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Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Alright, going to pick up my kit on the 19th! Super excited! Quick build wings, Grove gear, and a lot of the available options. Building in my garage (about 20ft x 20ft).
Ive been on the forum for a while now, learning as much as I can. I really appreciate all of the info and build logs, so I plan to do my best to log my own build here.
This will be my first build and also the first airplane I will own. I really enjoy building things and larger projects so Im looking forward to the build almost as much as eventually getting to fly it.
Im sure there will be lots of questions and challenges for me ahead, the support here is amazing and I thank you all ahead of time for the advice/tips/help Im sure you will provide.
Stoked to be part of this awesome community!
Thanks!
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
That's great Joe. Welcome aboard.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Joe , you have the right attitude going in, enjoy the process as much as the result, you are embarking on a fun journey. Bruce N199CL
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
I get my kit in about 6 weeks. We will have to compare notes. Good luck!!!
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
6 weeks? Crap that’s pretty soon!
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Welcome aboard Joe. You will love it. These are great kits and the build is so much fun. Enjoy every minute of it and the forum is sooo much help. Keep the excitement going.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Hey Joe
Good to see another Kitfox build in the works. I started in October and am having a blast. It is so fun to see things start to take shape.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Welcome to the fun part, Joe! I look forward to following your progress.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Thanks all!
Meyer, it will be great that we will be at similar places throughout the build!
Joe, Thanks for the link to your build. Following along will for sure be helpful!
I just reserved my tail number 1121E (it may change but I needed one for builders insurance). I wanted one that wasn't a mouthful and it has some significance for me.
Also, worked with Falcon to get the insurance rolling. Just over $400 for the year, insured up to $70k. I thought that number made sense.
Any tips on how I can best prepare in the next week for the kit to arrive? Materials I should get ahead of time? Should I/can I build rotisseries ahead of time or wait? Garage is clean and mostly empty!
Id like to hit the ground running as best I can. I have a full time job but I can work from home a couple days a week so it at least saves me the commute. I'm going to shoot for 20-30 hours a week including the weekends. No commitments other than work. No kids and super supportive girlfriend!
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
You can definitely build the rotisseries ahead of time. Spar spacing is 27.5 in.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Looking forward to your build, Joe. You must be counting the days until you can get started!
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Rotisseries mostly assembled and garage mostly clean. They are long and I’ll final fit them when I have the wings. Flying out to Boise Tuesday. Taking delivery Wednesday!!
http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/pic...pictureid=6333
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
They look well built, Joe. It could just be the photo, but they look low to me. Will the trailing edge clear the bottom? You could always swing the trailing edge over the top, but there will be times you want to have the leading edge up.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
The base of the PVC pivot is currently at 33 inches. I got this number from a previous rotisserie post. It seemed low to me as well so I left provisions to adjust up (that’s why they extend so far above). What is the best height?
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
It should clear by a good margin then. It just doesn't look that tall in the picture.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
If you haven't already, I would make some provision to firmly fix the wing at any angle you need.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Thanks for the feedback Gary, as I have it designed, once the wings are in place a block is added above the pvc to keep the pipe from racking in the spars and keep it square to the ground. Then a large 1/2 in bolt is placed through the two upright 2x4s and though the block with a wing nut on the other end. The pipe 1.5 in is oversized for the gap between the 2x4s. The thinking is that by tightening the wingnut the pipe is squeezed increasing the force required to rotate.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Maybe yall can weigh in on this. I'm trying to get as prepared as possible so I can start building immediately. It seems hysoling the tail is one of the first tasks. Having never worked with hysol before I've been doing some reading. What are the opinions on using static mixing guns? Like the links below. It seems most just use a scale and mix, but there are a coupe mentions of these guns and it would seem much easier/cleaner to me. Thoughts? Also maybe a dumb question, but if using the gun I bet it's a mess trying to reload each side of the syringe with the two parts of hysol. I can't imagine the plunger opening is that large in diameter and the hysol seems pretty thick! I guess this also applies to loading the syringes that kitfox supplies even after the hysol has been mixed. Any good method to doing this?
https://www.mcmaster.com/74695a71
https://www.mcmaster.com/74695a34
https://www.mcmaster.com/74695a944
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
The guns mix for you. Pop in the cartridges, put a new tip on, and squeeze. Easis way to do it but it’s more expensive. You’ll get in a groove. My tail as a mess. Good thing it’s covered now. Tape off 1/2” of each side of the rib so you can pull off a clean line. Dab a gloved finger in alcohol to make smooth filets
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
wellll, I wouldn't want you to toss the Hysol away that comes in the kit but....
I bought the gun and the mixing tips, many of them. I bought pre-filled double barrel syringes of Hysol also available from the same outfit. It will cost you plenty if you hope to do the whole job that way. I was not aware of the empty barrel syringes but I would certainly give that a try with the product that comes in the kit. I bet it is no fun to try to get the product into the syringe though. Don't bother trying to mix up Hysol and stuff it into a syringe. It will begin setting up quickly and it becomes very difficult to push the plunger. The gun and syringe set up is one thing I will always recommend. The nice thing is, you only waste the product that is inside the mixing tip.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Understood, ya I was thinking continuing to refill the cartridge as I go. It's quite a premium to buy the prefilled syringes.
Correct me if I wrong but don't people use syringes to apply premixed hysol? If not why does the tool kit come with 50 ml syringes?
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
I applied pre mixed with the syringes that came with the kit. It was my favourite method. Get lots of alcohol to clean them out after.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
McMaster Carr has the best price I could find on the mixing gun, nozzles, and cartridges. Before I switched to that, I was buying veterinary syringes from Amazon. They are about a buck each, so I didn't bother cleaning them.
If I did it again, I'd use the mixing gun for everything. The adhesive is like 6 times more expensive this way, but you never over-mix, so you don't throw as much in the trash. You're spending ~$80k to build a plane. Splurge on the convenience.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
I had never seen those at McMaster-Carr either. For the large jobs, I used veterinary syringes. I opened up the hole slightly with a drill to produce a larger bead and easier flow (to avoid the problem Eddie mentioned). I also cleaned the syringe with alcohol just to be sure.
I weighed/mixed the adhesive and then loaded using a popsicle stick; a little messy, but not too bad.
Don't mix too large a batch at a time as the exothermic reaction will really heat things up and reduce the working life drastically.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
You don't need to bother weighing the Hysol for mixing; 50-50 by volume (measuring spoons or similar) is fine. I used popsicle sticks for mixing, and then put it in the big syringes-not all that hard to do. Later on near the end of the project when I wasn't using such large amounts, I bought the cartridges and nozzles for the convenience.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
I just mixed small batches on a mixing pad and did it by weight. After the first few you really get the hang of it and most of the time you can judge the amount you need. It was/is very rare to have much waste if you plan correctly.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Here are some things to acquire if you don’t already have them.
If you bought the tool kit from Kitfox, I would get an extra #30 and #40 drill bit (12 inch)
Amazon- 60 cc syringes (15 to 20)
Ace Hardware/Home Depot- 2 gallons denatured alcohol (cleanup of Hysol)
Harbor Freight- spring clips (to hold ribs and other stuff in place 10 small and 10 medium)
Amazon extra #30 and #40 drill bits (10 each- regular length)
Amazon- food scale. One that will do grams. Sometimes Hysol is needed in small quantities and a scale that does ounces isn’t precise enough in my opinion.
A couple hundred Dixie cups (small and not wax coated)
Amazon. Hose clamps to fit a 3” hose (for holding the lift strut brackets in spar while setting sweep, dihedral and washout) 4 of these.
Extra clecos. 20. For the #30 holes.
Order extra rivets from Kitfox. Feel free to message me and I will tell you which ones and how many. You will probably have to drill out a few rivets because they didn’t seat properly.
Aircraft spruce- AN3-4, AN3-5 bolts and the nylock nuts to fit them (20 or so of each). AN960-10, and AN960-10L washers. 50 of each. They are used for everything and it is nice to have extra hardware. Spruce charges about 8 bucks or more for shipping even for smaller orders so get a list together when you need stuff and order it all at the same time.
There are other things, but I can’t remember them right now.
Steve
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Yeah, I only used the syringes for the bigger jobs. Like Jim, most of the time I only needed a spoon or two of Hysol, and the further into the build, the less was needed each time. Always quick and easy to mix a bit more rather than waste a bunch. Same with SuperFil. I did use the Hysol dual cartridges near the end since it would have been an expensive waste to buy another quart.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Flyboy66
Here are some things to acquire if you don’t already have them.
Amazon extra #30 and #40 drill bits (10 each- regular length...
You can get Cobalt #30 and #40 bits cheap from Spruce. 3/16 is a good idea too.
I have tons of rivets left over. Hopefully there's not something I forgot to put them in...
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
I had no rivets left over (so far) and had too few for the lift strut attach brackets. And I had to drill out 3 of those because they didn’t seat right when I pulled them. There are a few sizes I would recommend having some extras.
And if you order the Butt Rib close out option, it needs some rivets to secure them that are not included in the kit.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Maybe they changed the quantities in the newer kits, but I also had oodles of extra rivets left over, also had many nuts and washers left over. Bolts very few left over.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
I'm like Brian, nail biting at the thought of not having used some somewhere I needed too. Plenty rivets left over. Of course, when I needed a rivet of a certain type, It was never the kind that I had remaining in my stock. Wouldn't want any new folks to be mislead, I had all the stuff that was required for the build. The extra rivets I was needing were for modifications or custom work like mounting Auto Pilot Servos.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Thanks for all the advice guys!
I now have an airplane in my garage!!!
Picking it up was easy and Brandon and Heather were super helpful.
http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/pic...pictureid=6336
I completed the inventory check today and got the garage mostly sorted.
http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/pic...pictureid=6337
http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/pic...pictureid=6338
I did have to raise the mounts a bit. They were 33" from the floor, not the cross bar.
I plan to really get started tomorrow!
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Joe
Glad you have your Kitfox home. How was the trip?
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Congrats Joe. Enjoy your build.:)
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Man that's exciting Joe! Looking forward to following your progress.
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Those pics bring back memories. Good luck and enjoy.
Ken
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
Good luck! Mine arrives in a month
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Re: Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build
First steps are sometimes the hardest to take! Trying to get a plan and order of operations here so I don't miss anything and have my priorities straight.
First, Im thinking I should varnish the ribs that have been installed on the quick build wings to protect them before starting anything else. Make sense? Any reason not to?
Second, horizontal, I think Ill tackle this next in conjunction with the elevator.
Next a question, the manual states you need to prep all of the powder coated parts and cover any missing/thin areas. I.e. down mount holes. I looked over the parts and there are no glaring bare spots that I can see. Is this a hold over from older kits? How much prep/repair have you all had to do?