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Thread: Project 5 build thread

  1. #11
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    I am now more envious of the build threads of you guys with immaculate three car garages with epoxy floors. I wonder how many of the rest of you fell into the same trap I have, requiring some nest building before really getting any airplane parts cut. It's a rabbit trail that goes deep into the earth.

    We moved in March to a house we bought over a year ago. The 'new' house is a Victorian built in 1905. The house was a dump but it had good bones and once my favorite woman is done with it, it will be quite an upgrade (it's actually shocking how much we've done so far). The garage though, not so much. Before the move I had an approximately two car garage before with a pretty good loft, and now I have a long single car garage. I won't win any contests for building in the smallest space, especially because I already have a hangar, but it's not ideal.

    115 years old and no one ever poured a slab in the garage. Where the house has good bones the garage does not. At some point in the last century someone extended the garage from roughly 11.5 x 21' to about 11.5 x 30'. I'm happy for the extra 9' but it's obvious that whoever did the extension had no structural background of any kind. Where the studs used to go up to the rafters, they cut them off. At first glance it appeared like they installed a header. In reality they nailed a 2x6 to the side of the cut off studs and provided no support at the ends. It was literally hanging from the studs instead of holding them up.

    The stud spacing for the entire structure ranges from 24-29". Several of the ceiling joists (the horizontal piece) was sagging from people using them as loft storage. Upon exposing the studs on the long back wall I found many that were a Rube Goldberg variation of scabbed together 2x4s at random angles.

    We had a slab poured about twenty days before we moved in. With the house being a priority I have been tripping on everything I own just getting various projects done. This past weekend it was time to make space to bring the fuselage home or build wings. I started by staring at those messy studs and then came to the conclusion that I would need to shore up the structure before I put in any work benches, extra outlets, or hang anything on the walls.

    At the end of one long sweaty day I had removed the imposter "header", trimmed the hanging studs a bit higher, installed a plate a cross the bottom of the them, created a more substantial header from two 2x6s and made two stub walls to support it. I doubled up the ceiling joists with full length "sisters", jacking up the old sagging pieces before joining them together. I'm a big fan of screws and haven't spent much time swinging a hammer in the past few decades, and certainly not since getting bifocals.

    I have replaced the dreary incandescent bulbs with some of those LED lights with "wings". Holy smokes I could probably offer the place up for surgical procedures if they didn't mind some dirt. I've got several pieces of peg board to put up and some budget for benches, cabinets and storage solutions.

    My saw horses for wing construction are done. One of them came out pin straight, sits rock solid on the garage floor and shows perfectly level. The other is also pin straight but wobbled a little bit. At one end it measures exactly the same height (32-3/16")and the other is a tiny bit low. That will actually work out well for purposes of leveling them and making them "fast" to the floor with bondo.

  2. #12
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    I haven't posted in a bit but I have been moving forward, mostly with the logistics and preparation. A few shots here and it has improved since then. After making structural improvements on the garage I sheeted most of the walls with OSB and primed everything. I added LED lighting and three strategically located outlets. I set up a charging station for various electric tools. I bought a big roll around tool chest to use as a bench and to store the majority of my automotive tools. It won't actually be moved except to retrieve FOD. In a stroke of OCD insanity I used my label maker to identify every drawer.
    IMG_20200517_190907.jpg

    IMG_20200525_202252.jpg
    I loathe peg board but put some up anyway. We had some gray paint left over from another project which my girlfriend encouraged me to use up, so that's what is going on there. You can see my charging station to the right under one of the new outlets. That is an antique dynamite crate I bought when I was a single dude. New tools include the 4' digital level and a good 4' straight edge. The yellow plastic level is junk more suitable for playing whiffle ball than establishing either straight or level. I've got a real nice 6' level in my hangar that I'll be replacing it with. Not visible are the Milwaukee die grinder, angle grinder and pop rivet gun.

    I also went through the list of builder tools and realized I wasn't going to get very far before obtaining some of them. After doing some online shopping I came to the conclusion that the Kitfox prices on Hysol, Clecos, drill bits, reamers, swage tools, etc. are quite competitive with the rest of the world, so that became my second order. I also bought a ton of clamps.

    IMG_20200531_200806.jpg
    I then bought a smaller roll around tool cart to have next to me while working on the plane. Then I pulled out the bins of hardware that came with the project. Pro tip: Don't drive around for three weeks in your sporty SUV with those in the back even if they're shrink wrapped. My first new skill was learning to identify pop rivets and AN hardware. In doing so I learned quite a bit, including identifying and cross referencing everything.
    IMG_20200531_200703.jpg
    The manual starts with flight controls so that's what I did too. Part of my hardware identification skills came when I disassembled everything and measured every fastener, checked torque and measured any dimensions that were left to the builder to fabricate. It was going along swimmingly until I came to the white parts on the bench, which you'll all recognize as the rudder pedal/brake pedal attach brackets. They look fine but had several dimensional issues.

    Another email to Kitfox resulted in an order for prefabricated parts, which are now in hand. While those were on the way I flew to the east coast to ferry a Cardinal RG back to Seattle for a friend/previous student of mine. He and his wife had been on vacation in St Maarten and were "stranded" when the pandemic struck. They were finally able to get a repatriation flight to the US, and in the meantime Mike had bought this plane sight unseen. The trip started with gear retraction issues (fixed on the ground and test flown satisfactorily), then radio issues (solve in the air) and some typical Cessna gauge issues. Then throw in some of the craziest weather along our route of flight, we finally arrived in KBFI after 24.1 hours of flight time. The last pic shown below is SW of Casper, WY where we had a ground speed of 28 knots. It was a rough ride. We had two times we landed to wait for thunderstorms to blow over us and fought some marginal VFR across Idaho.
    IMG_20200604_200905-01.jpg
    Screenshot_20200608-081216.jpg
    IMG_20200606_184719-01.jpg

  3. #13
    Senior Member efwd's Avatar
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Awe hell. You would probably have a heart attack if you came to my garage. I started out organized but my true nature come to light within days.
    Eddie Forward
    Flying
    SS7, 912iS, Garmin G3X

  4. #14
    Senior Member bbs428's Avatar
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Looking mighty fine! Organization will save you untold hours of frustration.

    I'm in Eddie's camp as no matter how "organized I try to be, my kaos nature kicks in and my workspace turns to doggie doo. I always replace my tools prior to quitting time so tools can be found, however my trick is to pick up a vital part/hardware and then put it down in the most unlikely place. Then I spend hours looking for said part/hardware! When I'm having a bad day I clean the shop and go thru all the boxes and cubby holes. I usually find what I'm looking for BEFORE I order new hardware... most of the time!
    Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive. — Ernie Pyle

    Brett Butler
    Flying: 1998 Model 5 Outback, 912ul Zipper 110hp, G3x avionics, ss7 upgrades

  5. #15
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Great thread. I just sold my KF 4 and I am in high gear now on my model 5 build, which means the aircraft spruce boxes are going to start piling up.

    I'll be following your thread closely.

    I am sure you probably have already researched this but in case not, it would be wise to do the rudder pedal assembly reinforement now since everything is still disassembled.

  6. #16
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Nothing I hate more than looking for tools!
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  7. #17
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Thanks for the replies. This garage is the most organized I've ever had. I can relate to the shops in disarray because it is in my DNA. My dad's mode was that if it would keep for 6 months and you might have a use for it, it stayed. His last shop looked like Russian soldiers ransacked a hoarder's garage. I used to only sort of joke that every time I got a decent tool box it was stolen shortly after that. About four years ago I had to rebuild the engine in a Porsche, and damn was I organized for that project! It went so much smoother being able to see a missing wrench from across the room. At the end of each work session I took the time to put everything away, and it more than made up for time spent searching for a missing tool/part.

    Good call on the rudder pedal reinforcement. It is part of my current work.

    Yesterday was the first time I felt like I accomplished direct hands on work on my Kitfox. With the new rudder pedal brackets in hand I got to practice surface conversion. My project came with Bonderite C-IC 33 Alumiprep acid deoxidizer and M-CR 1201 Alodine. I printed out the data/instruction sheets, mixed my chemicals and did an initial cleaning of the parts with acetone. I got dirt on my rag so that was a good idea. I used the temperatures and times suggested and was quite surprised at the fizzing away as the parts were etched. I rinsed thoroughly to see the very shiny parts, and then it was straight to the Alodine. I'm used to Alodine treated parts being a little splotchy but these came out beautifully as if they were gold anodized. Rinsed again and dried.
    IMG_20200611_212247.jpg
    The other thing I did was head to my local Wesco auto body supply store to get a can of custom enamel to match the red powder coating of my steel parts. While I was there I inquired about a product I had never heard of before: two part epoxy in a spray can. My uncle was doing some work on the SNJ recently and started talking about it. I thought he was losing it but it's a real thing. Maybe I'm just late to the party but I got a can of epoxy primer yesterday. You use part of the cap to break something inside and it mixes the catalyst. Then you have 8-12 hours to use it up.
    IMG_20200611_195725.jpg
    I've got the two part Epoxy from Kitfox but as of yet I haven't mixed or sprayed any. I'm guessing there is a learning curve and I don't want to make my freshly alodined parts ugly. I have some prep work to do on the fuselage still so I'll wait until I can justify cracking open that can. I pick up the can of red this afternoon. It's single part so not as life limited as the epoxy.
    IMG_20200611_212225.jpg
    Regarding the rudder pedal reinforcement: Last night I used the pattern depicted on the Service Bulletin to make a 1:1 paper doll and test it on my rudder pedal torque tubes. I didn't love the way it fit or looked, so I used the pattern as a basis for a new one. I'll be mocking that up before I cut any stainless steel. The one I made is slightly asymmetrical in order to work with the rivet pattern already established on the torque tube. I'll post pics when I get there.

  8. #18
    Senior Member bbs428's Avatar
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Great job on the alodine parts!
    Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive. — Ernie Pyle

    Brett Butler
    Flying: 1998 Model 5 Outback, 912ul Zipper 110hp, G3x avionics, ss7 upgrades

  9. #19
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    Alex., do you have the name of that two part epoxy primer in a spray can? I wasn't aware of it either and would be nice for small jobs that I have. thanks Bruce N199CL

  10. #20
    Senior Member Delta Whisky's Avatar
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    Default Re: Project 5 build thread

    I'm curious as to why you are cutting the gussets out of SS? (I'm not familiar with the SB - if that is what it calls for.)

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