Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build

[aviator79]

When in doubt, just follow the instructions in the order they are presented in the manual. I don't see any harm in varnishing the ribs right now, but it's also not urgent to get them protected. I'd get the other wood bits installed and then varnish all the wood at the same time. You're less likely to waste varnish that way, and will use fewer consumables, etc.

I've had to do very little powdercoat touchup, and then only because of my own clumsiness in dropping a wrench or something.

[efwd]

Funny, any prep I did involved removing powder coat. i.e. mounting holes. Lots of stuff to use reamers on.

[JoeRuscito]

Ok that's what I suspected. The powder coating must have improved over the years, mine even has paint down some pretty deep holes!

Thanks!

[airlina]

Joe, I purchased my Series 5 from the pre Mcbeans era from the previous Skystar co. and the quality of the powder coat was suspect on my kit (among other things). With any paint job , prep is 75% of the job, and it was apparent that this was not done on some of my powdercoated parts. I had to take them down to bare metal and repaint or touch up many areas. Sounds like the Mcbeans have done a better job with quality control. Bruce N199CL

[JoeRuscito]

Normal to have to remove quite a lot of material on the horizontal stab rib slots to get them to fit at the positions in the manual? Some are quite tight and bend if I try to make them square.

Also when fitting against metal supports do you sand to clear the welds to allow a flush fit?

[aviator79]

Yes and yes.

If I m honest, I was disappointed by the fit of those ribs. In the age of CAD ubiquity and CNC manufacturing, I feel like these should have fit pretty close to perfect.

[bbs428]

Agreed.

My own humble opinion is it's just an easy way adjust for minor differences in the welded structures.

More important to line up all stab/elev ribs nicely with no twists and sand smooth

All the best!
Enjoy your build!

[Meyer]

I thought I read that you should not varnish until after hysol. Something about hysol over varnish = not good.

[JoeRuscito]

Made some progress today.... Sanding the ribs took a small learning curve and some are looser then I would have liked, but overall I think they are in good shape.


On the elevator it seems to me that the second longest rib (I.e. not the longest) should be the most inbound due to the radius of the aft most bar. The fit is much closer this way if I am trying to line up with the horizontal. Is this what yall have found? See below. The one my finger is on is close to the position I think it should be. The slightly longer one would go on the other side of the rod to the right.

Also the third rib from the center is quite loose with zero sanding. Maybe I don't have the order correct.

To clarify I was planning on varnishing the factory installed wing ribs, assuming I won't have to Hysol anything to them down the road. Correct me if Im wrong.

[jrevens]

...

On the elevator it seems to me that the second longest rib (I.e. not the longest) should be the most inbound due to the radius of the aft most bar. The fit is much closer this way if I am trying to line up with the horizontal. Is this what yall have found? See below. The one my finger is on is close to the position I think it should be. The slightly longer one would go on the other side of the rod to the right.
Also the third rib from the center is quite loose with zero sanding. Maybe I don't have the order correct.

Sounds right to me, Joe. As far as the order goes, do your ribs have part numbers printed on them? I believe mine did. That would confirm the correct placement of them.