My Kitfox build

Hiperbiper said:
Updates?

Chris
Click to expand...
Yes!
I have probably one more iteration of fill and sand on my wings before I can cover them. The fuel tanks are in, pitot platform is in, I installed all of the false ribs and varnished them. I also installed the optional fiberglass leading edge (referred to as the Laker Leading edge). I was on the fence about it because it adds weight (the fiberglass pieces are 10 lbs all up) and no one can say exactly what performance benefit there is (suggestions of higher cruise and better stall characteristics but I think it's largely subjective "butt dyno" stuff). But it does look smoother and opens up possibilities of VG installation. Without the fiberglass leading edge there is pretty much one spot you can put them.
But still, the plane uses a Riblett airfoil and the designer of that airfoil indicates it is desirable to have a smooth leading edge for several inches and this provides more than that (probably at least 10").
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I hung my flaperons which is a big milestone, and also required before covering the wings. My flaperons came with some of the trailing edge dis-bonded. You have to rivet them anyway so I figured it was a matter of squeezing some Hysol in there and riveting. Inquiring with the factory I learned that I needed to toss my flaperons and get new ones. I expect to get the email that those are done here in the next week or so. To save $hipping I will be driving to Idaho and picking them up.
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I got my prop, from a company in Ukraine called Meglin. It's a 2000mm (78.5") 3 bladed full carbon fiber scimitar blade with ground adjustable hub. Workmanship is fantastic and the blades all weigh exactly 1087 grams each. The entire prop with hub is under 11 lbs. You certified guys will cringe at this but it was $1080 on my porch.

Also in Idaho is my landing gear. To clear that prop I needed longer legs but I didn't want to follow the crowd and pay $5k for "Shock Monster" gear. Fantastic product by all accounts but I'm not boulder hopping so I think it's overkill. Instead I reached out to John Roberts (AvWeld) who makes the Roberts Bush Gear for all the Rans guys. Like my prop, I had to be on a long waiting list but he's about done with them and I will be picking them up in Idaho too. His cabane style gear will replace the single piece Grove gear my plane sits on now. I will be able to sell that setup and recoup a chunk of what I'm spending on the Roberts gear (about $2900).
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I spent quite a bit of time working with the importer of my engine to perfect my engine mount design. It's being welded up currently. The parts for my Airflow Performance TBI fuel injection also came in to his shop so the carb is coming off and the FI is going on. Once the mount is complete and the adapter plate/injector housing is created the engine will be on the way from New Mexico to my hangar.
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Last night I finished fitting, trimming, drilling the right wing tip. The tips that came with my plane are Hoerner type. Not beautiful but are very functional (Hoerner was a WW II German aerodynamics guy). They add effective span and reduce tip vortices. At least I keep telling myself that so I can get over their appearance. I don't like that they are about 3.75 lbs each. I have the entire week from Christmas through the New Year off so I'll be fitting the left wing tip today. We've got snow here today and it's difficult to get my garage warm enough to mix up the adhesive and filler materials and get them to cure properly. I'll have the same issue with the water based adhesive for the Oratex covering. First time in my life I have ever cursed the snow.

The tooling I created to mate the wings to the fuselage have now helped 5 builders. I just use a pay-it-forward method where a builder pays flat rate shipping of about $16 and then they hold them until the next builder is ready. The new builder pays the last guy for shipping so all it costs to use them is $16. Everyone has been pretty pumped to have them work so well.

I'll throw some videos in the next post.
 
Hiperbiper said:
WOW that's awesome progress!
Beautiful work and pics. Is your FI setup already tuned for your engine or will you have to tweek it?

Chris
Click to expand...
There is no ECU for the fuel injection, so nothing to tweak. It is a straight up mechanical system like the injection systems certified aircraft use (mixture knob, no mass air flow sensor, etc).
 
I have officially started the covering process with Oratex.

Oh and I test fit my Roberts Bush Gear and mounted my 26" Airstreaks. Also received my Sandia STX 165 R headless transponder. I'm sure there is more money to spend but the big rocks are at hand.
 
Nice to see you're making progress Alex and thanks for the update. It's a nice feeling when it starts to look like the big spends are almost over, right? When do you think it might be ready to fly by?
 
Bartman said:
Nice to see you're making progress Alex and thanks for the update. It's a nice feeling when it starts to look like the big spends are almost over, right? When do you think it might be ready to fly by?
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I'm loosely targeting late spring or early summer. Unlike some builders who wait for the first engine run, I want to fire up the engine as soon as possible
 
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I faked this image last night using my video editing software. This came out well enough that I'm going to wheel the plane outside and do it again. The actual engine should be here soon, just playing around for inspiration.
 
Funny you used the term "rust bucket"...it really made me laugh...
My dad was a pilot in WWII. Started in Canada (RCAF) then RAF and finally the USAAF...
While with the RAF he had the opportunity to fly a Kittyhawk (P40C I think)...and had some sort of problem with the gear. Then with the AAF he flew a squadron hack and put IT on it's belly...
After the war dad bought and sold WWII planes and I assume did checkouts in 'em.
As a kid I thought the P40 with the AVG paint scheme was so cool but daddy always called them "Rust Buckets" and said he never wanted to ever see one again! So no P40's to play in 😥.
Still one of the prettiest of the US fighters IMPO.
Thanks for the video, really nice!

Chris
 
The weather is still too cold for me to use the Oratex adhesive (I need a few days with a low of at least 45F) so I'm on to other project to keep up the momentum. So this is my panel mock up. It is actually the supplied aluminum panel but I'm going to have one CNC cut and have all the placards and text engraved. I posted my Solidworks images so this is no surprise.
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And the reason I've resigned myself to doing a mock up is because I've already changed my mind about a few things. Turns out that the dimmer switch for my panel lights is not just a dimmer but has a detent for "off". So the toggle switch is redundant and will be removed. I've also, almost sadly, decided to ditch the nice array of Klaxon breakers and go with a blade style fuse block behind the panel. I'll justify why I'm doing that in another post but in short, with a properly designed electrical system there is no reason to have circuit protection available in flight.
 
And...
A while back I posted my fake image showing the Verner radial on the front of my fuselage. In about two weeks the importer will be loading up my engine, mount and fuel injection system and driving from NM to WA to deliver it.

I've been wanting to mess around with ideas for a paint scheme and kept seeing posts from a guy who does artist renderings, and uses any money people give him for flight training. I approached him about doing an image for me. I was challenging because I can't just send him a picture of my plane to work from. I had to send him various pictures and have him fake it together. The radial blew him out of the water for a while but it is one of those things that can just be some squiggly lines and look okay.

Here's what he came up with:
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If nothing else it provides inspiration, eh?

Here's a link to his web site if anyone wants to see other examples of his work
www.garberdesignstudios.com

Graphic Design | Garber Design Studios

Garber Design Studios specializes in Home Design and Graphic design and Illustrations of all kinds
www.garberdesignstudios.com www.garberdesignstudios.com

Other than sending him some of my own hard earned money I don't have any association with him and won't profit from any sales.
 
Bartman said:
what did he charge for that rendering?
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He is strictly donation based. Pay what makes you happy. I sent him what I thought was a few extra bucks because he was having to create something that doesn't exist from my hand waving and bar napkin sketches, and not just a photograph. I sent him an email asking what people pay and he said his average is now $213, which is more than I thought it would be.
I made him promise to spend the money on 100LL.
 
Thanks Alex. I've got a couple of ideas for t-shirts and need help with the graphics design. I'll contact him and see if we can come up with something.

Bart
 
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