Final Assembly - Wings ON

[HansLab]

Henry, great job!!
I'm into that stage the nextcoming months, so it looks if I'm looking at the future, here!
And.. you make me happy with your pics of the folded wings: yours aren't even either, as I look at it, when folded. Mine neither (see pic), as I discovered when rigging before the covering process. I asked along here and there, but it seems to be happening due to rigging the struts.

Looking at your pictures I am curious, though, if your flaperon (SB side) will fit between the elevator - but we'll se.
Again: beautiful pics, very helpful!!

Hans

[henrysamson]

Looking at your pictures I am curious, though, if your flaperon (SB side) will fit between the elevator - but we'll se.
Again: beautiful pics, very helpful!!

Hans

Thanks for the kind words. Since I was building both a long wing and short wing airplane I chose a dihedral that is between what was in the manual for the two versions. So my wings may look close to the horizontal stabilizer if you used the measurement for a long wing. It all worked with the flaperons on before covering. I guess I'll find out in a week or two! I did have to move one of the flaperon weights since the manual instructions put them in a location where they contacted each other when the wings folded. I am very pleased with the how the rigging worked out when the wings are folded. The height of the inboard corners of the wing tips are within 1/8 inch of each other.

Just keep building. I would get so discouraged when I felt something was not just right that I would stop. Then it is hard to get back into it. I bought my kit in 1997 and it is now . . . 2013. Enough said?

Where do you plan to fly out of when you get flying ? We were just in Jewett last fall visiting friends , probably another trip in the spring . Sadly not with the Kitfox

I'll be flying out of the College Station, TX area. If all goes well my plans are to be flying all this summer and into the fall. East coast first to visit family and friends. Then back through Texas and I hope to make it to the Pacific Northwest by fall so I may be in you area then!

[rjkulesa]

Looks fantastic. Did you build entirely in the 2 car garage? I'm curious how doable that is....

[HighWing]

Henry , just wondering if anyone has come up with a way to get a window open . It's difficult to get descent pictures from the Kitfox with all the glare and reflection from skylight, windshield , and side windows .

The airplane flies fine with the doors open. I took weekly progress shots for a couple of years of a building under construction near Sacramento. Closing the door in flight was the challenge. Finally, I rigged a pully over the passenger door that I put a cord through that I could attach to the door strap on my side. I could clip the cord before opening the door and a T handle on the other end made closing the door relatively easy. A hinged top section would be the ideal solution, though.
Lowell

[cap01]

thanks Lowell , I have flown with the doors open / off . in our part of the country I wouldn't care to do it for very long . tired the door off thing in the middle of summer one time and after takeoff couldn't get back on the ground fast enough it got so chilly . possibly if a person dressed more for cooler weather it would work better . as for doors open , I'll have to try that again . I have interior door panels with pockets so ill remove them to try that plus remove any thing that's not tied down in the cockpit .
as for closing the pax door . if flew skydivers a couple of summers in a c180 with the pax door hinged at the top and a latch at the bottom . to get that door closed was pretty simple , skid the plane to the right and the door woud come down where the latch could be reached . I'll have try that sometime in the Kitfox when the weather gets nicer .

[henrysamson]

Looks fantastic. Did you build entirely in the 2 car garage? I'm curious how doable that is....

It's doable and I will have some suggestions regarding this in a day or two. I have been rather distracted as I was involved in a mid-air collision yesterday morning while flying with a student. Still trying to get my mind around what happened and how we survived. Got hit from behind at about 3000 feet.

Here is some info from the paper:

http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/a...7e11b905b.html

[Av8r3400]

Holy crap, Henry!! Glad you were able to walk away!!

Someday you'll have to tell us the story. But not here and not now.

[cap01]

the wheel just fell off and went thru my windshield ? what are the odds for that to happen ?
happy every one made it out ok . had to have been a couple of interesting landings .

[rjkulesa]

Holy cow! So glad all are ok.

[Dorsal]

Frightening to read, so glad you OK.