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A friend and I just got done pulling and crating my 503 for its 3rd rebuild. 950hrs as of now. I will send it in while I take a brake and head to Alaska for a few days. I am so glad Megan can come with me. She has never traveled before. We are really looking forward to it.Also Looking forward to meeting other Avids owners as well, plus listening to fishing and hunting stories. Leni I will bring those parts along with me and give them to Randy. Next time you see Randy flying with no belly radiators don't call me. Ha Ha!
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Randy,
Depending on water levels, there are several gravel bars we should be able to get into right on lake creek. It would be a bit of a bugger to get to the good fishing without being able to fly into the creek. We can steal one of dans boats and take that up the creek a ways if the water is high enough, but it is still a bit too low on the river to get into the good grayling and trout fishing. When the silvers are running, we could have a great time in the boat though!
We can either land at Bentalit lodge, or land on the little island out in front of lake creek and have him pick us up there. I will get ahold of him and see what we can work out. I am ready to get a fly line wet!
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welcome to the dark side Bob!
Randys fat avid is a sweet machine! let see if we can help ya find a suitable bird for you.... Too bad the power to weight is a bit less than your used to! The glide ratio is about the same though, especially on floats
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Recently got to meet one of our local F-22 pilots on JBER; a great guy who is looking for an Avid or KF to buy. It's pretty funny to think about the vast difference between the F-22 and the Avid/KF planes but it just goes to show you that flying is great no matter what you fly! We got out last night for a flight (in my Avid+.... not the F-22) and had a great time. I think he is pretty hooked on these little planes; they really open up the beautiful areas of Alaska (and any place) to enjoy.
If anyone has any leads on some good, ready to fly, Avids or KF's, preferably in the local area or NW, post them up. He's looking and follows this forum too.
Bob. if you get a chance, sign in to the Forum and say hi.
Randy
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Some awesome pictures there Randy, that Avid sure looks good withe the big white mountains in the back ground
Yeh, it's hard not to throw in some pictures of your plane.
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Looks like another AWESOME day Randy! I should have a few days when I get home to play on wheels before I swap over to floats. I hope I get a chance to come up and play with you guys in that area on wheels and do a little flying / fishing! I got out and hit the beaches South of Kasilof a couple times last week, but the weather was kinda cruddy and the wind had a COLD bite to it.
Leni,
Let's do it while you are still on wheels! Let me know a date and I will take some time off. I should be able to fit my single person pontoon boat into the plane; is that what you are using to float with? Sounds like Lake Creek is a pretty good place if we can fly into the nearby strip and have Dan pick us up in a boat. Let me know when.
Randy
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Larry, Did you get doug to make you a new seat coushion? Brown interior tend to camoflage the evidence
Edit: on second thought, that would be a waste of the nice coushions that Doug made
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Being a long-time gunsmith, and the son of one, I agree: Any excuse to buy another gun or plane is good enough.
Since the WWG 45/70, or 457, or .500 Alaskan, takedown is priced between 1500 and 2K, the other choices may be more economical - We made one that cost $5K. But since I worked there, I just had to build a custom one for myself. Mine has only been test-fired at the factory, and there is not much need for it down here. My step-son deer hunts with one.
I had the 24V in .223 and 20 ga, with scope - liked it too. Also had the Savage 45/70 break-action, which an Alaska State Trooper is probably still carrying now.
I used to give survival lectures to my flying group - my briefcase usually contained a .38 or .357 revolver, and hopefully it would have made enough noise to deter the wild dog or farmers dog, so I would not have to kill it needlessly. Farmers get mad when you kill the family pet that is going to bite you badly! It would not slow down a bear with the same thoughts!
I could talk guns all day, but guess this site is more for building and flying.
I loved what VP Cheney said when asked how many guns he had: He said, "I have more than I need, but not as many as I want!"
ED in MO
What VP Cheney said. Exactly! I wish I still had about every gun I have owned and a lot more I would like to have.
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Hi Mark,
That should work fine for me. I could meet you at the Airport at the bagage claim and catch you there before you go to the rental car place. Send me a PM with your flight info and cell # so we can find each other. I have to warn you that you are hooking up with the worlds worst fisherman so you probably could not have picked a worse guide; but happy to do it
.Randy
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Leni,
If you can call me in 1 hour. I will take those measurements for you and give them to you, I am busy all day, figure that is the best way to not forget.
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Some awesome pictures there Randy, that Avid sure looks good withe the big white mountains in the back ground
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Randy,
We have a plan now. We would love to meet you. We will arrive in Anchorage around 12:30 next saturday. Then we will have to get our car which shouldn't take to long. We could then come up to your place right after that. We are going to stay at a friends house in Anchorage that night. But he isn't getting back to town until later that afternoon. I know we won't have much time to visit,but better than nothing. I think Megan would enjoy the drive up. Sunday we have to head down to Seward for three days, then leave leave for home wednesday. If this works for you let me know.
Mark
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... And hope for the best!
The truck idea is still easier and safer...
I've dropped springs off my tail wheel on my Kitfox landing with a full swivel. Not fun. Not even a little. I have grove double pucks and small tires, it was not enough. I needed a rudder the size of a dc3 to keep control. I went loop-around. Luckily no damage but for the seat cushion.
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FWIW, my first gun (after the Crossman .177 pellet gun) was the Savage 22/410 I killed more than my share of squirels, rabbits, ducks, quail etc with that gun. I wish I still had it to pass on to my kids.
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Bryce, we will let it slide.. he has provided more than enough comic relief for awhile
Randy, once you go floats you wont go back
Joey, there is nothing sweeter than a beaver on floats... unless it is a Turbine otter on floats, but that just does not have the great round engine sound...
My buddies 1200 SHP Caravan on floats is something to behold though! 180 knots on amphibs is pretty impressive as is watching it take off with 10 people in just about the same distance as a cub will get off on floats.
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http://eaa691.org/files/Tech%20Note%20%236%20TailWheelShimmy.pdf
Check the angle on the king pin. Mine sucks because I whacked a snow berm pretty good this winter and flattened out the tail spring. Steering on the ground sucks, but I dont have any shimmey. Since I am going to floats when I get home, I am not to worried about fixing tghe tail spring right now on mine.
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I kind of figured that the big rock long prop guys (Greg n Lonnie) were your inspiration for the free swiveling tail wheel. On a Cub, it is no where near as short coupled as the KF or Avids are so it is much more forgiving in that manner. You have quite a bit of TW time so I dont think it should pose any real issues for you as long as you have really really good brakes and you keep it straight. Once it starts going on you, there can be NO hesitation to get the power in and stand on the rudder and brake and hope for the best!
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I have the Matco 8" single arm. My bet is its the angle of the king pin. I have compression springs. Everything else is okay.
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1) is the king pin (pivot point) on the tail wheel straight up and down when the tail wheel is on the ground.
2) what tail wheel do you have
3) are you using compression springs or tension springs on the tail wheel steering
4) are the chains loose or tight
5) post a pic of the tail wheel and rudder horn showing the angle its sitting at and it would help greatly.
6) are all bolts tight?
I have never had the tail wheel shimmy on my avid or the other kitfox's I have flown, but I have had it happen on a Pacer and a PA-12 when the tail wheel assembly was worn spal out and the bushings were letting it flop all over.
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Leni
Thanks for pointing out the Iron Designs tailwheel.
I will let you know how my modifications work.
How do you feel about flying a full swiveling tailwheel not connected to the rudder?
That design is exactly how I wanted to modify my Matco to not lose angle of attack.
Regarding cross winds free swiveling tail wheels and having adequate brakes.
My Kitfox came with worthless go kart brakes which I upgraded to what I call the external mounted caliper versus the internal caliper I have seen on model 4 kitfoxes.
Even with 29" tires , the Matcos I am using are plenty to nose over at any time.
I have not yet flown with a full swiveling tailwheel that is not connected to the rudder so I will find out what I am in for.
It seems like most serious "big rock" pilots set up their tailwheels this way so it must work.
Herman
Time for a rebuild
in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar
akflyer
Posted
hahahaha, good thing he has in cowl radiators already!