Kitfox/R2800 radial progress

[paulc]

Hi All,
Thought you may like these latest picks of my custom Kitfox 3. I've been having fun "Stylin" her up! It’s really coming along now, I still have some more fairings to add to the wing and tail struts, but you get the idea. I also have a nice big air cleaner box planned for the under side of the boot cowl.
The landing gear is 1/2" spring steel plate. It’s a little heavier than the Grove but its very strong and gives me the clearance to swing that nice big 76" prop. The Leg fairing is made from molded fiber glass. As is all the stuff you see on the plane, I should name this one the "Glass Fox". I have made patterns and mold for all of these parts. I may do another after I'm done with this one.

[Dorsal]

Nice work!! how did you make the molds for the gear root fairings or the gear-to-pant fairing? I have made some carbon-glass fairings for my tail struts and will re-make the ones for the wing struts (save weight) but would like to see how you made the patterns for the interface points.

[HighWing]

Paul,

Very nice. And I thought I was doing a lot of extra stuff. I think I have some idea of your time investment. I think you are 90% done, even with all that is coming.

Lowell

[paulc]

For the root fairings where the leg both meets that wheel pant and also the side of the fuz, I used the actual plane as a pattern and carefully used foam and glass and then finished in car filler or Bondo as you guys call it. Of course I used plenty of release agent prior to the build up so as I could remove (smash) the patterns off later.

Once the patterns were looking good on the plane I created fences alonf the parting lines so the molds could come off in two halves. Once the molds were created I then had to remove all remnants of the old patterns, so I could replace them with the real parts.

Carbon fiber in my opinion is not needed as these are not structural parts. The only thing carbon fiber will make light is your wallet!!!!


You can see a public photo album of how I did things here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=a1ee2625b1

[paulc]

TIP:
When ever making patterns and molds, NEVER cut up your patterns. Always keep the pattern whole and instead use fences to create parting lines or mold sections.