March '09 KOTM - Joe Meyeres

[Joe Meyeres]

Thank you Randy! Wish I could say I did every bit of it myself, but I had lots of help with fabric work, paint and especially the cowl fittment. Without the help of friends... who sometimes had to make me focus a little harder... it would not have turned out as you see it today.

Thanks for your time at the TeamKitfox site for all your help in providing a venue for all of us Kitfox builders.

[DesertFox4]

Joe,
that's one hansom looking and classic sounding Kitfox. As much as I love my 912S Rotax for reliability and performance I gotta say the Rotec takes the beauty contest hands down. Looks like future Kitfox builders will have another viable engine choice to ponder over. Thanks to you Joe and a couple other builders for plowing new ground with this installation. We'll all be rooting for you guys to have hundreds of fun trouble free hours of flying. Please keep us posted. Nice job!

[Joe Meyeres]

Joe,
that's one hansom looking and classic sounding Kitfox. As much as I love my 912S Rotax for reliability and performance I gotta say the Rotec takes the beauty contest hands down. Looks like future Kitfox builders will have another viable engine choice to ponder over. Thanks to you Joe and a couple other builders for plowing new ground with this installation. We'll all be rooting for you guys to have hundreds of fun trouble free hours of flying. Please keep us posted. Nice job!

Hey Steve,
Thanks for the nice words, but I keep thinking how this would look as a bi-plane with the round motor! Now that would be really cool and unique! The guys at Rotec have been absolutely great to work with. Any issues I had, they were right on it. Can't say enough good things about their service.
Joe

[SaintAero]

Hey Joe,
Nice work on your project. I am building a SuperSport with a Rotec 2800 and am working on the cowling. Is yours a metal cowling? I am building a fiberglass cowling and wonder if you have some advice and recommendations.
See my progress photo attached.
Don

[Joe Meyeres]

Hi Don,
I've been seeing some of your photo's! Nice job on the SS. On my cowling, I was able to use my fiberglass boot cowl only. The Model 4 boot cowl has 4 flat areas that provide the attachment for the ring cowl. Obviously the ring cowl is too small to use with this installation, so what I did was cut the flats out of the boot cowl and fiberglassed plugs in thier place. Then I filled and sanded, matching the contour of the existing cowl which is now my rolled leading edge. For a finishing touch I used a NAPA door edge gaurd (made of nothing but plastic) and glued it on the leading edge of the cowl to take up the gap between the collector ring and cowling. 1/4" gap is plenty to keep the plastic guard from melting.
It took some patience, and I should have done a nicer job making the gap more even and consistant. But be patient and take a little off at a time, check for fit, take a little more off if needed then check for fit. If you can use your boot cowl it should save hours of time versus laying one up from scratch.
Also, there are some folks around here after me to put on a speed ring. It would add to that old time look and not that it is out of the question, but it is a very low priority for me. The speed ring will get you a few more Kts and make the engine run cooler, but... the way it is, this engine runs pretty cool now. I didn't build this for speed, nor do I want to cover up all that beautiful machine work! So a speed ring is pretty much a mute point for me, however if you are interested I can put you in touch with a guy here that can turn one out for you rather quickly. He and his son do a real nice job on the English Wheel.
Joe

[Bryan]

Great job Joe, I knew it was only a matter of time before your beauty graced the pages of KOTM. You have done such a great job on the plane and your write ups are another plus to your talents. They are very informative and are a nice read. I to love my 912 but there is no doubt about it the radial is impressive, not only for the looks but you got to love the sound. How soon before I get a ride?????

[Joe Meyeres]

Thanks Bryan,

I was hoping to end up with an airplane that, when parked next to yours, I would not be too embarassed! You set the bar pretty high, my friend. Thanks for your comments. Can't wait for you to go fly this machine.

Got some ideas for the fly in if we can get it together. I have some friends here that have a commercial Bar-B-Que trailor and they do catering for all kinds of events and different sized crowds, some others who would do a little Blue Grass festival for us. So don't give up on the "Fly In" idea just yet. If we advertise a little and that bar-b-que aroma wafts thru the state, the crowds will come!

Joe