bbs428 Build

[bbs428]

Jason - I did have two pairs carved. Both tips curved into the trailing edge. After they were glued in, I realized it was the old pair!
Argg! Just my luck, the better pair was lost somewhere in the move to the new house...
It was one of those moments where you just sigh, shake your head and move on. They still look really good but could have been better.


IMG_1540.1.jpg

[jiott]

I did the same; curved the trailing edge of the balsa tips to totally eliminate that weak feather edge. No problems for 10 years now.

[bbs428]

Cannot upload pics for some reason today? I resized smaller and no joy, so this will be a text only post!

Squawk to admin.

It's 27 deg. here this morning, windy and clear as a bell. Took two steps toward the shop and turned around. Lol. Much warmer in the house in front of my keyboard.
Lol. Yeah, I can hear everyone laughing all the way from the frozen tundra up north!

Installed my aluminum joggles for my baggage compartment for the Velcro to attach to and fitted my floorboard.
Discovered that a critter had eaten a few holes in the bag! Is there always some obstacle to overcome on every aspect of this build?
The Mrs. has graciously volunteered to fix it so I can move on.

Routed my com wires over to their respective positions behind the pilot/copilot. will be soldering those up today as well. I have two aluminum, triangular plates painted black. Behind the copilot will be the pilot receptacle and vice-versa. Thanks to a forum member for that info.

I was dorking around with the G3x system yesterday and found the video button and lo and behold I had a video image on the screen! Cool! But the taxi cam switch is off? Oh-bother. The camera is a chi-com, 18-dollar Raayoo with horrible install instructions. I cut the rca connector off and got rid of 10-15 ft. of unneeded video wire and installed an Amphenol plug.
Anyways, found my wiring issue and went to turn it on and…nothing. Camera was dead. Found out (thru trial and error) the camera was getting its ground from the video plug back shell. Still not sure how I bricked the camera, but I did. Sigh.
Without boring you all to tears I ordered a new camera and it’s all up and running. It's the same camera and with better instructions! Tbh, for a cheap backup camera, the price is right, and it has a nice picture...well good enough to taxi anyway!
I made a tactical error (go figure) and should have wired in a discrete lo on the Gdu 460 to turn the camera on from the joystick. Right now, you have to turn on the taxi cam switch then go to the g3x menu, then menu again, then select tools and then video. Ugg. Not a very elegant result.
My four sw. on the joystick are - a/p disconnect, com tx, com flip/flop and com something, lol whatever I make it. Could have used that last sw. for video. What would work is to wire up the discrete lo through the taxi cam switch! That will solve that issue.
I'll get right on it...

When it warms up today, I'll do some body work on my lift and stabilizer strut airfoils and the wheel pants. There is a nice weather window moving in and conditions will be good for primer and paint.
I have to get the paint booth down to put the wings on and finish all the stuff that needs to be done - like the windscreen, dash, turtledeck and flaperons. Sometime this fall after my runups and taxi tests, I'll start getting squared away for my DAR inspection, that is if my registration paperwork goes thru. It was mailed in on 2/21. Fingers crossed!
The fireproof data plate, N-number, passenger warning placard, and the "Experimental" sticker is on. Woot!

It's warmed up so enough flailing at the keyboard, back to work!

[Geek]

You wuss!! It was 5 here this morning and I don't mean 0500 .... the high was 21.

G

[bbs428]

You wuss!! It was 5 here this morning and I don't mean 0500 .... the high was 21.

G

Haha - 28 years in SoCal has made me soft. Tbh, the shop wasn't too bad. 47deg today, 62 tomorrow and 70 Monday. Nice!

Every day in the shop is a good day, cold or warm!

[bumsteer]

Don't know if you had a reserved N number ( I had one), but when I sent mine in this past summer, except for a question about a form concerning Skystar ( 1998 kit) I had the number within 3 weeks. Good luck!!

Rick

[bbs428]

Hey Rick,

Reserved my "N" number 3 years ago - N66KF and the Skystar form was sent in with the registration paperwork, so were good there.
But never underestimate the potential of the bureaucracy to derail your train...

[bumsteer]

The thing they questioned was on the form that prints out with the letter from Kitfox LLC explaining Skystar is no longer around. The form has the header To: FAA Registrations. I circled Skystar as the seller and signed my name on the Owners Signature line. For some reason whoever was doing my paperwork thought I was associated with Skystar and wanted my title with the company. So I sent back a letter explaining (again) Skystar was no longer in business and I signed the form as Owner/Builder. Everything was approved the day after they received my second letter.

Rick

[bbs428]

Here is some pics that didn't make it in the last post. Baggage sack rodent holes, Aluminum joggles and taxi cam video.

The Mrs. has got the bag all squared away. Needs a good cleaning before install.
The aluminum joggles are left over parts of the old series 5 turtledeck.
Looks like I can use a discrete lo on the GAD27 to switch the taxi cam video. Shouldn't be too hard to get into J271 and wire up a few before I make the wires look pretty. The GDU460 has no input for that function.

IMG_1544.jpg IMG_1545.jpg

IMG_1547.1.jpg IMG_1550.jpg Web capture_26-2-2023_42616_.jpg

[Kitfox Pilot]

What camera did you use? I have a cheap backup camera from Walmart but I'd like to get a 1080p to try a better camera.