Activity Stream

Activity Stream



  1. egp8111 added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    *&%^#$@ radio !
    I've been trying to get a handheld radio and headset to work in my S7.(912)  I've tried a Icom A-12 and a Versa with different headsets.  They both are great on the ground with the headset.  I can receive very well in the air but my transmissions are full of noise.  Both radios and headset combinations do about the same thing.  I think it is background noise because everything sounds clear on the ground with the engine running and they receive so well. I have a wind muff on the mic and have tried a leather cover over that but no good.  Any suggestions ?         
     
    Thanks
    EG
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  2. High Country added a post in a topic My new and first plane   

    The gear on our Bird sits just shy of 8' outside to outside and I just completed a whole new gear for a friends KF IV that sits about 7 1/2' outside to outside. We are running bungee struts rather than the springs and love them. I have built all the jigs to fabricate complete gears for both the avid and KF and hope to start building them sometime next year if anyone is interested. I would say that any wide gear modification is better than the original gear. this is probably the best upgrade you can do. IMHO 
     

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  3. High Country added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Looking great Ron, I love the yellow it sticks out well in the air so hopefully you will be seen long before a mid air could occur. this is one reason we picked bright yellow for our build. 
    keep up the great work
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  4. EDMO added a post in a topic My new and first plane   

    I think that about all who fly these birds would agree that "wider is better" - my design book says that the LG width should be 25% of the wingspan, but getting them out much past 7 foot tire-span is usually not done, even on Kitfoxes with 32 foot wings.
    The only other controversy is whether the bungee-cabane gear may give softer bumps than the spring-cabane gear.....
    I use the Grove aluminum spring gear.
    EDMO
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  5. RDavidson added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Ed, I'm painting it the same color as my shop floor, tools, chairs and anything else I left in the spray booth! Ha!
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  6. fusionfab added a post in a topic My new and first plane   

    Suberavid - ahh I wish I had read your post earlier haha. I just removed the landing gear and hardware last night, cleaned, prepped and painted. I actually was pondering the idea of building/modifying the current set for wider but wasn't sure how positive of an upgrade it'd be. So you're saying that it's a modification I should do? Because I can still always start on them while everything is off.
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  7. High Country added a post in a topic Tail lights   

    Almost completed the taillight install- till I ran out of Stewarts glue with only the finish tapes to go grrr. 

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  8. EDMO added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Good report Ron - plane looking Good - What color will it be -
    EDMO
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  9. SuberAvid added a post in a topic My new and first plane   

    The door skin aluminum is either .020 or .024; it doesn't have to be very thick. 
     
    A couple more suggestions on flying an Avid TD; if you can afford it and your plane doesn't already have it, invest in wide gear (either wide bungee gear or aluminum spring gear).  This will be much more forgiving and give much better control than the stock gear.  Also replace the stock brakes with Matco MC4 master cylinders and double or triple puck calipers and also rework your pedal geometry to mount the master cylinder piston closer to the pedal for more brake leverage.  There are a couple ways to do this and the discussion threads describing this are somewhere on here.  I also suggest that you start off flying and landing on grass or gravel rather than pavement; once you get it down good then go to pavement.
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  10. RDavidson added a post in a topic Superflite revisited   

    Making some more progress! Both wings are finished!
    I have really been fighting an subtle orange peel effect in my paint. After thinking it was the paint being laid on to thick, air pressure not high enough, not enough reducer, etc...I realized my primer coat was orange peeled, but it is almost impossible to see because of it's dull white color. A solution, to make mistakes more visible, might be to tint the primer with a hint of your finish color so you can do something about it before it is too late. I'm using two cross coats of top coat with a sanding in between.
    I'm not a professional painter and I gave it my best shot, certainly did all the prep and sanding to my best ability, but I just need more experience painting!
    So for now I'm going to have to park with my right wing to the FBO because it was the last wing I painted! Ha!
    Don't get me wrong, It is looking really good, and the common joe blow wouldn't notice it. It just eats at me because I really wanted it perfect, but it is what it is...smooth to the touch, but a slight ripple in the gloss...

    Some helpful hints for the next guy...
    1) get a spray gun that you like. It doesn't matter if people tell you it is the greatest money can buy, if you can't get it to work right it is junk! Luckily I dropped and ruined the gun that was recommended to me and cost me a fortune, so I switched to a cheaper gun, but still expensive, and it made all the difference in the world!
    2) you should not be in a hurry to do any of the painting...think through what you are doing beforehand and get everything setup so you are not fighting with air hoses, other things in your way, or the large paint suit you bought that needed to be XL and now you sing soprano everytime you hunch over! Ha!
    3) on most paints, especially Superflite, a first coat in a cross coat should be a very light coat. This is a tack coat that will allow you to spray a thicker second coat without it running...it works!
    4) LIGHTING!!! I probably have about 10 different light sources in my paint booth now. Continually look at you painting surface from different angles so that you can see the paint laying down, over laping your last pass and looking smooth as glass.
    5) Paint your primer as if it were your final coat. This is where I screwed up! Bad painting means a lot of sanding. Sanding on fabric is difficult because the fabric moves, unlike sanding metal that you can put force on to make it smooth. Plus, you can't use heavy grit or you will sand through your fabric!

    Maybe that will help the next feller...

    Only the control surfaces and little Doo-dads left!

    See Ya,
    Ron


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  11. SuberAvid added a post in a topic Fiberglass or Plastic fuel tanks?   

    Paul, I Sure hope you have success venting the header tank through the right wing root.  Jeff's Avid was vented that way when I started flying it; it kept the tail well coated with fuel and wrecked the turtle deck.  We changed it to just vent through the tanks like mine is. Have never had a problem with 3 planes vented this way.
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  12. RDavidson added a post in a topic Fiberglass or Plastic fuel tanks?   

    @Cliff,
    I'm interested to see how the KBS holds up! We need a sealant to work, because if AV gas disappears it might be the only solution that doesn't require us removing our fiberglass tanks. So, we have to keep trying.

    @everyone else
    I looked into everything...sealants, aluminum, plastic, but when everything weighed out I decided to go with plain fiberglass. Sealant can cause clogging/venting issues, welded aluminum tanks can have rupture problems due to vibration/prop wash, and the plastic tanks are having issues with fuel line attachment leaks (I read one post on that, my original problem was loosing a few gallons of usable fuel because the plastic tanks went inside the fiberglass tanks.)
    The real solution is for somebody to spend the money to mold a plastic tank that completely replaces our fiberglass tanks.
    So, I'm running straight fiberglass until somebody (Cliff) has a good experience with a sealant, or I get a fuel leak.


    Ron
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  13. EDMO added a post in a topic Fiberglass or Plastic fuel tanks?   

    My Kitfox tanks only have two baffles making three sections - the venting is KISS and works!
    I have the diagrams of the Magnum vents - they are like some I have seen on spam cans - they should work for tank pressures and overflow, but cant see where they would help a header tank vent back to the wings...Maybe I missed something...
    EDMO
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  14. Guest added a post in a topic Fiberglass or Plastic fuel tanks?   

    Hi Paul,
    The Magnum tanks are different that other Avid tanks. Filler is different, venting is way different and outlet size is larger all to accomodate the up to 180 HP engine the Magnum can support. The tanks are however the same size and shape externally and could be interchanged. Internally there is all of the tank vent and cross-tank vent plumbing in the Magnum tanks that the regular Avid tanks don't have, and the internal baffling is different. The The Magnum tanks have three internal bays and all other Avid tanks have four smaller bays.
     
    Dos this answer your question?
     
    Chris
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  15. Guest added a post in a topic Fiberglass or Plastic fuel tanks?   

    Clif my apologies if my comment offended. I know there are people who have coated tanks and had no problem. Some have had problems. What I said is my opinion and I should have been more sensitive to the fact what I say might offend others. I try not to dis other's approaches to problem solving but I failed here. My apologies again.
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  16. Luked added a post in a topic Classic IV Restoration   

    I missed the earlier discussion about the thermostat. The only experience I have with this is from when I installed a Subaru engine in our 87 VW vanagon. The cooling system is fairly complex because the radiator and front heater core are at the opposite end of the vehicle from the engine.
     
    Anyway, I found that having a good flow of heated coolant directed at the thermostat was required to make the thermostat function properly. I had to buy a special spacer (designed by another Vanagon guy) to go in the thermostat housing to accomplish this. Temp stays rock solid now.
     
    btw, glad to hear you are making progress Larry. That's more than I can say for my project lately.
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  17. EDMO added a post in a topic wing building   

    The Avid manual tells you (with the wing upside-down) to set up a vertical (should be 91 degree) post the same height as your strut and spar fuselage fittings, then attach your struts to that and to the spar fittings before clamping and drilling the spar fittings - something like you described, but without using the fuselage.
    EDMO
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  18. Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Classic IV Restoration   

    Day 4 of working on the "cowl flap" for the radiator.  I'm beginning to hate my life.  I am now committed to finishing this damn idea and making it work, though...
     
     
    Seriously, I am near finishing the fabrication and building stage on the fuselage.  Then the big disassembly and the airframe goes out for sandblast and powder coating.  Wings are next.  Actually should be pretty easy.  Just disassemble, clean, revarnish the ribs, install the new fuel tanks, mount the pitot/AOA mast, mount the remote compass for the Dynon and slap a little fabric back on them.
     
    I have a high goal of maybe even flying this thing next year…  Maybe.
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  19. TJay added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    wing building
    here is a good question for you guys I have been looking at the manual about building the wings for my kitfox 1 and it states place the wing strut attach brackets on the spars, it gives a measurement of like 86 1/2 inches then it says drill, debur, glue and rivet. Now to me it makes more sense to hose clamp them on, then after rigging attach them. like I see pictures of people doing. what do you guys think
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  20. TJay added a post in a topic 2 cycle to 4 cycle   

    yeah I agree I have a 582 also for this thing I just really love that 912 probably better just keep it light and slow.
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  21. EDMO added a post in a topic 2 cycle to 4 cycle   

    My KF1 had the NSI Turbo Soob and a 25 lb battery almost to the tail.
    Speaking of tails: I thought Joey was going to measure one?
    EDMO
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  22. cliff added a post in a topic Fiberglass or Plastic fuel tanks?   

    Chris, I knew I shouldn't have posted anything about sealing my tanks. Thank you for letting me know that there is no coating that will seal a tank. 
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  23. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Differences between Fat, Plus, Pursang, Airdale, and Magnum Fuses   

    Delta Romeo go to the Files and Forms forum. It's less than a page of threads and has loads of info including the complete history of Avids, all the different wing specs, along with lots of other technical data all compiled into one place.
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  24. C5Engineer added a post in a topic 2 cycle to 4 cycle   

    Only seen one other KF1 converted to a 912 and it took lots of modifications. Weight and balance and the inadequate tail surfaces were two of his biggest challenges. The early models were a poor match for heavier engines in their stock form.
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  25. TJay added a post in a topic 2 cycle to 4 cycle   

    yeah the front is off to the left so a 4 stroke would work great I thought of that later but a 582 with a gear box will be lots of left rudder.
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