Joe Ruscito's Kitfox S7 Build

[JoeRuscito]

I didn’t see part numbers but I’ll look tomorrow.

Here’s another one. Scotch bright 7447 is the go to for sanding wing spars. The manual even states this is because other sand paper commonly has aluminum oxide abrasive and 7447 does not. But from the 3m website 7447 is made from fine grade aulininun oxide....

[jrevens]

Aluminum oxide is what you want. I think that that is probably a technical error in the manual. Aluminum oxide is a common abrasive and it is also formed naturally on the surface of aluminum. There are many other types of abrasives, such as silicon carbide, which would not be good choices for aluminum.

[JoeRuscito]

Hysol Quality Control Check:

Gave it my first go this morning. Mixed 15g:15g (way too much!), and about a teaspoon of flox. They aren't the prettiest but Id love some feedback. I tried to use as little as possible to get a decent fillet on the stiffeners. I only did the two outbound most rib on the horizontal so I could learn a bit before diving in.

[efwd]

Hello Joe
Don't be hesitant to utilize more Hysol for the filets. Mine probably had twice as much as what I see in your photos. I found that if I whipped much of it off then it might pop free when I bumped it with my various body parts as I navigated around the wing. I even broke two false ribs by catching the trailing edge on my shirt sleeve etc etc. Leave yourself a nice 45 degree bead of hysol on both sides. I found that a popsicle stick has a nice radius as a scraper that leaves what I considered a large enough bead.

[jiott]

Agree with Eddie.

[JoeRuscito]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’ve started on the control column while I have some Hysol curing. As I’m assembling I’m wondering if anything is done for coronation protection of these parts? Going by the manual I’m press fitting and riveting parts. Will I be expected to disassemble these later on?

[aviator79]

There are no points for "neat" here, so don't skimp.

[JoeRuscito]

Ok. Ive gotten most of the horizontal ribs installed. Ill go around one more time and get any joints I missed due to clamps. Ive thickened up my Hysol joints quite a bit, actually makes it much easier to work with.





I did find a bit of light power coating, so I gave it a coat of the touch up that came with the kit


Then I got stated on the control column, has some issues with pressing the stick bearing but got it sorted where Im happy with it. Then I ran into this...




I removed the control stick pivot bolt to see if it would give me enough room but without luck. It seems that the hole and/or weldment is misplaced. Am I missing something? Any tips here?

[PapuaPilot]

Tip on the bolt that can't go in:

Carefully pull the bottom stick assembly upward, away from the pivot bearings (this might be tight from the pivot bearings being already installed). Move the it enough so the bottom bolt can go through the big hole and be safetied. Then realign the assembly with the pivot bearings and reinstall the pivot bolt.

[JoeRuscito]

Hey Phil,

Thanks for the suggestion. I did just that but there still is not enough room. If I do get it in, getting a torque wrench of some type might also be a trick!

Is the bolt generally this low?