Stuff happens

Thought I'd start this thread as it seems Murphy's Law is constantly at work. JerryTex asked the following question in another thread...Give us a chuckle...tell us your goofs

On a side note, does anyone else have dumb things happen to them while working on their plane? I manged to poke a small hole in the bottom of the fuselage fabric by accidently dropping a razor knife. My jaw dropped when it happened. It is a small slit but still, it messed up a beautiful finish and ruined my day. Thank god it was on the bottom of the fuselage so you really can't see it. Any pointers on fixing it. I put tape over it.
JERRYTEX

On a side note, does anyone else have dumb things happen to them while working on their plane? I manged to poke a small hole in the bottom of the fuselage fabric by accidently dropping a razor knife. My jaw dropped when it happened. It is a small slit but still, it messed up a beautiful finish and ruined my day. Thank god it was on the bottom of the fuselage so you really can't see it. Any pointers on fixing it. I put tape over it.
JERRYTEX[/quote]

Funny you ask Jerry as I think about it frequently while building my bird. One thing I had happen that dropped my jaw and made me speechless...
I had just finished painting one of my wings (final color coat). I turned the wing on the PVC stand and the stand broke. I swear I watched that wing fall in slow motion, land on the trailing edge and bend when it landed on a 2x4. All I could do was stare at it in disbelief. I simply walked out of the garage, told my wife I was going for a drive, and tried cooling down. I didn't go back in the garage for 2 days.

I think the more common error is with biplanes. While pulling panels on the top wing you can easily drop your screwdriver and punch a hole in the bottom wing. Even though it is very common the jaw-dropping effect is the same every time.

Jerry & All,

Such is the nature of our condition. I think it is a rare situation where stuff DOESN'T happens Normally we get bit by it somehow, some where , when we least expect it.

Yeah, I can relate to the hole in the fabric on the bottom of the aircraft - In my case it was a phillips screwdriver leaving a nice little star hole in the bottom. Cut a little round piece of 500 MPH tape to just cover it and it is still there.

Another thing a person could do with a tiny hole in the belly is get the soldering Iron out, glue in a grommet and call it a drain hole.....

When you think about it - the number of things a person does to build an airplane, maybe we are still pretty lucky to only get one or two.....



Dave S

I was trying to pull a cleco out of a tab on the side of the airplane, and when the cleco finally let loose my hand was still trying to pull it out. Nice big tear in the top of the plane. Easily seen from behind at any angle. After 25 hours though the little dings here and there just don't seem to matter as much.

I use krylon white in the spray can. works for me. I also have used the duck tape on the back side and moved on.

Guess that's the difference between owning a Kitfox and an Avid;)

Early on in my building years I broke the seat. The wings were on and I had the fuselage full of sand bags from the auto store...weight for winter traction... to keep it from tipping over while I rigged the wings. I was in the fuselage in a contorted position doing something with all my weight on one knee on top of a sand bag that was on top of the ridge in the center of the seat.

I was drilling something and all of a sudden there was a loud pop that sounded like a pistol shot. The seat had broke right across that center ridge. My jaw dropped a foot'

After fixing that better and stronger than new and quite a few other "Stuff Happens" events I have learned that most every part of the kitfox is very easy to repair.

Now days when I do something stupid I just relax and figure out how to fix it.

Slight fix for accuracy

not that I would know anything about dropping the battery behind the seat, sticking the rifle barrel through the side, putting alders through the tail, or having to replace the sky light BEFORE the original condition inspection cause the header tank valve was open and overflowed though a vent line the factory said to put on in a service letter... this resulted in a ruined skylight and side window the morning the inspector was to show up... so in my haste to get it drilled out and replaced, I slipped and put a nice big hole in the wing (top and bottom) crap... throw more tools around the shop, kick the cat, hunted down the dog just so I can kick it for good measure, then got to work cutting new windshield. Completed install of windshield and had the wing patches up to silver when the inspector came in.. I told him if he asked about the smell of ply spray and the bright silver on the wing I was gonna take him out back.

an hour later I was signed off and good to go!