bbs428 Build

[efwd]

Welcome aboard Brett. I thought your disclaimer was describing me. I think now I have good company.

[rv9ralph]

Looks good. Like your QC engineer checking your work.

Ralph

[DesertFox4]

Best of luck with the build Brett. Every Kitfox kit deserves to be finished and appreciated. Try to coax that SkyPirate guy into visiting this site again once in a while. I know he’s taking an internet break for awhile but we miss him here.
He’s a good resource to have near by.

[bbs428]

Working away in the garage. Had to commandeer the Mrs. parking spot due to the cold.
I have to get up early now to warm her car before she's off to work though...

I installed some floating anchor nuts on the rudder pedals and the instrument panel.
Played around with some carbon fiber wrap that turned out nice. The sides of the center
console are also wrapped. Instrument panel will be as well.
The pedals and handles are polished and painted with three coats of satin clear. I like the look of the
bare metal against the carbon fiber.
Lightened the seat a bit. I'll be welding up some attachments and bolting the seat in. No zip ties.
Brake lines, parking brake, aluminum tubing and AN fittings are from Aircraft Spruce. The lines are
covered in a 3/16 nylon sheath.
Parking brake handle made from a piece of dowel and two sections of an old aluminum fishing rod and epoxied together.
Sanded, contoured and painted a satin black.

Back to work!

Jan 21 2019 working in garage.jpg

rudder pedal blind nuts1.jpg

Inst pnl fasteners.jpg

Rudder pedals and brake line.jpg

parking brake1.jpg

Progress so far jan 20 2018.jpg

[bbs428]

It's been cold but the fun continues in my heated garage...

Installed a Com. antenna in the tail. Ran the coax to the back of the instrument panel

Started jeweling my firewall. Thanks to those before me who have done this.
I wouldn't have tried but for you.
It's not perfect but it looks good from a few feet away.

Fabricated a bracket and wired the ELT. Ran those wires forward as well.

Fabricated a top stringer and aluminum straps. Adjusted it until it looked
good with masking tape, then attached with aluminum straps, Aeropoxy and pop rivets.

Found a nice Scott 3200 tail wheel cheap on Barnstormers. Ordered another mounting
bolt 1/2 inch longer. Needs to be cleaned and repainted... at this point, who cares! More fun!

comm antenna (2).jpg

Comm Antenna connection.jpg

Comm Antenna.jpg

firewall1.jpg

firewall.jpg

ELT completed1.jpg

ELT antenna mount.jpg

Stringer upper1.jpg

ABI 3200 tailwheel reduced.jpg

[bbs428]

Wired up my pitch trim sender and epoxied the brackets in place.
I knew wire repair school would come in handy some day! Thanks to the USN.
Funny how the training comes back to you when you use the skills again.

Received a package from Tosten mfg. with my 2 new CS-8 joystick grips! Super quality stuff.
More fun!


trim sender wiring.jpg

trim sender wiring1.jpg

trim sender wiring2.jpg

trim sender wiring3.jpg


trim sender.jpg

trim sender1.jpg

Tosten CS-8 Aircraft Grip.jpg

[bbs428]

Spent the last few days working on the auto pilot servo installation.
I had to scrap my 1st bracket due to coming up a bit short on my pitch servo's output arm...
not enough throw. **** poor prior planning.
So I was hitting up against the servo stops before I ran out of elevator.
I didn't make that mistake again on the roll servo.

Can I leave the bracket in alodine or should it be top coated? Does it even matter?
The pitch servo bracket finish came out a tad mottled so I gave it a zinc chromate topcoat,
a finish that I'm not so fond of. I kinda like the light gold finish on the roll bracket. I spent
more time sanding and cleaning it. I guess it shouldn't mater as long as the bare aluminum is
protected. Going to have to do everything the same way or it's gonna look funktified.
The one inch servo arm extensions came out much darker cause I put them in a small
plastic bag with the Alodine vs. brushing it on. Took the finish much faster.
Learning some new skills.

[FoxTrotter]

Received a package from Tosten mfg. with my 2 new CS-8 joystick grips! Super quality stuff.
More fun!

I assume hat switch is trim, trigger is PTT, but what about the other buttons?
- Thanks--Michael

[David47]

Winding back a little, I've just been looking at your comm. antenna in the fin. Wish I'd done that as I've seen it on another thread (forgotten which). The ability to get great VHF coverage will be a real advantage. I remember many years ago on a flight to Singapore spending some time in the cockpit of a 777-300ER, and with all that wiz bang stuff they had, the VHF radio was still a bit iffy, even for them, and we weren't that far north of Perth (In Australia) which was the area ATC. So even the big guys don't necessarily have great reception. So in short, good thinking and I enjoy your build thread.

[Esser]

We count on about 200NM max of range for the big guys. If they are lower than FL310 even that gets iffy