Back in the air

[akflyer 1427]

After my last flight had a few harrowing moments of silence, I got the plane home and swapped engines.  Blew a head gasket and it filled the rear cylinder full of water and hydrolocked.  Not sure how I was able to get a restart and fly it another hour to get it home but she got me there! 

While I had it at the house I finally broke down and patched a few holes the birds had pecked into the fabric over the years.  That turned into repaint on the top of the stab / elevator, then I couldnt have just 1 nice looking spot on the top of the wing where the patch was so I wiped the whole topside down with an acetone wetted rag after a good washing and shot new paint on the top of the wings as well.  This in turn kicked me in the pants enough to build the fuel tank for the truck so I could use the 12 volt pump I have had sitting on the shelf for 6 or 7 yrs.  A few hours of welding and I have a 50 gallon tank to fuel the plane from.  Damn is it nice to not have to fill from 5 gallon jugs anymore!

The break in went perfect so it was off to the airport for a quick couple turns around the pattern to make sure all was OK then off to my cabin to park it there for the moose hunting season.  

 

Hopefully in a couple weeks I can add pics of a nice moose!

 

[EDMO 1078]

Looks good Leni - In the second or middle photo, is that a twist in the strut fairings?  Permanent?  EDMO

[akflyer 1427]

Looks good Leni - In the second or middle photo, is that a twist in the strut fairings?  Permanent?  EDMO

I think its shadows and I had the front fairing wrapped in paper to keep the overspray off.  There is not any twist to it.  The fuse looks twisted as well in the pic but its just the angle I took the pic at I guess.

 

[EDMO 1078]

Looks good Leni - In the second or middle photo, is that a twist in the strut fairings?  Permanent?  EDMO

I think its shadows and I had the front fairing wrapped in paper to keep the overspray off.  There is not any twist to it.  The fuse looks twisted as well in the pic but its just the angle I took the pic at I guess.

 

That trim tab looks about 4 or 3 times smaller than the 24x3" one on the Kitfoxes - Does it work OK, or could be larger?  Ravens or Magpies?  Both?  EDMO

Edited 25 Aug 2016 by EDMO

[akflyer 1427]

It has a much smaller trim tab in it, I wish it was larger like the MK IV.  One of these days I will get around to building new stab and elevator much more like the mangy fox and will put a larger tab in it.  I just got the welding table set up in the garage so now I have a large flat surface to start building off of!

It was the damn ravens...

 

[Av8r3400 1178]

My trim tab is not large enough either.  One thing I would change.

[SuberAvid 617]

Hey Leni,

Glad to hear you're back in the air and the new motor is running fine.  That was a scary moment on the radio hearing that your engine quite.  I got to experience that for a couple moments with mine when I was having alternator/ voltage problems on return form our scouting trip in July.  I replaced the alternator, solenoid, battery and thought I had it solved a couple of times, then it would start voltage spiking again.  Finally it shut down on me momentarily twice and I ended up landing at Big lake and trailering it home.  I think due to the circuit protection in the EarthX battery.  I did a little rewiring to run one ignition and one fuel pump directly to the battery so I can run with the battery master and alternator off.  Finally determined that I needed to have a ground wire to the alternator field; something it didn't have for around the first 450 hours.

Good luck on your moose hunt; looking forward tot he pictures!  new paint looks great.

Randy

[akflyer 1427]

Hey Leni,

Glad to hear you're back in the air and the new motor is running fine.  That was a scary moment on the radio hearing that your engine quite.  I got to experience that for a couple moments with mine when I was having alternator/ voltage problems on return form our scouting trip in July.  I replaced the alternator, solenoid, battery and thought I had it solved a couple of times, then it would start voltage spiking again.  Finally it shut down on me momentarily twice and I ended up landing at Big lake and trailering it home.  I think due to the circuit protection in the EarthX battery.  I did a little rewiring to run one ignition and one fuel pump directly to the battery so I can run with the battery master and alternator off.  Finally determined that I needed to have a ground wire to the alternator field; something it didn't have for around the first 450 hours.

Good luck on your moose hunt; looking forward tot he pictures!  new paint looks great.

Randy

Good to hear from ya Randy!  I hate gremlins.. Engine outs due to something obvious is one thing, but the repeat gremlins and maybe I have it fixed is unnerving.  I was happy to see the blown head gasket as I knew right away what the issue was then.  It also makes me scratch my head as to why I have had 2 different engines blow the head gasket.  The last one left me in the swamp for months as you remember.  That one, the head had an obvious "step" in it as milled from the factory so it was easy to explain.  This one I looked the head over and could find no signs of warpage etc.  Time will tell how long she lasts this time.  It may be time to step up and get a blue head for it.  Hopefully the Silvers start showing up soon as well and we can still get a little fishing in before the weather turns to crap.

 

 

[akflyer 1427]

My trim tab is not large enough either.  One thing I would change.

If you are willing, how about some dimensions on what you came up with for your stab and elevator as well as your tab.  I would really like to learn from others instead of just my usual engineering design of TLAR. 

 

 

Edited 26 Aug 2016 by akflyer

[akflyer 1427]

the tank I built.. crappy pictures but its all I got right now.  Yes it is grounded to the truck and has a wire ground inside the hose etc.  I really wish I had built this years ago!  I ran the gas through a mr. funnel this time as I did not yet have the filter for the tank.  The filter and the meter will be installed when I get home so I will know exactly how much gas I put in the tanks each time.

 

 

[lv2plyguitar 172]

Nice Job Leni,  You did so well will you come and paint my bird?  I made a nice fuel tank out of a 30 gallon jug from unitech and a portable fuel pump.  It has a nice handle of the jug for moving around easily.  I will post a picture.

Putting on some 26" Alaskan bush wheels this week.  Hope that works out good.

[akflyer 1427]

Painting is actually really easy when you have a good setup!  The turbine HVLP I have makes it stupid simple!  We can hook up one of these days and paint anything you need done! 

 

I got a smoking deal I couldn't pass up.  $3500 turbine and gun set ups that I paid 150 bucks for.