I happened to join just as it was coming back from the dead. Before the start of the organization meeting there were a handful of past members, me and two other snotty nosed kids in our early 20s sitting around when this older guy and his wife came in the room. My thought was how neat it was this old guy was interested enough to watch us fly gliders. Over the next few months I became friends with this giant of aviation history. After a couple of beers he would tell stories of barnstorming, flying cross-country at night and dropping flares to find the runway, his shock that the government thought pilots needed pieces of paper, and on and on. Eddie was Waldo Pepper come to life! His license took several pages and we got used to him being whisked away to give instruction to various companies new pilots. He was one of my primary instructors and, after becoming an instructor, I had the honor of endorsing his grandson so Eddie could do his check ride. Every year a beautiful Staggerwing Beech would drop out of the sky, pick up Eddie and his wife, and fly them to the annual gathering of Staggerwings. Years back, he had taken delivery of the first Staggerwing and Beech made several changes to the design based on feedback from his flying experiences and honored him at these gatherings. The Beech Staggerwing Museum houses the "Eddie Ross Restoration Center". What on earth does this have to do with covering a wing? With that background, I used the "Staggerwing Knot" in my lacing.

[efwd]

Nice work Carl! From this distance I can't even see your laces. I bet you can see mine from Texas.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

This little jewel is the Garmin GMU 11 Magnetometer, weighing all of 2.5 oz. Before covering the second wing, I want to make certain the electrical noise from the MicroSun Landing and Nav / Strobe LEDs aren't a problem. The Garmin system will test the interference but first there's a bit of wiring to do.

"Oh, the knee bone connects to the thigh bone..."

Err, "The GMU 11 connects to the GSU 25..."

[Cherrybark]

Speaking of you visiting Texas to admire the Spring Bluebonnets. I have these rough cowling parts sitting in the spare room and an engine mount that needs wrestling...

[efwd]

Im in the garage today tackling the little tear drop shape bumps on the top cowl. I wish I had taken the composites sport air workshop. Its the only one I have not taken and I am enjoying this cowling install If I may say so. I think this time I will go get some fiberglass and fix it into the cowl that way instead of hysol. We'll see how that goes. After I go cut these holes I will be doing the cam locks on the perimeter of the cowls.:D

[rosslr]

Hi Eddie - great progress with the cowl. Are you fitting the bumps because you need the clearance or just for the look of them? I didn't need the clearance so didnt bother with them. It will be interesting to see how they look.

cheers

r

[jrevens]

It does look very nice, Carl! FWIW, I too did the Staggerwing knot, and also ran my fingernail down the sides of the lacing.

[Av8r3400]

Of course you did, John. :p

I used the I-think-it's-right-knot that got tight and held, so it must be good enough technique. :o

[David47]

With all that red Carl, I think we should start calling you "The Red Baron" !!. Wing covering looks really good. And the Story of "Waldo Pepper Eddie" is a nice little ditty, and well written.

[Cherrybark]

High praise for Garmin's Experimental Aviation Support Group!

I decided on a Garmin G3X single screen avionics package with the usual Comm, Transponder, etc. SteinAir, a sponsor, knows these systems inside and out and they made it painless to select components to build the system I wanted. Then came wading through the online G3X Installation manual to learn how all of the boxes plugged together. This is a very thorough manual!

Printing out the sections for my components, including the pin assignments for the wiring connectors, made it easier to understand how the various boxes needed to plug together but there still were questions. Such as, why do these two boxes share both a CAN Bus and RS-232 connection? Garmin's Experimental Aviation Support Group is just an email away and answers to questions were usually returned in a day.

One of the forum regulars, who will remain nameless in his role of innocent bystander, kindly emailed me drawings of his electrical circuits which included a different collection of Garmin components. These were beautifully drawn using the free Draftsight 2D CAD program and inspired me to put aside my yellow pad, covered with wavy lines, and do a more professional job. Garmin's support group had encouraged me to send drawings for their review, so off went five pages of documentation. In a day, a return email said everything look good excepting one change requiring a swap of two RS-232 ports.

While working on the design I exchanged three or four emails with the Garmin Experimental Group. Various staff responded but they were always helpful and their answers were more friendly explainations than curt "yes or no." I was very impressed and wanted to take a minute to praise this group.

They can be reached at g3xpert@garmin.com and you might have seen them post on the Rans forum under the user name G3XPERT.

[efwd]

Great to know Carl. Thanks for the contact. It won't be long before Im head over heals trying to make sense of all that.

Eddie

[Cherrybark]

Seems like I've been planning wiring and laying out the console forever. Part of the slow down is the Fall like weather that brought out the "Honey Do" list for outside projects. One of those tasks was to finally paint the shed that was Step 1 of this project.

The console layout is based on a 10" Garmin G3X with a Comm radio and a 9.7" iPad Pro slaved to the Garmin. Decided to mount the iPad with the RAM Ball system. It will just fit as a flush mounted unit but I wanted to first try this approach. Cooling and adjusting to avoid glare were some of the considerations. The unusual unit next to the row of breakers is a CAV-13 912iS Engine Monitor. Transponder is Garmin's remote mounted unit and Auto Pilot functions will be through the G3X Display. Thought the Scotch Brite "brushed aluminum" looked nice till I took it outside and it turned into a mirror in bright sunlight. After all of the holes are drilled, it will be powdered coated flat black.

Have started string CAN Bus, power and other connections to the various components. Plan to complete wiring and install the console before covering the left wing and fuselage.

[efwd]

Nice Job Carl
Just dropped off my panel at the powder coat company today.
I can appreciate the time you spent away from doing fabric. By time I was finishing the last wing I was pretty tired of taping.
Eddie

[jrevens]

Yeah... you're doing the fun stuff now, Carl. Be careful - you won't want to go back to messing with that Oratex! ;)

It's gonna' be nice, and I think that you and Eddie have the right idea in doing the powder coating.

[David47]

Couldn't agree more John. Happy wiring Carl and hopefully all the electrons do what they're supposed to !.

[PaulSS]

Haha, glad I'm not the only one who saw the advantages of the iS status monitor. I can't wait to eventually get mine going, although I did have a play with one in June.

I don't know how the Garmin stuff links together with the CAN bus, power, ground etc but maybe have a look at this chap's blog:

http://elder.ninja/blog/p/3521

I think he's come up with a very elegant 'daisy chain' design and it's one that I'll be using on my MGL gear.

Of course, if you've already cut the cables.......:D

[Cherrybark]

The guy Paul linked to had the interesting idea to build a collection of short "Y" connectors to wire his CAN Bus. A "Y" was made up of two 4-pin Molex connectors with DB9 in the middle. The longer CAN Bus wires were basically extension cords with the opposite sex 4-pin Molex plugs to string everything together. Apparently his MGL Avionics manages to communicate everything with the two Hi & Lo signals along with +12V and ground. And they have cleverly made the DB9 pin assignments identical between devices. The idea was to have the flexibility of adding additional CAN Bus devices by simply plugging in new jumpers.

A couple of the Garmin devices have identical DB9 pin assignments (the GSA 24 Roll Servo and the GMU 11 Magnetometer oddly enough) but that commonality falls apart quickly. For instance, the GSA 24 Pitch Servo adds a jumper between pins 5 & 6 to specify it as the "pitch" servo. And other units have multiple unique pins.

My plan is to neatly bundle multiple cables to each device. As example, the GEA 24 Engine interface will have three cables: shielded pair for CAN Bus, shielded 3-strand for RS232 communications, 3-strand for Power 1, Power 2 (stabilized during engine starts) and Power Ground. Bundles will be tied with the traditional wire cord rather than zip ties.

[Cherrybark]

Major holes cut and drilled in panel. Still have a the keyholes for the round switches and a couple of LEDs.

Agonized on how to cut the larger circles for the two vents and the CAV-13 engine monitor. After reading almost universally poor reviews on affordable tools, I bought this very cheap cutter from Harbor Freight. Practiced on scrap aluminum sheet using only one knife and the drill press on it's slowest speed. Carefully set the cut radius with calipers and did test cuts on scrap wood to double check setting. Used high school geometry and a compass to find the mid point of the desired circle. Clamped the panel to 2 x 4 that were clamped to the press table and, with frequent shots of WD-40 for cooling, slowly cut the circles. Despite being rated for wood and other soft material, the tool did a great job.

The 3/4" switch holes were pilot drilled then finished with a step bit, again in the press. Lots of clamping and making sure 2 x 4 pieces were providing support before drilling. Started by laying out the center points then used a socket as template to draw the circle. It wasn't too important to have the socket centered perfectly as the drawn circle was just a reference to insure I didn't take an extra step on the drill. After all of the holes were drilled, the step bit was used to deburr the reverse side.

Rectangular holes were made using Dremel knock-offs - Black & Decker ("pop" then smoke") and a $17 Wen with a collet that fits Dremel tools. Tossed the B&D in the trash and ordered two more Wens to have backups. Used a clamped strip of aluminum as guide to cut just inside the lay out lines. A hand held hacksaw blade was used near the corners. Then a couple of metal files to smooth and size for final fit.

The panel goes to the powdercoating shop tomorrow.

[efwd]

Looks really nice Carl. I looked all over my garage for that tool and could not find it. The first thing I noticed was the very uniform edges on your holes. I knew right away you must have used the drill press. I free handed mine and you can tell the difference. Luckily for me the switch bevel conceals it.
Eddie

[jrevens]

I did my panel completely by hand also, Carl. Also used a fly-cutter for all the larger holes, of which I have many! As you have obviously discovered, or known, solid and secure clamping to your drill press table, as well as slow speed is critical to making clean, accurate holes with a fly-cutter. Good job.

[Cherrybark]

I'm following the idea of snaking the Pitot and AOA tubes between the fuel tank and the aft spar. Someone mentioned using a "compatible" adhesive. Any suggestions of a readily available product??

The Magnetometer wires will also run through this space, with the Landing and Strobe wires inside the spar. All of these wires are shielded but it won't hurt to have the metal of the spar helping prevent electrical noise from the Wig-Wag and Strobe pulses.

When running wires through the spar, is it advisable to slip them in something like the very lightweight irrigation tubing to protect against rivets? Or am I just looking for problems?

[PapuaPilot]

I ran my magnetometer wires through the wing spar along with my nav/strobes and wig-wag. With it being shielded it doesn't matter being near the other wires. I haven't had any problems with interference.

I put the wires in my spars inside the plastic split wire loom, which is lightweight, inexpensive and readily available at the big box hardware stores.

It looks like what you are doing for your AOA is fine. I ran mine out to the wingtip and down through the spar because my wing was already covered when I got the plane second hand.

[jiott]

I also used the split tubing inside the spar like Phil. I also ran my Pitot and AOA tubing inside the spar. I'm curious Carl, when you route your pitot/AOA tubing behind the fuel tank as you show, how do you treat the termination where it exits the wing root? It looks like you will end up with that tubing running out of the butt rib and down the inside of the structure. When you run it inside the rear spar it neatly exits the end of the spar and then can be run inside the fabric wrapper on the diagonal tubing, keeping it completely out of sight.

[Cherrybark]

"When you run it inside the rear spar it neatly exits the end of the spar and then can be run inside the fabric wrapper on the diagonal tubing, keeping it completely out of sight." - Jim

Thanks for that very important tip Jim. Honestly I haven't figured out how the various tubing and wires are going to lead from the wing into the fuselage. With your comment, I'll change and run both the magnetometer and tubing inside the rear spar. Any memories of just how much slack tubing and wire is needed to reach from the rear spar into the area behind the panel?

[efwd]

Hey Carl, if your just looking to tack down that segment of pitot tubing thats in behind the tank, I just used the same product that was used to glue the tank in. I just placed about three or four beads of the stuff.
Eddie

[colospace]

Carl,
I bonded a few pieces of model airplane plywood I had on hand to span from the aft edge of the tank to the aft spar. This holds the tubing off of the fabric while still leaving it free to be pulled out if I ever needed to do that (or at least that was my thought process).

[Cherrybark]

Gary,

How will you run the tubing once it's inside the fuselage? I'm try to avoid going through the process of mounting the wing to see how the tubes and wing wires are routed.

Nice idea to have them removable.

[colospace]

Carl,
I left about 3 foot of tubing extending from the root. My Dynon ADAHRS is mounted behind the baggage sack, and I have run the tubing from it forward to just behind the pilot seat. I plan to locate connectors behind the seat. Final details of exact location will be worked out after the wings go on at hangar.

[efwd]

Carl, go ahead and cut your pitot lines. I have already procured you some quick disconnects to attach. If you go to AS&S and search "Fuel line quick disconnect" you will find a white part that costs under $7. I have nearly the exact same device that is specifically used for air pressure lines that are used for tourniquets in the Operating Room. They can hold in excess of 450psi without bleeding down. This application has nearly no pressure at all so they will work beautifully. I have two for you. If anyone else would like some, they just go in the trash every day at work.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

What a great re-purposing. Thanks for collecting those Eddie.

[jiott]

Here is a photo of my pitot & AOA tubing and nav/strobe wires exiting the rear spar (notice the split tubing for protection). Also note how they lead right into the fabric wrapper on the diagonal airframe tube. You will also note that I used high quality weatherproof connectors for the wiring at this point, in case I ever want to remove the wings. I have folded the wings back several times with this wiring and tubing routing and it works fine without pinching or damaging anything.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for that picture Jim. It certainly clears up the routing. My wing tip and magnetometer wires, as well as the Pitot and AOA tubes, are now led through the spar.

I've been slack lately but one of the big benefits of updating a build thread is other member's asking, "Why are you doing it that way?"

[Cherrybark]

Panel back from the powercoating shop. Spent some time playing with a Brother Label Maker using the default tape. When you're happy with the spacing, the label can be saved to a "file". The final labels will be on clear tape with white letters. Hopefully the tape edges won't be too obvious. I planned to print a continuous label outlined with a square frame. But the breakers hit a "label too long" limit. I may play with printing two framed breaker labels and trimming the overlapping verticals.

Going by the powercoat shop was a fun experience. The owner is an interesting guy who is more of an artist than a solid color production shop. Completed metal-flaked motorcycle frames and custom wheels litter the outside office. And he's in the process of building a new, larger furnace to handle a run of three slingshot dragster frames. I asked how the process worked and off we went on a tour of the shop complete with, "Here, try your hand at shooting some power on these small parts."

OSHA? We don't need no stinking OSHA. This is the Piney Woods of East Texas.

[jiott]

[QUOTE=Cherrybark;68303] I planned to print a continuous label outlined with a square frame. But the breakers hit a "label too long" limit. I may play with printing two framed breaker labels and trimming the overlapping verticals./QUOTE]

That's exactly what I did Carl.

[efwd]

Carl, I have a proposition for ya. As you know, I had a terrible time getting white decals made. If you look back at my panel you will see the passenger warning decal which is made with silver foil. Im not sure how you would feel having silver letters and surrounds but if you would like to try it then send me some of those labels you made. Those would be simple for me to photo copy onto the dextrin paper and I believe I could get the silver labels made. You could try them and if you don't like it then you just remove them very easily. I would photo copy them multiple times and you would have more than one try at placing them if you want to try. Let me know
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

I appreciate your offer Eddie but didn't see it until spending a day labeling and filling the panel. If you don't mind sending one, I would like to see how your Passenger Warning decal looks. That's something a label maker can't do nicely.

This picture is fuzzy, taken with a cell phone in a fluorescent lit garage. But I'm pretty happy with how the white on clear tape labels came out. They are quick to make, and make again, and make again until you get the alignment right. Wiped the panel with alcohol before each label with there is still dust particles behind the tape. A couple of times my fingers weren't clean and the clear tape adhesive attracts perfect finger prints.

The rectangular hole will be filled with the COMM radio but, until the panel is in the cockpit, it hangs awkwardly. The empty area on the right gets a 9.7" iPad Pro on a RAM mount.

[efwd]

When I get a chance to hit the post office I’ll send a decal and quick disconnects.
A sticker of the warning might be more economical since you would have to buy the spray adhesive to apply the decal but Ill send it.
Eddie

[Cherrybark]

If you haven't printed it already I'll buy a sticker. Didn't think about adhesive and it's silly to buy it for one decal. Thanks though.

[jiott]

Kitfox has a nice metal engraved passenger warning plate you can purchase; at least they used to. It goes on with a couple of small rivets-easy-peasy. Its the plate in the center of the glove box on the right-not a very good photo.

[jiott]

Carl, I like your white letters on black labeling better than my black on light tan. They really stand out nicely.

[PaulSS]

I like the position of the Lane lights, close to the status monitor. That's a great idea and wish I had the space on my, still on paper, panel to do the same. I do like your little switches as well. Presumably they're not man enough for the job of start power and backup, which I seem to recall is 20A, hence the lone toggle switch :)

[Cherrybark]

All of the switches came from Kitfox. They have an assortment of the round switches and it's nice to have "0/1" matching the "H/Off/L" heater fan switch. Easy to install with a "bump" that fits into a filed key-way to prevent rotation.

The "Start Power | Battery B/U" toggle came with the Firewall Forward kit for the 912iS. The "Start Power" position is a momentary rather than "locked" position. You hold the switch in that position, while pressing the "Start" button, and when you release it returns to the center "Off" position. The "Battery B/U" position is a more traditional "locked" position.

[PaulSS]

Yes, we've had this conversation on Eddie's thread. I'll be using a start timer and won't have a start power switch at all but I think I prefer Ross' idea of using an on/off switch instead of having to keep holding the switch, while you're pressing the start button and potentially adjusting the throttle. The only disadvantage is that you then have to remember to turn off the switch after start but that's hardly onerous. An on/off/on switch would fit the bill but I'm certainly not in any position to muck up anyone's thinking when my machine is still on paper :( It is a shame that KF don't have a switch to match the others and do the job but, as I said before, I don't think they'd have a high enough current rating for the 20A required by Rotax.

[Cherrybark]

I've slept multiple times since the start switch topic came up and completely forgot about it.

[colospace]

Be aware that the FAA just changed the required wording for the passenger warning. EAA says they will be coming out with new decals. Sorry I do not recall at the moment what the FAA document is that contains the working.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for the heads up Gary

[southwind32]

Kitfox has a nice metal engraved passenger warning plate you can purchase; at least they used to. It goes on with a couple of small rivets-easy-peasy. Its the plate in the center of the glove box on the right-not a very good photo.

What size screen is your EFIS?
Another question, what are the black strips on your rudder pedals. How do you like them?
Thanks
Brian

[Cherrybark]

Brian,

It's Jim who has what looks like non-slip strips on the rudder pedals. Perhaps he'll drop by and notice your questions.

[jiott]

Its the 10" Dynon Skyview screen.
As Carl guessed, the black strips are non-slip self adhesive, and yes I like them.

[southwind32]

Where did you get the "non-slip adhesive"

Thanks

[colospace]

You can find it in the Ace Hardware Aviation aisle.

[jiott]

I can't remember where I bought my non-skid material, but most likely it was at some hardware store. Its usually used for stair treads or marine applications.

[southwind32]

Ok, thanks, I'll keep an eye out for some.

Brian

[bholland]

This is what I used from Aircraft Spruce.
3M 610 24" BLACK NON SKID TAPE
Part #: 09-31675

Brett
mykitlog.com/bholland

[ken nougaret]

The non-skid tape i bought was on clearance at home depot or lowes from the riding mower section.

[Cherrybark]

I thought putting a temporary 4 x 8 sheet of plywood on the workbench would give plenty of room for the wiring project. Nope, it just let the mess grow! Finally got smart and used the plastic bins to organize the pins and other bits related to each avionics device.

The CAN Bus was the first step and it made me decide on the routing to the Transponder, GPS, and Servos mounted behind the cockpit. More than one "please don't let this new splice be too short." With the routing decided and a little confidence after making several splices of "T- branches" at each device, the wiring started to go a little quicker.

Not sure how much work will get done during the week of Thanksgiving but I hope to be smoke testing in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I was generous with my wire estimates and won't get stuck waiting for UPS. I'm happy to be working a naked fuselage and standing in front of rotisserie to work behind the panel hasn't been a problem.

Raychem Solder Sleeves (Aircraft Spruce) are very convenient when attaching a short ground wire to the shield braid at each connection. The ground wire gets a ring terminal and attaches to the metal connector, a DB9 for instance, at each device. Not cheap, but a real time saver and makes a neat connection.

[jiott]

Just a heads up on those solder sleeves. I used some of them and had a few bad joints that had to be redone. There is not much solder inside the sleeves and if everything is not just right you can get a weak joint. Make sure to give each joint the old tug test before you call it good.

[Cherrybark]

I had one ground wire fail the tug test. Fortunately it slipped back into the sleeve and additional heat secured it. During the second heating I noticed the red color band of the solder ring faded to silver. Taking that as a clue, I reheated the other completed terminals until the red color faded as well. Finally found these linked instructions and learned this colored ring is an intentional indicator for those clever enough to have read and followed directions. Working well so far.

https://www.corsa-technic.com/productdata/SolderSleeveShieldTermS01-Manual.pdf

[colospace]

"Required work space" always equals "Available work space" + "More"

[PapuaPilot]

I was told to tin the bare wire that is inserted into the solder sleeves because they don't have much solder inside. Doing this gave me a good bond every time.

[Cherrybark]

That's an excellent idea Phil. Wish I had thought of it at the first connection.

[Alsail]

Hi all,
new member here, seriously considering a build. As I research the kit, I wonder what a minimum build shed ceiling height should be; I have a large heated basement, but with a ceiling height of only 90 in ... would appreciate any thoughts on whether this would fit ..
Thanks!
Alex

[Esser]

If it’s a tail dragger, you’ll be fine. The plane is only 7 feet tall. On tricycle, it’s closer to 9’. Plus you could wait til the very end to put gear ob

[Cherrybark]

Hi Alex,

The "Shed" was necessary to clear out my crowded garage before starting the build.

Here is a recent thread started by someone asking about space requirements and tools that are helpful during the build.

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=8302

[Cherrybark]

Still working on the plane almost daily. I'm installing the avionics and other electrical, and it's just not that interesting to post, "Completed CAN Bus from Engine Monitor to Servos". Not to mention how boring the pictures would be.

Yesterday was the first "power on" of the avionics and I'm happy to report all of the smoke stayed inside the units were it belongs. The G3X displayed a friendly "Garmin" for a few seconds then switched to a screen with lots of ugly X's sprinkled around the display. A loose interpretation is, "Kid, you've really got to print and start reading those 200 pages of configuration information from the manual to do anything useful with these new toys."

My CAN Bus wiring is the required point to point but somewhere along the way there is a wrong pin assignment or something. Plugging in the final unit in the chain, the Magnetometer, corrupts the Bus Data. Same at the other extreme of the Bus. Plugging in the final Engine Monitor corrupts the Bus Data. See, I said posts about electrical wiring would be boring! I have some head scratching to do and will call on the fine folks at SteinAir for advice. Stein, Chris the head Technician, and others in the company have been very helpful and know the Garmin equipment inside out. So helpful in fact, that when I called to report I'd powered up the system with no smoke, Chris offered to send me some. He says they make smoke from time to time but it's difficult to ship and very expensive.

The large black area on the right side of the panel will have a 10" iPad on a RAM mount. The jumble of wires are all measured to length and will be cleaned up into neat bundles once the wiring is complete.

[PapuaPilot]

Congrats Carl. That is a big day when you get to turn on the avionics for the first time. I remember it clearly. Keeping the smoke in makes it a really great day. :D

Configuration does take some time, but it isn't that hard with the G3X. Doing the compass swing was so easy, I've never done one so quickly.

[efwd]

Congrats Carl. Big step. I'll be delving into that early next year after this paint.
Saving the best for last;)

[PaulSS]

Plugging in the final unit in the chain, the Magnetometer, corrupts the Bus Data. Same at the other extreme of the Bus. Plugging in the final Engine Monitor corrupts the Bus Data.

Does the Garmin CAN bus have a resistor at each end and are yours present, if required? I was just thinking that the MGL harnesses have a 120 Ohm resistor at the start and end and it's just strange that it is your first and last units causing a problem.

I've attached a diagram of my system to both bore people and illustrate what I mean about the positioning of the resistors. You can see one near the SP6 Magnetometer and one near the RDAC.

[David47]

Exciting time Carl .... doing the electrics. Congratulations on making great progress. Routing the wires and bundling them together I guess takes a bit of head scratching. Go well.