John's Build

[HighWing]

John,
I've got to say that is quite the iron. I wonder if there is a market for such a thing. I remember using my iron and watching the temps cycle over the thermometer and trying to calibrate it with the ebb and flow of the primitive thermostat. That should give pretty tight control of the temps.

[rosslr]

I think that is fantastic John! I reckon you just went into the rental market! I'm sure builders up to covering would love to hire that for their project! If you get bored and want to export one to OZ let me know.

cheers
ross

[Dorsal]

Very cool iron John, I would have one less hole in my covering job if I had that

[jrevens]

In attempting to fit my balance weights to the flaperons, I believe that the contour/fit is not good. It is very poor at the leading edge. It doesn't look like the shape can be changed or "massaged" as needed because the bend needs to be greater right where the arm is welded to the base, & the nose bend is not right either. There is a gap of at least 1/8" at the apex of the nose. At the same time the "tail" is about in the correct position, with the factory-punched hole in the correct position in relation to the flaperon trailing edge. All 4 weights are the same. Yes, I am trying to install them on the right side (bottom) of the flaperon. I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this, or if I just got a batch of poorly-made weights (or?). On another local Kitfox, the weights follow the contour of the flaperons very closely & nicely. I know John & Debra will take care of it if necessary, but it's late at night & I'm feeling a little bit frustrated... like I said, I'm just wondering if this would be considered acceptable by other builders.

[PapuaPilot]

I think they should fit better than that and would ask about getting a new set. On the other side I think that they could be installed safely and be totally functional but they would not be very pleasing to the eye.

I was just looking at my balance weights today (which I didn't install) and they have a little gap, but nothing like yours. Mine are only about 1/16".

[jiott]

I agree your gap is more than most, but when they are installed the Hysol fills the gap and can be radiused out with your finger so it looks much better after final paint.

I believe I also remodeled the leading edge bend on the weights slightly for a better fit. You can't do much but you can do some. Also pull them in tightly when you rivet them on-it slightly squeezes the thin flaperon for a better fit.

[Dave S]

John,

Here is a photo of how mine fit....this photo is after riveting/bonding the weights to the flaperons.

I agree with others that the space can be minimized by pulling the weight down when riveting; the space can be taken up with hysol and the final result will be structurally sound; however, the contour of your weights is definitly different than mine; and, there is quite a bit of space showing.

Wondering if there are two different sets of weights available?....one for the current flaperon design and one for earlier symmetrical design??????.....Don't know.......

Dave S

KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, Minne-snow-ta

[Paul Z]

Here is one of the Flaperon counter weights.

[Paul Z]

Looking at the passenger side inboard, the hysol seems to fill the gap.

[HighWing]

I find this interesting. It appears that John's mass balance weights fit significantly better than Pauls and that Pauls don't all fit the same. My guess is that the tooling is getting a bit long in the tooth - as they say.

I am attaching a photo of the 1992 version of the mass balance weight fit on my new Model IV and another of a weight I made after SKystar went bankrupt when there was some demand for some of the then unavailable parts.