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Thread: A tinkerers Toys

  1. #21
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Quote Originally Posted by jrevens View Post
    The "thump, thump, thump" when taxiing (especially in cold weather) drove me crazy. It was a fun project though.
    Perfect example of the garbage can thing.
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


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  2. #22
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Post Number 9 Cowl Mods
    It was obvious from the beginning that I would need to modify the cowl to fit the new engine location. For starters, the main cowl was moved as far forward as possible given the windshield requirements. Most of the lengthening was in the bubble cowl. A fiberglass extension was laid up on the aft edge after mounting the forward lip to the prop flange – lots of micro and sanding. Once that was done the final finish was started. I cut away the faired aft edge where it mated to the windshield and laid three or four layers of glass to get better fit against the windshield. Because I had put a piano hinge attachment top to bottom cowl on the Lancair IV I had helped with, that became the plan. First a tab and pocket was layed up on the forward edge of each side of the top and bottom main cowls. The hope here was to have the outside surfaces in that area consistently aligned since the piano hinge couldn’t extend to that area. The joggle for the camloc attachment was cut away and the edge sanded to parallel the piano hinge. Then after drilling a hole in both hinge halves every inch or so, the lower half of the piano hinge was attached to the lower cowl with clamps trying to place the hinge line at the top edge. Holes were drilled through the fiberglass and the hinge half was secured with clecoes. The hinge pin was replaced connecting the top and bottom halves and the top was lined up drilled and clecoed. I love fiberglass – easy to mess up and equally easy to fix. The hinge was placed as far forward as possible limited by the increasing curve near the forward edge. When all was good, the hinge contact surfaces were sanded, covered with hysol and riveted to their mating surfaces with solid flat head rivets. Final touches were to round the tailing edges of the lower main cowl to capture a bit of the door surround tube and the drilled steel fittings that were mounted on the door posts to capture the hinge pin on insertion to hold the joint snugly against the door post.
    A trick I learned on the Lancair project. When mating two edges – upper and lower cowl for example - to correct a gap error, push some micro into the joint with a small putty knife smoothing it on the two mating surfaces, then take something resembling a dinner knife and run it down between the edges. Don’t worry about the bulge at the surface. After curing, sand the surface until smooth and pop it open. Minor careful sanding might be necessary at the inner edges.
    The NACA ducts were suggested by similar ducts on the B-737 that provided air to the Auxiliary Power Unit. They were positioned just aft of the rear door and could be opened or closed in flight. I elected to cut the fiberglass sides and aft only leaving the forward uncut fiberglass as the hinge and using the original fiberglass skin. A piece of thin slightly oversized fiberglass was fixed to the doors as an overlap. A plug mold was made for the interior housing and a lever attached for opening and closing in flight – or more accurately before each flight depending on expected conditions. A cable control might be in its future.
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    Lowell Fitt
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  3. #23
    Senior Member GWright6970's Avatar
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    While I really love the detailed photos, I MUST ADD..... These photos do not do justice to Lowell's aircraft....it is honestly a total work of art!! You must see it for yourself to see the super attention to detail... An artist!
    Grover Wright
    Flying a KF IV-1200
    ROTAX 912UL

  4. #24
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Thanks Grover. Your note got me thinking. Maybe it is the dental training. back in the day, very fine expectations were demanded in the school. If you could feel the junction between tooth and filling or crown - big write down.

    Post Number 10 Door panels and quarter windows.

    With the Model IV, the kit came from the factory with Lexan for the top portion and a fiberglass panel for the bottom of the doors. To accommodate the complex curve, these were connected across the middle with a molded fiberglass panel that fit well enough to result in a sort of scalloped appearance after riveting the parts to the frame. I never liked the look. This time, I found some aluminum H channel and decided to try it as a connecting joint between top and bottom panels. It needed to be bent to conform to the fore aft contour at the mid door bracing. To keep the aluminum from collapsing at the bend, thin aluminum strips were fit into the channels top and bottom until snug, then the bend location was marked and it was progressively bent by hand over a rounded piece of wood held in a vice. Once bent to shape, the inner flange at each end was cut away so the outer flange would lay flat against the door frame. Two holes were drilled on each end for riveting the channel to the door frame exactly between the two brace tubes. The H channel was clecoed half at a time and oversized Lexan sheets were laid in the H channels and trimmed to fit the curvature. When this was done, the holes for attaching the Lexan to the door frame were drilled and the sheets were clecoed to the frame. The doors were then mounted to the hinges and masking tape was used to mark the desired edge for cutting. I like the one piece look of the Acrylic doors and achieved that somewhat by painting the H channel and door frames black.
    Door 6.jpgDoor New 2.jpgDoor 2.jpgDoor Channel 1.jpgDoor Channel 2.jpgDoor 3.jpg
    I had seen door latches mounted in the traditional location with Allen Wrench sockets to accommodate a wrench as the door handle. I suppose these worked somewhat like a lock. I liked the streamline look and decided to try something like that. On the passenger side, it was decided to have only an internal handle and on the pilot side and an internal handle with the Allen Wrench device on the outside.
    Door Latch 1.jpgDoor Latch 2.jpgDoor Lock.jpg
    The quarter windows had always seemed a challenge. In the old days, sections of fabric with the Lexan sewed into it were available as options. On my first IV, I decided to simply glue the triangle shaped Lexan in a fabric border and use that. It worked fine, but in time the Lexan started looking worn. This time the thought was to make the Lexan removable. The project started with a triangular aluminum frame that fit within the airframe tubing. Spacers and a flange where then riveted to the lower V sections to create a channel for the lower edges of the Lexan window “glass”. After covering was complete, the aluminum frames were glued to the inside if the fabric with Poly-tak and the fabric cut out. The Lexan was installed temporarily and four undersized holes were drilled through the aluminum and Lexan. Then the Lexan was removed and the holes in the aluminum were enlarged to accommodate #4 panhead screws. After paint, the Lexan was installed and the panhead screws were screwed into the Lexan.
    Side Window 2.jpgSide Window 3.jpgSide Window 1.jpg
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


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  5. #25

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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Thanks for sharing your Kitfox building journey Lowell, great to see the work behind a beautiful aircraft!
    Regards Ben

    Victoria Australia
    S7 Kitfox 233

  6. #26
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Quote Originally Posted by Mcgaero View Post
    Thanks for sharing your Kitfox building journey Lowell, great to see the work behind a beautiful aircraft!
    Thanks, Ben. Seeing your home is in Aus. forces me to mention some comments from my wife a couple of days ago. Retired from United Airlines after 44 years a flight attendant, she was straightening up a lot of accumulated stuff and commented, "I can't believe, I went to Sydney that many times". She loved your part of the world and took me there a couple of times to share her love. Though we never got that far south.

    Christmas in Sydney:
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    Lowell Fitt
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  7. #27

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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Lowell, you've probably seen more of Sydney than I have! It is a nice place to spend some time thou. Your wife would be well traveled with a career of 44 years.
    Keep up the posts and pics, its really valuable for the rest of us still building!
    Regards Ben

    Victoria Australia
    S7 Kitfox 233

  8. #28
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Attending a factory fly-in in Idaho while I was building 96KL, I noticed many of the Kitfoxes in attendance had duct tape over much of the surface of their oil coolers. This was in late summer. Too much cooling in summer definitelycaught my attention. The first decision was to use a smaller oil cooler than the one the factory supplied. Experience later suggested the cooling was still more than needed in flight and warm up times still seemed a bit long. A friend at the time was flying a Rans S-7 and he had an early oil thermostat setup on his airplane and it was complex and quite large. The solution for me was to try to make shutters for the oil cooler similar to what I had seen on the big-rigs as a kid. I first used one inch shutters, but then went to half inch because the air flow would move the larger shutters unless a push button cable control was used. I had to have them on 338S as well. I had used a riveted aluminum oil cooler mount on 96KL, but this time used a welded steel tube mount.
    Shutter 2.jpgshutter 1.jpgDSCF0171.jpgDSCF0172.jpgCooler Mount-2.jpgCooler Mount.jpg
    In 2007 about fifteen minutes into a trip to the factory fly-in we had the oil pressure gauge drop to "0" PSI. We were in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains - Hilly and for the most part covered with oak trees. Primarily due to misjudging the slope - landed down hill - the landing destroyed the airplane but we made it out with mostly bruises. After almost exactly a year, the FAA contacted me with the determination that it was in fact a low oil pressure situation rather than a broken gauge or sender. To alleviate that uncertainty in the future, I located a pressure switch that provided contacts for two indicator lights, one provides power to a light when there is oil pressure and the other powers a light when there is no pressure. The two pressure senders were mounted on a manifold that was attached to the firewall side of the engine mount to eliminate vibration. With oil pressure in normal range, the indicator light is green showing a powered functioning system and with low oil pressure the light will flash red.
    File0025.jpgOil Pressure Lights.jpg
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


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  9. #29
    Senior Member jiott's Avatar
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Lowell, how did you attach the cross shaft wires to the shutters? Hysol?
    Jim Ott
    Portland, OR
    Kitfox SS7 flying
    Rotax 912ULS

  10. #30
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    Default Re: A tinkerers Toys

    Jim,
    Sorry for the late response. Attached is a picture of one of the vanes with pivot rod. I have a device that bends a shallow "J" shape on one edge of the vane. Then two crimps near each end are placed with a modified pair of small pliers to create a secure attachment with the rod, then using an irrigation syringe, a bead of HYSOL EA-9430 is placed between rod and curled edge up to ,but not including the crimps and the vane is rotated against the rod to coat the entire surface. I can add some pictures of the somewhat complex tooling if there is interest.
    Shutter vane detail.jpg
    Exciting day here. A local Avid guy came by to move his airplane from my hangar and he told me about a local Kitfox guy who had his airplane catch fire while using a preheater to prep for an early morning flight. No collateral damage and owner in good spirits despite a very likely totaled Model IV.
    Lowell Fitt
    Goodyear, AZ


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