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Then you could build some HUGE wheelpants to keep the tail from blanking out, and get another mph!  

Seriously tho, I was afraid those bushtires would wear out too fast on concrete, and didn't want the extra weight of the 8.50 x 6 on my heavy Grove gear.

ED

going for fast cruise in a slow plane makes about as much sense as putting an elevator in an outhouse  

Of course I say that as I am thinking of going to a long speed wing or KF IV wing rib to get a bit more speed and not give away STOL

I run an ICOM A-6 wired into the plane for power. I use a Push to Talk and a Pilot USA. The whole thing runs through an external antenna behind the turtle deck. I routinely talk to ATC on long cross countries and I can pick up our AWOS from 45 miles out. Not bad for a $300 Comm/Intercom system.

Leni,

      Now you give the big tire advice, and I am using 600x6 for faster cruise across the flatlands, and just so you wouldn't make fun of me as a pavement flyer with big tires!  

      Now, where did I store those wheelpants? 

EdMO

Looks like a nice clean install to me.  One question, is that recovery bottle the type that has a "straw" in it and the tube goes into the top?  If so, most of those "straws" are removable and I have had them fall off inside the tank when the hot fluid goes in the tank, then when the engine cools off, it sucks air back into the system causing you untold amounts of grief at very in-opportune times!

The other thought is that with no insulation or sound deadening on the inside of the firewall, she may be a bit loud in there.

the "V" is higher. I used one of Bretts cabanes as a pattern just added the 1/2" cross tube. I'm just trying to get this thing flying at this point. but am planning to fab up a completely new gear and will make it a bit stronger, have it sweep forward and change some of the angles for better geometry. but for the time being I think this gear is going to work out well. I'm happy with it so far. If someone already has one of Bretts gears and wanted to convert it to the bungees it would be a piece of cake to fab up the bungee struts and just unbolt the original spring struts and replace them.

You would be shocked at some of the places some people go into day in and day out hauling hunters etc.  There are places that I would hesitate taking a helicopter into yet you will find a cub going in and out of there   Believe me, not all AK pilots are of this breed!  But it is simply amazing some of the places that we do go to that others would never dream of. 

I too give guys some crap on other forums that live in the middle of pavement land yet have 35s and never land on anything other than a manicured grass fairway.   The guys that do it just to "look cool" crack me up.  Kind of like the guys that go out and buy new bad ass snowmachines, all new top of the mine gear, then trailer out to the parking lot at the base of a mountain and ride around the parking lot bliping the throttle making lots of noise but never venture off onto the mountain and cant ride for shit... they are PLP's  or Parking Lot Posers.

All that said, even if a guy does not normally land in the rough stuff, if he has big tires on his plane in the event of an engine out, his chances of walking away from a forced landing are much improved in a lot of situations.  I would bet that if Lowell would have had some big tires on his KF, the outcome of his forced landing would have been much different! 

Thanks for the pictures!

I really think the cross bar on the top of the cabane vee is going to help.  Does your geometry keep a straight line between  the bottom of the gear leg, all the way through the cabane to the fuse attach, or is yout vee higher or lower at the center point?  Hope that makes sense

Paul Seehafer - TeamKitfox Profile

You can contact/email to him through that.  If there is an expert on rigging an Avid/Kitfox/Highlander for floats, he's your guy.  

Snaps is right, though -- Paul can talk for hours and hours and hours saying almost nothing...

I have a Rotax 532 inverted and on the pilot side (left side) the exhaust burn the surface of the cowling and heat inside of the cockpit was intense, after an hour flight I couldn´t touch my cowling with bare hands, however somebody suggested to wrap the exhaust between the first elbow until the second down elbow before the big muffler. This solved 2 problems, one burning cowling, two engine performance; you could see in some of my pictures my side vents are large, well even those couldn´t keep temps down inside of the cowl. 

 

But then again it´s not a 4 stroke engine...

 

Regards

Dimi3

not to steal this thread but i'm in the process of mounting my inverted 532 on a C model. could you put up some FWF pics of your install, I'm still looking for ideas on how others have done it.

Thanks Robert

I too want pics.  the various parts laid out and showing how they go together would be nice!  I have thought about doing that versus using springs so you don't have that steel to steel action when you plop it in and bottom them out. 

 

Here are the pieces all laid out separately I forgot to take some after I got it all installed will try to get some in the next couple days

We'll be there!

Where does the bus drop you off? I'll pick you up there.

I have a Rotax 532 inverted and on the pilot side (left side) the exhaust burn the surface of the cowling and heat inside of the cowling was intense, after an hour flight I couldn´t touch my cowling with bare hands, however somebody suggested to wrap the exhaust between the first elbow until the second down elbow before the big muffler. This solved 2 problems, one burning cowling, two engine performance; you could see in some of my pictures my side vents are large, well even those couldn´t keep temps down inside of the cowl. 

But then again it´s not a 4 stroke engine...

Regards

Dimi3

got my new Earth X battery this past week and now I have it all mounted. this thing is tiny!! and less than a pound!! I made an aluminum box and mounted it on the cockpit side of the firewall keeping the weight in the center and as far back as I could by still keeping the wire runs as short as possible. Let me know what you guys think or if I should change anything...goes for the rest of my FWF project so far. I'm trying to keep it all as clean as possible but if there is anything I should do differently I want to know about it now.

I guess; is a everyday bread and butter to crash in that harsh environment, but you know what the say, any landing you can walk away is a good landing, I guess he is a living proof of that concept...

besides what´s the point of having a STOL if you are only doing asphalt??

regards

Dimi3

Ron ,

thanks ,I bought the plane from an aircraft painter with new wings so paid him to do the fuse to match .its federal yellow from stewerts systems.amazing paint but hard to work with .super shiny though

A friend picked up a pilot in Billings a few days ago that had came down to look at a Super Cub with 35" bush tires.  They landed on every hilltop and lake bank between Billings and Buffalo, WY. My friend , a CFI, said it was quite an education for him and that he had no idea what the Super Cub could do before the ride down to Buffalo with the AK pilot.  When asked if he had totaled one he said "only three, so far".  Must be something in the water up there that makes a different level of pilot!

Herman those are the oil lines going to the oil tank which is under the baggage compartment for the 912.  Did you sell your plane yet, sure looks nice.  How did the free wheeling tailwheel work for you?

You might want to call Paul seahauffer, he has avids & foxes on floats!

Be prepared, he a wind bag!!!

What is the bowed strip between the strut attach point and forward of the gear attach points?

Herman

Thanks for the Shuttle advice and I made reservations which cost half as much as renting a car.

I arrive GB Sunday 10:00 PM and depart GB 11:00 AM on Friday and the Shuttle will get me to and from OSH.

Larry:  Are you going to leave the lights on for me?

Herman

Ya gotta admit it was kind of tricky to post the picture sideways..... Jim Chuk

thx

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

I have a sportys SP-200 (Nav-Com)  that has hardly any use one it.  It uses the 8 batteries also, but you can use an adaptor for ship's power.  I've never used it in a plane, I had a couple of Vertex Standards that I've had for years that I use.  I got the Sportys from a friend of mine that had dreams of flying but they never came about.  He passed a little less than a year ago.   I do like the Vertex Standards though.  They are a little smaller than the Sportys and have NiCad batteries.  Jim Chuk

PS  The Sportys has a standard antenna connection, that you can fit the small portable antenna to or a wire from an aircraft's antenna.