bbs428 Build

[Geek]

Finally!! The answer to the age old question of "what do you get when you have a tractor, grinder, sawsall and a welder?" Nice job Brett but glad you have paint left over so that the trailer will look almost as good as the plane!! Sorry to hear about your DAR's rubber calendar.

Gary

[DesertFox4]

Brett, nice job. That’s the perfect trailer for transporting a light little aircraft.
I had a nice converted boat trailer years ago that came with my first Kitfox, a model 3. Wish I kept it.

Chase (Sky Pirate) and I have been keeping busy modifying a damaged boat trailer to haul the Kitfox with.

Also you got to work with the one , the only “SkyPirate”. Chase can make anything. We miss him on these forums. His new aircraft project
is a thing of beauty. Hope he’s flying it soon.

[bbs428]

We crossed one of the finish lines today. Inspection went really well with no discrepancies noted. Passed with flying colors!
Figures that It's hotter than blue blazes here in flyover country, so sometime in the next few weeks she'll fly for the 1st time!

I'll post it all soon!

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[Geek]

Awesome Brett!!! Only thing better will be that first flight with you at the stick. Hope you get some good weather for it or get up early in the morning for a 'quickie'.

G

[DesertFox4]

Great news Brett. Congrats on a successful inspection. Good luck with your first flight.

[Navycposd]

That is Fantastic Brett! Congrats, you earned it by building a fantastic aircraft.
Now on to Phase 1

[alexM]

Thanks for the motivation to keep plugging away. Best wishes with the first flight.

[bbs428]

After some careful thought and angst about spending even more $$$, I opted for the B&C 40-amp alt and the LR3D-14 controller/regulator.
Seemed prudent as we're so dependent on the electrical system. Backup is the stock Rotax alt.
Runup testing shows a solid 14.1v @ 4k rpm. Hope to see 14.2v at 5.8k rpm. It's an easy adjustment if needed.

The NR prop is wonderful, the spinner - not so much. It's not true on the backplate and wobbles a bit. Not really happy about that as it looks ridiculous. I'm making a marking jig to find where I have to make the adjustments. So far, it's been a pita. Hard to get it right as they are very small adjustments.

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[bbs428]

Had a nice talk with the folks at Travers Insurance. Pleasantly surprised as the Quote came in under what I thought it would be for a bare minimum of 25 hours in type. Takes effect Aug. 15. Under 3.5k a year for 135k. Plane is covered while trailering.

Still working on the trailer. Tail brace is morphing into the fab job from hell, but all the hard stuff is done. Just have the last two braces to weld up. Need more epoxy primer!
Still have too fab-up an elevator gust lock. Some 1x4 and a couple of foam pool noodles should do the trick. Anyone have a better mousetrap to share?

Tail barely cleared the bay door in the shop! Had to lower the trailer down to lowest setting to get it in. Makes it nice to work on. I can only work half days in the shop as the heat is too much after 1pm. My two, window air-con units cannot keep up during the sunny afternoons!

I will be moving the plane to the airport in the next two weeks. Task based phase 1 will be fun. Plan on big circles around the airport at about 4k ft. Should be about 15 deg. cooler up there. What a treat to be here at last!
I would really like this hot, humid weather to subside a bit, but it is what it is - Summer in Southwest Mo.

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[Jerrytex]

Looks great!

We are battling the heat here in Texas as well. 6:15 to 7:15am is my flying window until it cools down.

On the elevator gust locks, I used 3/4 PVC with a series of 90's to make a tight "U" on one end and then caps on the other with pipe insulation. On the open end, I used toggle bolts drilled through both pipe ends near the caps to clamp it down. One on each side.

elevator lock.jpg