The Barn Find Build

[alexM]

RE: N number reservations

I got home tonight and had a stack of packages (miscellaneous stuff for my Kitfox build) and in the pile waiting for me was a thin envelope from the FAA. My first thought was "what did I do this time?" (I've got stories). Of course I tore that one open immediately. I really wish they would have different types of envelopes. Maybe ones with a smiley face or a Mr Yuck sticker on them.

Turns out it was for my N number. I reserved my number in April of the year I bought my kit, and have to renew it to keep it alive. That month has always been April, and that was when I made an online payment this year. The letter was dated 10/23/23 and good until October of next year. So it only took 7 months for someone to do 5 minutes of work. I'm sure the addition of a smiley face sticker probably would have added 2-3 months.

I guess the good news is that I have a 7 month extension, courtesy of .gov inefficiency.

[Eric Page]

Quick update from yesterday. Busy day with family, but I managed to find an hour to get the latest seat pan repair sanded down. Also sanded the whole thing lightly with 320-grit to prep for a re-paint. Unless this afternoon is warm enough, that'll probably have to wait until spring. I don't think it'll delay first flight...

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[Eric Page]

This morning I determined the overall dimensions for the lip of the under-seat storage bins, marked them and trimmed to size. If you've been following along, you'll be thinking to yourself, "Didn't he waste time trimming those things last week?" Why, yes. Yes I did.

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With the bins ready, I measured and marked 1/2" from the edge of the lid opening (1/4" edge margin each way for 1/8" rivets), then applied a painters' tape outline. That will give me a position reference as well as hopefully making a clean edge after I apply Hysol. I know it'll never be seen, but I'm fed up with ugly globs of adhesive on this project.

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Lunch break is over; more to follow this evening...

[Geek]

Nice work Eric. There is a difference in satisfaction between doing it to get it done or doing it nice and neat. You are surely working in cat 2. You are resurrecting a hurt puppy here and it's interesting to watch since it's different than mine.

Gary

[Eric Page]

Thanks, Gary. I'm mostly fumbling around in the dark, but I suppose that describes most first-time builders. "Hurt puppy." Yeah, that's pretty accurate.

---

This afternoon I started out by making a tape line 1/4" from the edge of the lid opening, then marking out 10 more-or-less evenly spaced rivet holes around the perimeter.

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That was followed by drilling to #40 and 3/32" clecos.

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Then I removed the tape, up-drilled to #30 and switched to 1/8" clecos.

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Finally, I removed the clecos, deburred the back side of the seat pan and storage bins, wiped the seat down with acetone again, and put on what will hopefully be the last coat of white paint.

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I have a large supply of 1/8" x 1/4" blind rivets, but I think I'm going to need to buy some 1/8" x 3/8". I want to use backing washers since the bin material is fairly soft, so I'll need a bit more grip length.

[Eric Page]

Yesterday and today I worked on fabricating an extended control horn for the rudder. I honestly don't remember where on this forum I read about this, but I was convinced enough of its necessity that I had already made a cardboard template for it and put the material in my basket at Aircraft Spruce. After nearly two years, the details are hazy...

In any case, I found a piece of sheet steel in my scrap pile that fit the bill. Using a 4" angle grinder and the Dremel, I roughly shaped the material to match the template. Here it still has the black powder coat on it from its previous life (it was half of a 1U blanking plate for a network rack).

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That large center notch wasn't wide enough to clear the weld bead on the existing control horn but after some additional fettling I got it to fit well and clamped it in place.

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I touched it through the existing control horn's cable holes to form a center divot at each bolt location, then removed it and finished the drilling on the drill press. I followed that with a 3/16" reamer, deburred, put it back in place and found that the holes miraculously lined up. It will move the cable attach points outward by 7/8" on each side.

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With the fabrication done, I sanded it lightly with 320-grit, cleaned it with acetone and gave it a coat of self-etching primer. The first side dried while I cleaned up the apocalyptic mess made by the angle grinder and put away half the tools in the garage, then I primed the other side. It'll get the first coat of black paint as soon as I finish posting this update.

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[airlina]

Eric, rest assured that the time you're spending on this rudder mod will be worth it. There is a reason the factory lengthened the horn on later models. those of us who built the stock Series 5 have found them too short, but an after completion mod would require fabric removal which I don't want to do, so we live with it. Bruce N199CL

[bbs428]

Looks great Eric!

I did the same thing. Definitely worth the effort!

[Eric Page]

Thanks, guys. I'm glad to know that I didn't invent that out of thin air!

---

Today I finished painting the rudder control horn and set it aside with its hardware.

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I had a small home repair to do that called for strong adhesive so I got out the Hysol and discovered a good reason not to buy it in 50ml cartridges unless you're on the Rapid-Build Plan. The resin thickens over time and by the time it reaches its expiration date (last month), it won't come out of the tube any more. When I squeezed the gun I got lots of hardener, then when the pressure got high enough, some resin, but it plugged up the mixing nozzle and wouldn't budge; I had to throw 1-1/2 cartridges away. I have so little gluing left to do on the airplane that I'll probably order another cartridge, but I'll wait awhile and keep a list of things that need it.

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The last time I ordered it on Amazon it was $15.69/cartridge. It's now $36.14!

One of the mods I'm doing is to add a rudder trim servo. I need a way to mount the trim tab to the rudder, so I made up a mounting block using a chunk of maple left over from some cabinet trim. I cut the ends to the same angle as the ribs, put a cove in one long edge (I used a tube with sandpaper wrapped around it) and put an angle on two corners to keep it below the fabric on the back side.

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It took a little sanding on the ends to get the fit right, but now it slots in perfectly. That's on the Hysol list.

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The plan is to drill three through-holes to match the outside diameter of 10-32 rivnuts. The rivnuts will be Hysol'ed into the holes from the back side, then a piano hinge can be attached with countersunk machine screws from the front. I'm thinking that one of the fiberglass panels I cut out of the seat pan can be hacked up to make the actual trim tab, with some body work to smooth out the rough side.

With the fit-up done, I mixed a little varnish and gave the part two coats.

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I've been sitting on a hardware order at Aircraft Spruce for quite awhile so I got that submitted. $640 worth of airplane goodies are on the way!

[avidflyer]

I had issues with the Hysol not lasting very long as well. Originally Kitfox supplied Scotchweld 2216 with their kits. I have some that is over twenty five years old and have used it in non aircraft uses. Worked just as well as new stuff. I gave up on hysol, and use the scotchweld. It does have a funny mixing ratio, 5 parts to 7 by weight, but I always put the cup on a mini scale and weigh out the amounts so just a bit of math and you know how much to add of the second chemical. JImChuk