May 13, 2024     Ribs #2 and false ribs installed. Trailing edges installed       Category: Wings

Trimmed and installed both #2 ribs and false ribs. Trimmed false ribs to match (approximately) the same profile as rest of wing. Installed trailing edge material, epoxied and riveted (into rib #2 capstrips) all contact points. Filled the inner and outermost trailing edge - rib cavities to prevent water being able to sit against wood if any enters the interior of wings. Pretty happy with the straightness of the trailing edges. Still need to finish the varnishing of the new ribs. Did get two coats of varnish on both sides of the #2 ribs before bonding them in place.

  May 07, 2024     Fuel Tanks are installed!       Category: Wings

Got both of the fuel tanks installed, ensuring the adhesive was applied in a "wavy" pattern to allow air flow to help cure. Pictures are of right wing & tank. Got better at installing the wings onto the fuselage. Pattern/sequence that worked better was to;
0) Place weight into opposite side of fuselage if only working with one wing at a time to offset weight of cantilevered wing.
1) Support wingtip with stands or other person.
2) Place root of both spars over lugs in the fuselage. Place bolt in rear attach lug through the spar, followed by clevis bolt in front spar, also through it's lug. This is easiest done by second person, but can be done with aid of lifting device. (engine hoist, overhead hoist, etc.,) being careful to secure both ends in case of either end slipping from their support. DON'T DROP THE WING!!!
3) Attach wing strut to fuselage at "fish mouth" end, and secure with bolt.
4) Connect wing strut to front spar attach bracket first, followed by rear attach point. (It does not work in reverse sequence)
5) Connect jury struts to wing spar attach brackets.
6) Lower/remove wingtip support as the wing/fuselage are now one assembly.

  Apr 24, 2024     Wings installed in preparation for fuel tanks - (15 hours)       Category: Wings

Mounted left wing to the fuselage to; 1) Ensure the rear and front spar fuselage attach points still align. (They didn't, but with a little filing of the lugs on the fuselage side and of the spar reinforcement plates I was able to get the wing secured to the fuselage.) 2) Ensure the dihedral of 1-degree is still in-place. (It seems to have dropped ~0.3-0.4 degrees, so some fiddling with the strut ends will be necessary to get the dihedral correct before mounting the tank permanently. 3) Ensure the tank fits to the wing as it did on the rotisserie. (In fact it seems to fit better, with only ~1 mm of rocking between opposite corners - easily within the tolerance of the adhesive thickness I expect to be filling that space.)

Surprise bonus: Looking from ~ where my head will be when flying, I caught a glimpse of what it will look like when looking to my left. It was a good reminder that even though I am neck-deep into this project, the vision of flying still needs to be stoked once in a while. So, just keep going, I'll get it done eventually!

  Apr 24, 2024     Powder-coated engine mount       Category: Engine

Took the engine mount to a local powder-coating operation. Tried to match the color of the Edge Performance orange. It's pretty close... Also, mounted it to the firewall to make certain I didn't have any clearance issues. It's very close to the footwell on the left side of the aircraft, but it does not touch.

  Mar 15, 2024     Engine Mount - pre-Powder Coating       Category: Engine

Before the mount was taken for powder-coating. Received this from BDTurnkey (Bryan Dacus)

  Mar 11, 2024     Wing-Rigging, Part-2       Category: Wings

Had to re-attach the wings to complete the rigging. Primarily, I did not drill through the bottom of the spars where they will be attached to the fuselage. (My mistake) So, I had to re-assemble the leveled fuselage, hung wings, installed lift struts and the drill jigs from Alex Munro. Re-verified the wing perpendicularity, 1-degree dihedral, the 0-degree sweep and the 1-degree wash-out. Drilled out the bottom holes of the spars at the wing root. Established the positioning for the jury struts using a plumb-bob. Drilled holes in the spars for the jury strut brackets and established the clamp-bracket(s) positions. These procedures took place over ~3-4 week timeframe.
After disassembly, the strut attach brackets were installed, jury strut brackets were installed, the spar wing attach doublers were installed (used microballoons and flox to strengthen the epoxy/riveted joint) and the varnishing of the wood ribs commenced.

  Dec 30, 2023     Wing-Rigging - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Process of setting the Quick-build wings on the fuselage spar carry-throughs to get a 0-degree sweep, perpendicularity to the fuselage, 1-degree dihedral and the requisite 1/2" wing washout (trailing spar higher than the front spar by 1/2". Used the hole-locating jig shared to the Kitfox community by Alex Munro. Chose a very cold day, which possibly slowed our thinking some. Tools used included; homemade wing stands with adjustable supports, hammer for adjusting the wing stand support bars and for moving the wing spar attach brackets, (with a small block of wood to avoid metal-metal pounding) 1" standoff jig for setting the initial sweep at the outboard wing locations, levels (manual and digital) for ensuring the fuselage was level in the horizontal plane, (front-back and side-side)jacks and blocks and shims for setting the fuselage level, "low-stretch" string for measuring the perpendicularity of the wings-fuselage.

Notes:
1) This is/was a very stressful operation due to the criticality to the performance of the plane's flight characteristics. Would have preferred a warmer day so our thinking was clearer. Having at least 2 capable helpers is/was critical for nearly every step of the process. Especially helpful if one has either done this before, or is willing to question why you're doing a step and challenging you before you make a critical mistake. I asked four other builders and an independent engineer to help. Got one builder and a son-in-law as all the rest had to withdraw for medical-related situation. (mine... Damn COVID!!! Yeah, this was late 2023 - it's still with us.)
2) Even though these were quick-build wings that had been "rigged by the factory" per the bill of material, I didn't trust that the spar attach brackets were positioned to accomplish the sweep, perpendicularity, dihedral and washout. After all the adjustments and measurements were to my liking, the pre-drilled pilot holes on the top of the front spars were exactly centered, which was good. But it was clear the lateral position of the attach brackets needed to be moved from where they were positioned by the factory. Moving them involved hitting a block of wood held against the bracket with a hammer. Looking down the wing while this occurred clearly showed the movement desired, providing comfort in the process.
3) Use of the hole-locating jigs was trickier than it appeared as the jigs were easily moved due to bumps and temperature changes. Surprisingly, the 1/2" thick aluminum block would bend under fairly light clamping pressure, so I had to create a couple of opposing lifting/fixating wedges to set the end of the blocks' positions.
4) I drilled and cleco'd each of the spar attach brackets in two locations each to secure the brackets' locations for the disassembly.
5) Everything eventually worked after 4 hours of repetitive adjustments.

  Oct 13, 2023     Quick-build Wings cleanup - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Starting the cleanup/prep of the Factory Quick-Build "Pre-rigged" wings. Involved cleaning off the ~20 years of dust/spider webs, cleaning and protecting the aluminum surfaces with Alodine. Having discussions with the factory re: if the strut attach brackets are bonded to the spars or just self-clamping as they seem to be strongly attached and show evidence of the wing-rigging processes. E.G., the vertical and offset lines for the center of the spar strengthener/stiffener are visible. The brackets are not pre-drilled as they are Skystar vintage, versus how they come from today's factory. Will proceed to verify the pre-rigging achieves the necessary wing sweep, dihedral and washout called for by the manual before drilling the brackets. Will confirm the presence of epoxy bonding of the brackets. If none is present, I will be removing the brackets, prepping them, and bonding and riveting them for the final installation.
Update; on October 16 I was able to remove the brackets from the spars. Each position on the spar was marked/traced with a sharpie, the center-lines and 9/16" offset lines were enhanced so as to be able to accurately re-position the brackets when they are re-installed. Getting the brackets off involved using the flat edge of a 2x4 piece of soft wood (pine) and striking the bracket edge along the circumference of the spar. This caused the brackets to open and rotate enough to be able to remove them. The brackets are completely powder-coated, so will need to be scuffed up prior to attaching/bonding permanently to the spars. Have now drilled all the rivet holes on the brackets, using a piece of 2" PVC as a holding fixture (perfect size as the pictures show) Deburring the holes was a challenge - ended up using a small drum sander on an extension to be able to reach into the insides of the brackets. That cleaned up the burrs, and then I followed that with a general sanding/scuffing. Will proceed with positioning the brackets for the wing rigging in the next few days.

  Aug 28, 2023     Received engine! - (4 hours)       Category: Engine

Photos show shipment of crated engine from Norway to Kansas, on the test stand in Kansas, and receipt of the engine in Huntsville.

  Aug 28, 2023     Bottom Stringer - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Cut to length, filed to fit, sanded and epoxy-primered the wood stringer supplied in the kit. Installation involved using micro-ballon reinforced 2-part epoxy and lockwire at every junction with a cross-member of the fuselage. Measured width of the fuselage and ensured the stringer was locked in the center of the fuselage.