Kitfox Series 7 Super Sport - Show Me Fox

[Jason Murphy]

Removed old reinforcement brackets from Ribs L3, L5, & L7. Scraped away old Hysol.

Removed clecos and yard sticks which had clamped the L1 rib in place. Using mason line verified alignment with adjacent ribs.

Need to provide relief for fuel line, sand and varnish rib prior to installing wing rank and touch up primer on wing spar.

Removed Left Trailing Edge piece which also had a bow on the lower edge which prevented the trailing edge reinforcement from seating fully inside. Scraped old Hysol off reinforcement piece for reuse.

2 replacement rib reinforcement brackets are pending shipping from kitfox to replace the ones that had cracked from manufacturing. 2 replacement pieces of trailing edge are also on order to replace the two sections that do now allow the reinforcement to fully seat.

I plan to work on the project tomorrow morning and during the evening. I will be teaching nursing students tomorrow afternoon emergency resuscitation. With any luck I will be able to get all the prep work done and can move onto bonding the wing tanks.

Now that the No 1 ribs are back in place I plan on checking the alignment of the flaperons. With any luck revisiting and revising the previous work will ensure better alignment.

[Jason Murphy]

Dremel old Hysol from left wing. Clean up the trailing edge areas. Ready to bond rib reinforcement and replacement trailing edge when it arrives.

[jrevens]

Seeing you with your daughter makes me smile, Jason... reminds me of my kids when I was building my first plane (they're both in their mid 40's now!). Keep up the good work.

[Jason Murphy]

Replaced 2 sections of trailing edge because trailing edge reinforcements would not sit below flush.

This required a substantial amount of fitting. After using files to make the strips match the ribs I needed to use a popsicle stick to tweak the angle of the top fold on the material. The old reinforcement that had been removed were cleaned off the old Hysol and prepped for bonding with scotch brite.

Used side clamp clecos to hold reinforcement into place and popsicle sticks to ensure alignment with the capstrip.

Relieved the No 1 rib per the manual for fuel lines and to provide access to finger screens in wing tanks.

I am wondering if there is not a reason to simply continue the diagonal line down to the 1/8” mark rather than making a trapezoid shape where the shear web has been relieved for fuel lines.

[Jason Murphy]

Touched up epoxy primer under the wing tank area.

Epoxy primer to leading edge in preparation to bond leading edge material.

Ordered a Daniels 22520/2-01 Crimper under the advice of Stanton Runyon at Higginsville Avionics. I will need to get a K42 and K13-1 insert to accommodate the two types of pins used in the G3X system. He also provided advice for various connectors which will be required. I will likely consult with him when I am ready to install the avionics.

[Jason Murphy]

Placed 3 coats of epoxy varnish on the inside of No 1 rib and 3 coats at each trailing edge location:

Sanded epoxy primer on spar smooth with 220 grit sandpaper cleaned with denatured alcohol prior to bonding wing tank.

Wing tank had previously been sanded in prep for bonding when the edges were made square and true.

Received help from my son Jaden for this portion. Prepped and bonded wing tanks into place using the supplied Dow Corning 739 RTV.

Cleaned up excess after tank had been placed. Used tape to secure tank in place while adhesive cures. Placed additional beads of adhesive at the bottom rear of the tank to ensure there will be no fore and aft movement.

Fit No. 2 rib in their respective locations.

I am wondering if anyone dresses up the area around the filling neck of the fuel tank prior to covering.

[bbs428]

Jaden looks to be a great help! Nice to get him involved. Your making good progress.

I smoothed the filling neck area with 3m 5200 polyurethane sealant. After covering and before painting I made a fillet around the neck as well. I did this throughout the plane in troublesome transition areas.
Use Prep-all wax and grease remover or something like it on your fingers to smooth it without it sticking to you!

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[Jason Murphy]

Worked on installing the No 2 ribs today.

The rib had been fitted to the rib and tank during my previous session.

Clamped a 4” level between ribs 1 and 3 to ensure Rib 2 would be in alignment with adjacent ribs.

Used a piece of angle iron clamped just forward of the rear spar to ensure the bottom strip maintains the same profile as adjacent ribs.

It also put slight pressure against the level opposite the spar to ensure alignment.

Clamped scales to the leading edge and trailing edge and capstrip of the ribs to ensure the No 2 will be square with the adjacent ribs.

Used a dremel to sand the trail I edge of the rib to allow proper alignment of the trailing edge material.
Used files to make a radius cut into the trailing edge material and debur trailing edge.
Dry fit trailing edge.

When satisfied with the fit of all the parts mixed Hysol with no flox. Placed it on the rib and part of the no 2 that bonds to the spar. Located and clamped all pieces into place. Then mixed remaining Hysol with flox and created fillets and made a transition from the No 2 rib cap strip to the wing tank.

Due to having limited tooling I allowed the right wing to cure for about 4 to 6 hours before removing the level and begging work on the left wing.

Followed the same process on the left wing.

[Jason Murphy]

I had printed some downloadable drawings from the kitfox website and spoke with my boys about designing a paint scheme. I asked them to come up with several designs and we will incorporate the best of each design into the final paint scheme. Attached is the first design Jaden had made. In particular I like the red white and blue colors and what he did with the wing tips, vertical stabilizer and rudder. I feel like if a similar pattern was incorporated into the horizontal stabilizer as was incorporated into the wingtips it would help tie things together.

Perhaps having something starting at the fuselage and working its way out to the tips would be nice as well.

[Jason Murphy]

Placed a Thermo Bob 1 Kit on order to regulate the flow of coolant and maintain a coolant temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Using side clamp clecos attach flaperon to wing. Using speed squares located the center of the rib and clamped squares to the wing to aid in centering the slit in the flaperon skin on the rib. The flaperon hangars simply cannot be trusted. They all require tweaking to make them perpendicular to the surface of the flaperon. Some of them are slightly twisted when they were welded. They required tweaking to remove the twist. When I was finally satisfied I drilled the No 30 holes in ribs to attach flaperons. Cleco flaperons onto the wing. Fabricated a shim to go beneath the hangar that attaches to the No 3 rib on the right side. The bracket wanted to float and the spacer filled the void. It was fabricated from 0.032 Aluminum.

Leveled the fuselage fore and aft and side to side. Completed most of the rigging for the flaperons. There will likely be some minor adjustments needed during final assembly.

I then sat back and wiggled the stick reflecting on all of the hours of work it took to make that happen.

I will need to fabricate a wing cradle as well as a rotisserie to finish work on the wings. I will need to take the wings off to finish the work on them.

I was wondering if anyone has adjusted the threaded rod that is part of the mixer?

Also was wondering if the long push pull tube that runs beneath the seat rubs on the fuselage tubes under it? I cocked mine sideways a bit and tightened the lock nuts to prevent any friction. Was wondering of that’s a common issue. I have read where people have installed blocks beneath the seat pan to prevent the seat pan from flexing and binding the controls.