Neloner

Uh oh, breakin the rules. Wonder what the penalties for that are. 

Yes I would concur with that, the fuselage definitely looks different than the wings, the landing gear looks like polybrush as well. My understanding is that I may use stewart to repair polybrush as well though so I will be recovering the new legs from Lenny and reattaching the fuselage using the stewart systems. Hopefully it turns out decent

Hey Doug, Hope you had a good time out there! A guy in the local EAA chapter told me to watch out for the weight of bondo, so I ended up using Rage Evercoat, a lightweight filler. There isnt much of it on the repairs anyhow. 

Just got off the phone with Stewart Systems, super nice people, although I wish I would have called this morning instead of now. Spent 6 hours prepping the cloth around all of the areas and removing all of the layers of paint/ treatments, just to find out with stewarts all you need to do is rough up the paint!!! Would have saved me a lot of work! Anyhow, they also said that it sounds like their system, green glues and the backing of the paint has a dark charcoal look, but regardless their system can repair all other systems so even if I happen to be wrong, it will work fine. They are putting the order together for me now, kind of looking forward to trying my hand at fabric work

Ok, looking into stewarts now, trying to find a tutorial on how to patch. Assuming its a similar process, their tech is supposed to call me back soon. Guess I will be returning the Polyfiber repair kit 

Began taking the aerothane off in preparation for the patch. Going ok, cloth and tapes under the coatings appear to be green. Ordered the Polyfiber repair kit from aircraft spruce. Hopefully thats what this is. 

I hope to join up at this one

^checked this as thoroughly as possible today through the tip and the trailing edge tear, used a mirror on a stalk as well. Everything within the wing looks completely intact. Spent the morning bondoing over the fiberglass patches to get the nice leading edge contour back, turned out pretty good. 

Now starting to focus on the cracked tube on the passenger side, removed the cloth in the area as well as the carpets/ floor. Did find a couple other spots that appear they may have bent a tad, and an old (not so great) repair. Looks like I will be trimming out the cracked tube, as well as the previously repaired one, and fitting new ones. Probably will ad a few gussets while Im at it. That leads me to the question,  what size/ type of tubing should I buy to make these repairs with?

^ No, the balsa wood acted as a very effective pad protecting the spar. Was more of a sideways sliding impact than a straight on whack as well.

Thanks for the parts too! Cant wait to get em!

^ Yea, looks a lot more like automotive type process to blend in and repair, should be interesting. I just want to make sure that the patch adheres well. I cut out the damaged areas of cloth on the leading edge, and some of the damaged fiberglass, and laid down a layer of new fiberglass to replace it. Not perfectly smooth as the wood in one section was mushed a tad, but will bondo it tomorrow and try to match the leading edge so the contours are right. Then I get to focus on the sanding and prepping of the surrounding areas to accept a patch. 

-Lenny, thanks again for everything, really a big help 

Looking through all the paperwork I recieved with the plane there is a pamphlet about Aerothane application and repair. Also the MEK does not affect the finish coat. Looks like I need to soak the cloth from the inside out and then peel off the aerothane. This should be fun. Any tips or tricks on how to repair aerothane coated clothwork would be appreciated. Going to start working on this today. 

Also- does anyone have about 1' of the aluminum trailing edge theyd be willing to sell me? Aircraftspruce only sells 10' sections evidently

Are kitfoxes 4 bolt hubs? My plane is set up with black max brakes and hubs, which are 3 bolt. Looks like a regular douglas spun aluminum wheel, 8"x9" (possibly 9.5") i cannot for the life of me find this wheel, kind of curious now what it comes from. Black max sells wheels but nothing in this size, checked douglas' website, summitracing etc...

Edit: figured it out. Evidently a custom made wheel by a fellow named Joe aka "carolina flyer" guess the chances of finding a replacement are nil

Seems like the first order of business is identifying the type of finish on the plane, then I can proceed with that knowledge. I have no idea what it is, but my local eaa chapter has a meeting on saturday so I will bring a bit with me and hopefully someone can identify it for me. Any tips to correctly determine the type of finish?

edit: also wanted to ask if anyone on here knew where I could source a replacement 8" rim to fit my Nanco 21" tire. Appears to be 8"x9.5" width, bolts right up to my blackmax hub. Ive had no luck finding it. Have a set of 6" wheels/ tires I can run for now but like the big baloon tires. The axle bent and in the process twisted the inside of the rim just a bit where the hub bolts on

i will examine further, maybe something will manifest when I pull off some fabric, just waiting to do that until i learn the right method of doing so. Thanks for the tip on the trailung edge material! 

I am located in upstate NY, not far from Rochester. 

^ Yes there is one vent tube in each of the 4 gas caps. Wasnt sure which way to point them, just assumed backwards so rain/ bugs wouldnt go in. I will spin them around once shes ready to go again. 

If its a set of the wide legs Id be interested for sure. Ill pm you my number maybe text a couple pics. 

The prop is a Kiev 183, smooth as silk and performance is pretty good IMO, plenty good enough for me puttering around locally

Hi Guys, 

My name is Jim, been reading lots on your site over the past months, but an unfortunate incident caused me to sign up and seek some advice. Bought my avid MKiv a couple months ago and have been using it to learn how to fly and pursue my sport pilot license. Absolutely love the plane and have logged 30 something hours in it, and have soloed and been flying around on my own the last few weeks. Anyhow long story short I put in a strip and my Folks house, and the other day I had my first (and hopefully last) groundloop. This would not have been a big deal really, accept that when the plane did its 180, the right gear dropped into a ditch surrounding a tennis court, and bent the gear on that side, and also the right wing hit the corner fencepost. Brought the plane back to my barn, and began disassembling the broken pieces, wing is off the plane, and pulled the gear off. The damage looks to be

right gear leg will need to be rebuilt (have not had any luck getting ahold of airdale to buy a new one)

Leading edge of right wing needs to be re fiberglassed (has a fiberglass covered wood leading edge extension) and patched

Trailing edge of wing needs to have the aluminum strip reattached to one rib, and be patched (this damage was done pulling the plane out of the ditch (my own dumb fault)

Also one tube on the fuselage right above where the front gear attachment point is has cracked. Nothing appears to be bent, cloth is tight and everything lines up as it did before (door shuts fine) but one tube is cracked straight through (see pics) I looked all around the area and have found no other evidence of stressed metal/ welds

I have a few questions since I am new to the whole plane repair business. I am happy to do work myself, but need to know if Im on the right path here. Im planning to re fiberglass the 12" section of leading edge that got squished, and re adhere the aluminum trailing edge. Will patches cover these areas adequately, or should I plan on a recover (hopefully not as $ is an issue)  **Also, what would one expect to pay roughly to have these patches done?

Going to have the landing gear sandblasted and repaired as getting a new leg from Airdale does not seem like it is going to happen. then repaint and recover

Assuming I will have to remove a section of fuselage cloth to replace the small tube that cracked. Should I carefully cut out the whole tube and replace it, or weld it and brace it with a gusset? Then repaint and recover. 

What should I expect to pay to have someone patch the areas on the wing that need to be fixed? I am wondering if it is cheaper to have someone else to 2 patches that for me to invest in all the materials to do it myself (I have no cloth experience whatsoever)

Before:

After

Anyhow, I love my little plane, And am not happy to be grounded for the time being. Hopefully Ill be up and running in a couple of weeks