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Almost There...

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Posted

Jack brought his Avid+ out to the hangar this weekend to do the final assembly.  A good looking plane as you can see.  Just a few things left to do and it will be ready for its inspection.

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Posted

Looks good. Thanks for sharing Randy. If you get any more pictures of the plane as it gets completed, it would be nice to see. I like to see activity on other people projects. Helps motivate me. I hope to get back to working on mine soon (if I can get some free time).

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Posted

Looking Good, nice to see another avid + almost ready

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Posted

saaaaweeeeet!  It has been a long time coming!  Glad to see him getting it this close.  Looking forwards to getting out and doing some flying when I get home!

 

:BC:

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Posted

saaaaweeeeet! It has been a long time coming!

:BC:

Hey, me and my Avid+ resemble that remark too!

Way to go Jack, sure looks purrty. What is it they say now... 99% done, 15% to go?

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Posted

Hey, me and my Avid+ resemble that remark too!

Way to go Jack, sure looks purrty. What is it they say now... 99% done, 15% to go?

Well do you have any progress pics for us???? your Fat Avid is in the same category as my 800 conversion... just sitting there waiting for me to stop doing other things and get my ass to work on it :lol:

 

:BC:

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Posted

Thanks for all the positive feedback.  It really has been a long time coming.  Sort of like eating an elephant, but getting closer now.  Anyway, seems as though all the major issues are taken care of and the last 15% that Doug mentioned, to go.  

 

Jack 

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Posted

Leni - hard to believe my A+ has been pushed aside three times now. It may well be the nicest of the bunch if I ever have time and $ to get back to it. Until then, methinks Club Fat is being represented just fine!

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Posted

When I was in Louisiana I drove over and visited with John Bowman and his wife and lit a fire under his ass... I am hoping he will get back on the project and get it in the air soon!

 

Doug, you have been getting other planes flying so I give ya a pass on this one, I have been doing the same thing :lol:

 

:BC:

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Posted

Congrats!!! Looks great!

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Posted

Thanks Ron.

Jack

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Posted

Did the W&B and fired it up and timed it last weekend.  Jack is ready to schedule the DAR!!!

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Posted

Looks awesome, just wondering what the W&B numbers were for it

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Posted

Willis,

 

It turned out heavier than a lead sled.  Empty weight= 841 lb.s,  empty CG= 10.9,  Most aft CG= 15.36. Most forward CG= 12.58,  Randy and I thought about it for a while and figures that the kydex interior and the plastic fuel tanks inside the fiberglass were the things that made it heavier than his.Plus.  We just used three bathroom scales to weigh it and there could be some error there.  With  normal loads though, it should be right in the ballpark CG wise. 

 

Jack

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Posted

Jack, Where did you get the Kydex and what thickness did you use?  I want to replace my Aluminum baggage with the Kydex as I think I can save some weight there. 

 

I weighted mine on bathroom scales originally... When I broke down and had it weighed on certified scales I was a little tore up that they showed ~40 pounds heavier than the bathroom scales did.. YIKES.. Of course, since then I have gone to bigger tires etc and I think I have added weight not taken it off.. yes, on the airplane too :lol:

 

At any rate, congrats on getting it done, now lets get ya out flying again Mr.! 

 

 

:BC:

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Posted (edited)

Hey Leni, we have used Kydex for various interior items for about 11 years now in our interior business. We now only use it for things that are too  hard to make out of aluminum (weird shapes). The reason is weight. I know it seems like you would save weight going with plastic over aluminum, but I have found that I can always make an interior part lighter with aluminum. We only use 2024 T3 which of course is one of the stiffer alloys that is commonly available (way better than 6061 T6).

 

I think the next step to save weight over 2024 T3 might be some type of sandwich construction with carbon fiber. I'm thinking of this in my baggage. CF (with resin) weighs close to the same as aluminum, but it's stronger. The tough part is that if the CF layer facing the baggage area is too thin it might not be durable enough if you throw something into the baggage area even if it would be plenty strong enough to hold the load. I'm also thinking of making a tough Cordura bag for the baggage area instead. I think that would be pretty light.

 

Edit: forgot to say, that you can get Kydex from several places online (http://www.professionalplastics.com/), but I don't know what would be best for Alaska to avoid expensive shipping. Many plastics suppliers stock it or can get it though.

Edited by Luked
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Posted

Leni,

 

I got the Kydex from CAC Plastics up in Wasila, 907-376-7111.  I thiink the thickness was about .060.  fairly thin  and easy to work with.  I was going to measure a piece, but, I think I gave my last one to Randy for his little battery box.

The secondary ignition failed on the sub, so right now I'm trying to find a replacement so I can retain the safety margin that two ignitions provide. May be a few bites left in this elephant. 

 

Jack

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Posted

Hi Jack,

 

I forgot to say, the plane looks great. Sorry if I made it sound like I was being negative about using Kydex. I was just trying to point out that Leni might not save as much weight as you would think by switching to it. It's really tough stuff though. If you can deal with a little extra weight, it will take some abuse.

 

The point is you've almost got a flying airplane. Good job!

 

Luke D.

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Posted

No problem Luke.  There seems to be more than one side to every product or discussion, we can learn from each other.  I'm waiting for my ignition system from Ram Performance so I can have dependable dual ignitions and am dealing with fuel issues in the wing tank installation.  I've got a leaking fitting  and need to seal around the filler necks so fuel can'tget into the wing and mess up the paint job.  The leaking fitting caused fuel to drip onto the full glass (lexan) door.  Guess what happened?  I'll be replacing the lexan with an acrylic product that resists fuel damage.  Touch up painting will follow on the messed up paint.  

Oh well, live and learn, better on the ground than in the air.

 

Jack

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Posted

Congratulation Jack! 

 

N689KB is signed off and has it's conditional airworthiness certificate as of today.  What a great Christmas Present!

 

Not a good day to test fly it today though; I took mine up this afternoon for a quick trip out to Big lake and had a couple of times I was near full stick deflection; after about 10 minutes I decided I had had enough fun.

 

Hopefully Jack's bird will get it's maiden flight by next weekend. :bday:

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Posted

Randy,

Thanks for posting the birthday notice and the picture.  I wouldn't be this far along wothout your help.

Jack

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Posted

Congratulations, it sure looks good,looks like you guys dont have any snow either,its crazy winter

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Posted

It's been a long time coming Jack, awesome to see you got the magic pink slip!  Hope the weather cooperates and you get to put some hours on it soon!  This has been my worst year I can remember as far as hours in the air goes.. bad weather and family obligations have conspired to make me a grumpy guy.  She looks great!  If we get some snow I will drop by and check it out in person soon.

 

:BC:

 

:BC:

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Posted

I'm sure we will get a full report soon, but Randy got to maiden Jacks sweet fat avid today! Congrats on a great build jack and a great first flight! Well done mr.

:BC::BC:

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Posted

It's Alive!  And It Flies Great! 

 

Winds died down today so I got a chance to fly Jack's plane.  Started about 3:00.  Tied the tail to my truck and gave it the break-in run-up progressing up to full throttle for longer times each run.  After a getting it up to a two minute full throttle run with everything in the green I decided to give it a go.  The plane flies great and handles just like an Avid.  I took it through progressively steeper turns and dutch rolls; it handles just like mine.  Stalls were straight ahead with no fall off on either wing.  You can hold the stick all the way back and it just sinks and drops the nose a little as it picks up speed and starts to fly again.  It seems to be pretty fast compared to mine with a fixed pitch prop; probably due to the leading edge cuff and the 850 tires.  It was showing 120 mph on the Avid ASI and about 110 mph on the MGL but about 90 or a bit more on the GPS.  I will have to explore that more.  I ended up with about an hour on it before the light was almost gone and the low cielings with snow pinched me out.  I could not find my camera so had to land and find it, then took off for a quick circle just to prove it made it into the air.  Pictures are not good since it was getting pretty dark and the camera exposure was long; it made for blurry pictures plus it looks a lot lighter out than it was.

 

Good job Jack, you have a great plane!

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