tcj

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Everything posted by tcj



  1. tcj added a post in a topic Freebird gets laparoscopy today.   

    My manual and build photos went with my Model 4 when I sold it, but I still have a few other photos.  It means to set the top of the aileron/flap mixer horn at 11.4 or something degrees in relation to the cabin floor.  So, level the fuselage, then use an angle finder or smart level to set the mixer horn when rigging the flaperons.  That's the aileron/flap mixer horn in the center of the first photo.
    The small holes in the various parts are where to center the lightening holes if you put them in.





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  2. tcj added a topic in Hangar Talk   

    Winter Fire Survivor 1-10-2020
     
    Here's a good story about a man who survived for three weeks after his cabin near Skwentna, Alaska burned down in mid December.
    https://www.scribd.com/document/442461512/Winter-Fire-Survivor-1-10-2020#from_embed
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  3. tcj added a post in a topic 582 clutch or not?   

    With the spark plugs out you might be able to turn the engine over with a wooden dowel through a spark plug hole. 
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  4. tcj added a post in a topic Advice On A Project That's Been Sitting For 27 Years   

    You certainly don't have to worry about the adhesive in wings not being cured after 27 years.
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  5. tcj added a post in a topic 503 misfire   


    I'm on the other end of the two stroke primer spectrum.  Ran a 670 Ski Doo with primers for 20 years and a Rotax 503 with a snowmobile primer in my kitfox for 10 years.  In cold weather a couple shots on the primer the Ski Doo started with one pull and two seconds on the electric starter button the 503 kitfox started first blade.
    Now, all old Ski Doo drivers know that if you don't shut the fuel valve off when trailering, the needle valves in the carbs will jig, letting fuel through and fill the crankcase with a half a cup of fuel.
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  6. tcj added a post in a topic About to buy this MK4... your advice please!   

     
     
    You can fly a Tcraft under sport pilot rules but it is a certified airplane, not an LSA.
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  7. tcj added a post in a topic Avid/Foxes?   

    Some people see that turbine engines cannot be used in LSA and think it means turbo charged engines.
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  8. tcj added a post in a topic 670 info   

    Put a wood dowel down a spark plug hole and measure the stroke.
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  9. tcj added a post in a topic 670 info   

    There should be an ID tag on the motor.  I think it is on the exhaust side near the rewind housing.
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  10. tcj added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Skelly flys the kitfox

    He likes to go Ski Dooing  too.

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  11. tcj added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Grumman S2-T retardant drop on vehicle
    Here's the story and short video.  https://wildfiretoday.com/2019/08/24/this-is-why-you-dont-want-to-be-under-a-retardant-drop/
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    • 328 views


  12. tcj added a post in a topic Some people need to leave carbs alone   

    I have an Arctic Sparrow adjustable needle set up for a 503.  It consists of modified Bing 54 carb tops, cups, slides, and cables with threaded 11K2 needles silver soldered onto the cables.  All paperwork and instructions included.  The Hacman has made these Arctic Sparrow adjustable carbs kind of obsolete so I would give them to this this fellow if he may want them.  This set up was modified by Mike Jacober, who developed the adjustable needle system.  If your friend is interested he can have them for the shipping cost.  I'm in Ellensburg, WA.
    They need a good home.  I'll get some photos if you're interested.
    PS.  You mentioned he needs slides for a newer style Bing carb.  These are 1994 vintage so I'm not sure if these slides will work.  I'm not familiar with the newer carbs.
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  13. tcj added a post in a topic Washout... teach me!   

    The purpose of leaving the spars full length is to get the proper amount of twist in the wings.  A jig is made of a level saw horse under each end of the full length spars with a 1/2 inch block under the tip end of the rear spar.  If you are building a short wing...AKA Speedster...you do not install ribs numbers 1 and 2.  Rib bay #1 (18 inches) gets cut off.  Rib number two is left out along with the drag/antidrag tubes to make room for the fuel tank which also serves the purpose of the drag/anitdrag tubes 
    Photos of the tip end of a left wing.  Note the 1/2 block under the rear spar.

     

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  14. tcj added a post in a topic Washout... teach me!   

    You locate the strut attach brackets during the rigging process, after the wings are built. I don't follow your thinking on limiting ability to extend them later.
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  15. tcj added a post in a topic Washout... teach me!   

    If I remember right , when building the short wing Kitfox model 4, the manual instructs to build it as a long wing with 1/2 inch washout, then cut 18 inches off the root end.  So. if you extend the wing 18 inches you should be back to 1/2 inch washout.
    If you have a Model 5 builder's manual I suspect you will find it instructs to build the model 5 short wing the same way with 1/2 inch of washout.
    For what it's worth, there was an option to build the model 5 with removable wing extensions.  You might check with the factory about retro fitting yours with that option.
     
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  16. tcj added a post in a topic What are these tabs?   

    That plate might be what I was thinking of.  I must be remembering wrong.  Blame it on the 70s.  I'm 70 now.
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  17. tcj added a post in a topic What are these tabs?   

    As said above, they are to attach a cargo/belly pod.  There is a forth attachment point just in front of the right side of the control column.  For some reason ...maybe to do with the shape of the belly pod or something...that attachment does not hang downward through the fabric like the other three.  It is just a flat piece welded on to the fuselage tubes.  It has a hole in it to put an eye bolt through for the fourth attachment point. I back drilled a hole through it and up through the floor board before I covered the fuselage bottom so I could find it if needed later on.
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  18. tcj added a post in a topic Kitfox IV measurements   

    The measurements I posted above are from a scale drawing of a classic 4 with stock tube landing gear.  I drew a 72 inch prop disk on this drawing.  With one blade of a 3 blade prop straight down the height of the other two blade tips looks to be about 6 feet.  That's with the tail up. Other landing gear types will probably result in slightly different measurements.
     
    Anyhow, here's the drawings.


     
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  19. tcj added a post in a topic Kitfox IV measurements   

    Classic 4 on wheels with wings folded:
    L = 21 feet 5.5 inches
    W = 7 feet 11 inches
    H = Tail down is 7 feet 5.5 inches to top of 3 blade prop.  With tail up 8 feet 4 inches to top of tail.
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  20. tcj added a post in a topic Closer   

    You should change to the metric work week.  10 hours per day, 10 days per week.
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  21. tcj added a post in a topic Gross weight increase Kitfox IV 1050-1200   

    You could put it in Phase one, load it up to what ever gross weight you want for your maximum gross weight, test fly it at that weight, make an entry in the aircraft log book similar to the paragraph that is in most if not all experimental operating limitations that says everything is good to go at that weight with the V speeds and CG location you flew it at.  There you have it... A legally set maximum gross weight on your EAB.
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  22. tcj added a post in a topic Motion sickness?   

    When I first started flying I was a kid with new job on a helitack crew in a Hughes 500 (Helicopter).  I got so air sick the first time I thought about jumping out.  I puked in the back seat after a lunch of chicken noodle soup and grape cool aid.  It ran out under both back doors.  When we landed the helicopter had purple racing stripes down both sides.
    Our pilot was a young Vietnam vet and also a fixed wing instructor.  He said he cured students of air sickness by flying with them every day until they just started to get sick, then land.  We flew in the mountains every afternoon in the heat of the day for about two hours so landing when I started to get sick wasn't an option.  Not for long enough to get over the air sickness anyhow.
    I took Dramamine and carried a plastic bag in my shirt pocket.  The Dramamine kept me from getting more than just a little queasy.  Each day the queasiness was a little less until about the fourth or fifth day I forgot to take the Dramamine and realized after about an hour in rough air that I wasn't getting air sick. 
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  23. tcj added a post in a topic Carbs   

    I like to have both a primer and an Enrichener   (what a lot of people call a choke) on my airplane.  I had a 670 in my skidoo.  It had a pull starter and a primer only, no enrichener.  When starting I always opened the hood so I could see the clear primer line while I worked the plunger.  As soon as i could see fuel in the primer line...usually about 3 or 4 plunges...it would start first pull, but I had to have my hand on the plunger to give it another shot if it started to die.
    On my 503 rotax kitfox I had both.  In cold weather it took a lot of electric starter cranking to start with the enrichener.  So I used the primer to save wear and tear on the electric starter. 
    Another good thing about a primer is you can keep the engine running with it encase of a fuel pump failure.
    So, why do I say I like to have both enricher and primer?  Here's Mike Stratman's article to explain.  https://www.cps-parts.com/cps/pdf/Part60.pdf
    Direct link to the whole series of Mike's Rotax Tech articles. https://www.cps-parts.com/catalog/rtxpages/articles.php
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  24. tcj added a post in a topic Funny airplane video   

    I can relate to that.
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  25. tcj added a post in a topic Losing weight from the turtle deck   

    I liked the turtle deck rear window in my Kitfox so I could see who was about to run over me when I was in the airport traffic pattern.
     

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