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Recovering another set of wings

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Posted (edited)

Well I started recovering a set of Kitfox 4 wings yesterday.   Had to fix a few false ribs, and changed out two end ribs, one on each wing first.  The left wing has a new style alcohol resistant fuel tank, the right is original.  I didn't want to change out the right tank cause it doesn't leak, but at the same time, I'm worried if it was to start leaking in the future.  I figured I would make it easier on myself if it ever did start leaking and had to be changed.  I ran the fabric from the outboard end of the wing to the rib on the outboard side of the fuel tank, and wrapped it back around the inside of the rib.  Will do the same with the bottom fabric.  After that 10' of fabric was in place, I glued in the fabric that covers the fuel tank.  I'm going to ribstich the wing, so I'm not worried about loosing the fabric with a glued joint.  What that does for me though is if I ever have to change the tank, I can peal off just the first 3' of fabric and finish tapes and the rest of the fabric will stay in place and remain tight.  I braced between the ribs a bit so the rib next to the fuel tank wont bow in if the fabric is removed over the tank.  Hopefully it's a little bit of extra work for nothing, but if I ever have to change that fuel tank, I'll be glad I did it, I think.  On other subjects, was supposed to get the conditional inspection done on the Kitfox 1 yesterday, but the AnP switched to Monday cause something came up for him.   Jim Chuk

Well, I had just downloaded the pictures showing what I meant, and now I can't find them on the PC.  Erased them from the phone when I loaded them on the PC.   Well after all this typing, I'm not deleting the post.  Maybe I can get a few more pics tomorrow

Found the pictures.....

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Edited by 1avidflyer
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Posted

Made some more progress this afternoon and evening.  Jim Chuk

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Posted

I bet covering a Model 4 is about the easiest wing you have ever covered,

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Posted

Kitfox wings are a lot easier to cover than the Avid wings.  The rounded, covered wing tips complicate things with the Avids.  Harder to go around curves with finish tapes as well.  And with the Kitfox 4, there was no cutting around rib tails either.  Jim Chuk

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Posted

Looking good mr!  I need to find some motivation and get back to work on mine!

 

:BC:

 

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Posted

Wow,  just looked at the date I started this topic, and it was one month ago.  Haven't been working on them full time by any means, but they are now ready for the spray gun.  I did keep track (sort of) on the time I've spent on the fabric work, but don't know what it is right off hand.  The tedious work is done, and spraying is a much more fun part of the project.  Anyway, up to the spray shop (my garage) tomorrow.  I'm doing the same color scheme as the Kitfox 1 I just finished.  One wing has a new model tank, one is original. I built in a bit of what if on the old tank.  I wrapped the fabric outboard of the tank around the rib next to the tank, and put a separate piece of fabric top and bottom covering the tank.  If it ever leaks, it will be a lot easier to take the tank out and recover that area.  Fabric is glued and ribstiched on the ribs Jim Chuk

 

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Posted

Nice looking work!

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Well I shot some poly brush today... progress.  I looked at the paper I was keeping track of time on, and it shows 47 hrs from start of fabric work to end of finish tapes and ready for spray coats.  Not sure if I missed any hours on that, but it should be close to what it took me.  Jim Chuk

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Posted

Looks good!

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Posted

Pretty soon you will be able to cover wings in your sleep. Looking good!

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Posted

From the pictures shown you do very nice work. Rib Stitched and straight tape lines and under 50 hours so far. Fabric work is my favorite part of working on these type of aircraft. It shows the skill and patience of the builder.

MarkD

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Posted

Well a cheap camera does wonders.  Like a painter I used to work with always would say;  looks good from far, but far from good.  I turned them gray today.  Thanks for the atta-boys guys!  Should finish them on Friday.  Tomorrow looks like rain, and high humidity.  Jim Chuk

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Posted

I need to make sure mine are ready to be covered if you go back to Gulf Shores this winter.  Just in case you get bored or something..... :-)

 

Mark

 

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Posted

It seems like we will be there for 3 months this winter.  Who knows?  JImChuk

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Posted

Jim, maybe you should just sell me the skis now... ;)

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Well I got the color coats on.  Still am going to do some red 1/8" wide pinstripeing on the yellow stripes, but I don't have it on hand so these will get hung off the ceiling in the hangar.  The blue wing tips will cover the last inch of the wings, the last bit of yellow gets covered.   Next project for now is to get back to work on the Avid with the Jabiru engine.  I have to finish out the spray coats on the wings and shoot another coat of color on the tailfeathers  just to get rid of scuffs and such.  Then all the fabric on the plane will be done and painted.  After that, mount the engine, redo the panel, fit a cowling, and it will be ready to fly. JImChuk

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Posted

Looking good buddy

 

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Well I hung them up from the hangar ceiling till I get to the rest of the plane, Probably next summer.  Going back to work on the Avid MK IV now.  Have to do the spay coats on the wings so they are now in the "spray booth".  JImChuk

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Posted

How can you tell the difference between the ethanol resistant and old non resistant tanks? The 6 and 13 gallon ones I pulled out of my model 3 were different colors, 13 gray 6 gallon black

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Well for one thing, they said it had been changed out in the log book :-)  Actually, I found a couple of pictures of the stripped down wings.  The gray tank is the old one.  The tan colored one is the new style.  I never have heard of anyone getting new style 6 gallon tanks, so I would imagine the one you have is the old material.   JImChuk

 

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Posted

How can you tell the difference between the ethanol resistant and old non resistant tanks? The 6 and 13 gallon ones I pulled out of my model 3 were different colors, 13 gray 6 gallon black

You have old non ethanol resistant tanks made with polyester resin. The new f/g tanks made with vinylester resin are not painted externally and are more translucent with a bit of blue green color to them and a s/n on the root end. Re: the old KF tanks (I believe supplied thru Skystar ownership), are the dark gray painted ones which typically signify for use in KF 1-3 under camber wings with 1-3/4" twist and lighter painted ones for use in the new KF 4 profile wing with 1" twist wings. At least, the stickers on my tanks have said that. Never seen a f/g 6gal for the KF 1-3 wing profile, they used aluminum I thought. That's what I had in my KF3. I believe after Skystar, the non E-resistant tanks were no longer painted externally and had the same translucent look as they do today, although the color was more tan with a bit of red/brownish color to them.

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Posted

Just went back and reread the log book entry for the wing tank replacement on my Kitfox 4.  It occurred on 1-31-2000.  Entry says.  Leaking left wing tank removed and replaced with new, improved resin tank.   Maybe I don't have the alcohol resitent tank after all.  I think they came along at a later date than 2000??  Also noticed something else.  Empty weight of the plane was 792 lbs.  What a tank.  Subaru engine, grove gear, bunch of weight in the tail, ect, ect.  It did fly 640 hrs though.   JImChuk

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Posted

JimC - your KF4 wing tank looks like a non E-resistant tank to me. Who knows if, at the time, the new translucent tanks used an improved resin vs. the older painted tanks. Or if, because they began sloshing them with Kreem about then, it was considered [more] 'resistant'. There was a thread on TKF that showed the color difference of the newest (current) tanks from Kitfox Aircraft HERE.

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Posted

The tanks that came with my other Kitfox 4 project (manufactured in 1994) were the gray tanks.  There was a sticker on each tank saying they had been sloshed with Kreem.  Don't know when the Kreem started, but it goes back to at least June of 1994.   JImChuk

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