John's Build

[jrevens]

Dave,

Thank you for the nice comments!

The Oratex can be a little difficult, and there is a learning curve. I've tried to be careful with tape placement, doilies, cut fabric edges, etc. What you see is what you get, & there is no nice layer(s) of paint to sort of "meld" everything together & hide minor issues. All in all I'm happy with what I've got. My samples hanging up outside in the Colorado sun are still looking fine.

The cable fairings are the black ABS plastic ones sold by Aircraft Spruce. I cut them way down, gave them a coat of paint, & just glued them to the fabric with some clear 5 minute epoxy. I thought of putting a doily around the perimeter, but I already had a couple of layers in that "busy" little area, & it looked just fine to me.

Behind the header tank is an antenna mounting plate from the factory. That hole is for my transponder antenna. It seemed like the right spot for it.

You may have noticed that I did a little welding on the fuselage. I added a second handle, and I also added a plate for my com antenna - my fuselage was made before they started welding on the plate & the extended razorback tube. Mine's kind of half way between what they do now & the original design. My com antenna is not as close to the baggage compartment, & my razorback tube doesn't extend as far forward. Guess I had to be different.

[Dave S]

Ah-ha! I didn't catch the extra handle on the fuse...I like that mod. Long ago I found out that if you ever have someone who is not familiar with an airplane come running up to help move it even if you don't want the help.....you better have something for them to grab onto! Don't ask me how I know that except that it involved a cessna rental plane and about $300 worth of plastic (and yes, I always carrry duct tape which got us back home from central Wisconsin.)

I had some welding experience on our Kitfox too......wasn't for fun additions like you did.....just for repairs and missing parts I didn't get at the time of the old defunct skystar bankrupcy. Check out the attached photo - this is the tab that the rudder pedal adjustment arm anchors to at the bottom of the fuse under the console. The little bugger just dropped off pretty much on its own. Temporarily wired up the departed tab till I found some 4130 gas rod - turns out the original welding was a bit overzealous next to the bend and there were just a few molecules of steel holding it - rewelded the rest of them too as I considered how little fun this would be to fix after the plane was together.

Not aware of anyone doing Oratex out here yet - I like you Beta testing out in the Colorado sun - if it survives that - should work anywhere!

Enjoy - I think you'll have the satisfaction of a plane well built!

Dave S

[rosslr]

As always, a lovely job John. a series of photos like is so good to see. It's great to see you back into it and look forward to watching the progress ......and I hope you wife is well.

cheers

ross

[jrevens]

Thank you Ross. You always have a kind word to share, and I really appreciate it. I sure wish my project was progressing as quickly as yours is. You'll have that beautiful bird in the air before you know it!

[rosslr]

Cheers John.
I'm afraid my efforts will never cut the mustard in comparison to your workmanship but it is the best I can do with my skill set and I sure am looking forward to then flying part now. What engine are going with John? I guess after the covering you will turn your attention to the pointy end of the plane! And as a matter of interest, what paint and process do you use with the Oratex? Same as with Polyfibre?

cheers

[jrevens]

Ross,

I've ordered a 912ULS from Kitfox, and hope to see it in a few weeks.

As far as Oratex goes, it is a paint-less system - it can certainly be painted, but is lighter if you don't, & you can skip that labor-intensive step. It was designed to not have to be painted.

While I've got the "microphone", I wondered if there are any more opinions/comments about the new aluminum radiators... is it worthwhile to spend a little extra & put one in from the get-go? I've got one of the older copper ones from Kitfox.

[Dorsal]

John,
First of all you project looks beautiful, I have enjoyed following the build and am a bit envious of your workmanship.
I have been very happy with the AL radiator having swapped it in last year. I also added a regulator which keeps my CT at 202 + or - about 1 degree all year. The AL radiator seems to have more cooling power and saves some weight so if I were doing it over I would start with the AL. Dave S just posted a nice write up on the slight dimension differences.

[jrevens]

Thanks Dorsal... I'm leaning that way. I've already got one of those thermostats shown in your picture, from Lowell (Highwing) & Mark F., that I'll use.

[jrevens]

Happy day... late this afternoon UPS delivered the Whirlwind prop & spinner that I ordered from Kitfox. It looks beautiful! The spinner is also great... all cutouts, nut-plates, etc.are already made/installed & ready to go with a nice, smooth white gel-coat finish. I'm thinking I may be seeing my engine within the next few weeks!

Got the wheel bearings greased & tires mounted, then played with the tailwheel. I'd been toying with the idea of a rod type tail-spring (maybe titanium like Sonex uses), but have given that up for now. I think it could be very good, and it would lessen some of the side load forces that have resulted in broken bolts as well as being lighter & giving a softer ride, but too much work for now. I did end up machining a rear bracket for the flat spring out of 2024-T3 aluminum. It has lips that come down & help with the side loads. I could have just used 1/4" bolts like some are doing I guess, but didn't. I felt it prudent to add a couple of large washers at the front of the spring - the rear plate was welded to the fuselage at an angle that created a bending load on the rear bolts when the front was tightened down... not good. Next will get the main gear installed & be ready for the engine.

[jrevens]

I did this stuff awhile ago, but thought I'd share some of what I've done to fabricate my doors.

I made a little drill guide, or jig, out of steel to quickly & accurately drill #40 pilot holes in my door frames. It gets them centered & drilled straight through perfectly.

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After getting the door frames "adjusted" to fit the airframe the best I could, I fitted & drilled the Lexan & all was looking good until I tried to fit the fittings for the lift struts.They would scrape on the airframe because the clearance was just too little there. If the doors were moved to prevent that, they touched somewhere else. For some reason my frames were not the best match for my door openings. In case someone is wondering... yes, I made sure that my aluminum door frame pieces were fitted tightly to the airframe square tubing when I fitted & bonded them in place. I had already done a lot of work on these doors & decided to live with what I got. I fabricated new fittings for the struts out of a "sandwich" of two pieces of 4130, which mount on the inner surface of the frames, eliminating the problem for me.

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I mounted my plastic with some stainless steel screws that I added nylon washers & small cushioning pieces of silicone tubing to.
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Finally, I made some aluminum spacers to mount the hinges to the doors, allowing them to be snugged up securely while just slightly pressing against the plastic.

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