109jb

MC-1 and MC-3 are already 1/2" bore. 

If you have older matco masters they probably already are 1/2". Newer matco masters can have the intensifiers installed. What part number are yours?

FYI, cylinder intensifiers simply reduce the bore of the newer matco master cylinder from 5/8" to 1/2". If the bore on the master cylinders you have are already 1/2" then you don't need the intensifiers, nor will they work

On the 582 powered Kitfox 4 I sold last year, I had single puck Matco brakes with 1/2" bore Matco master cylinders. I ran the Nanco 21" tires. The brakes would not hold for a full throttle run-up, but almost. I never felt they were lacking on landing though. On my rebuild I am using the same master cylinders but putting on 2 calipers per wheel.

He doesn't fit in it well and decided to sell, but after reading threads on here is having second thoughts about it and considering modding it to fit him better.

I disagree to an extent. With a flying airplane you know what you have. You have everything to make it fly with the exception of what you need for the mods. With an unfinished project, is something missing? Is everything there for the engine install, instruments, etc.  I am currently rebuilding a Kitfox 4 that was a flying airplane that was involved in a nose over and except for my changes everything is there and I know it was working. From the sound of it, you are looking to do a stretch type mod involving recovering the fuselage. I don't see what difference it makes if it was flying first or not. The fuselage can be uncovered in an hour with a pocket knife. You would also have the benefit of wings and tail surfaces already covered and set to go if you don't decide to mod them. I think if it were me, and I decided to do the mods I'd just do it. Heck on mine, I could have just  done the repairs and had a big patch on the fuselage covering and it would have flown, but I decided to make more changes. Just my 2 cents.

Holy Cow are those expensive.  Why not just use the McMaster Carr urethane tubes I posted above? 50mm is close to 2" and 25mm is close to 1"

I've been thinking about making new struts for my gear and using snowmobile springs and then saw this. My setup currently would use bungees. Here in the USA, Mcmaster Carr has the 90A durometer tubes for sale, here are some links:

https://www.mcmaster.com/87235K58 6" long tube 2" OD, 1" ID 90A durometer

https://www.mcmaster.com/87235K32 Same thing but 36" long and much better price per inch.

I may have to give this a go.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the acme aero shocks cost?

Took a step backward today. While painting I noticed that the longerons had pulled in at one location from fabric tension. An Internet search revealed that at least on the model 4 and earlier the final shrink temp should be 300 deg. F, whereas I used the 350 stated in all of the fabric covering manuals. I have the build manual for the airplane but it did not have the fabric covering section otherwise I may have caught it in there. Anyway, I checked the rest of the airplane and only the one bay on top pulled in like this. All others were fine. So I had to pull the top fabric and peel the side fabric from the bay in question. Once I did that the tubes were once again straight. No damage, just a setback and a little fabric and tape to re-do. Worst part was cleaning all the glue to prep for re-attaching.



These tubes are also the same location that incurred the trailering damage on my previous Kitfox, and I have seen many examples of damage in this area on various sites and forums. Most I've seen were trailering damage, but I remember at least a couple that were landing damage. It all adds up to this location being a weak link in the fuselage truss. I had thought about reinforcing this bay before covering and now wish I had welded in some tubes. Since there is still fabric everywhere except that last top panel, I couldn't weld now, or at least it would be problematic, so I decided to fabricate some diagonal reinforcements and install them with structural epoxy. Each end of the 3/8 x 0.035 cross tubes have a half section of 9/16 x 0.035 tube welded on to form a saddle over the longerons. As noted they were then installed with structural epoxy.



Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the side pieces re-attached and a new piece of fabric on top with the tapes and hopefully at least one coat of the primer.

Well I'm committed now. Here is a picture with the first cross-coat of latex primer on. I now have the second one on and it is going well. Hope to be painting color on it this weekend.

Nice looking airplane.

https://www.youtube.com/c/StewartSystems/videos

The above link is for Stewart Systems youtube channel. They are one of the most popular covering systems out there right now.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ConsolidatedAircraftCoatings/videos

This one is the consolidated coating youtube channel. They are probably the most popular aircraft covering, previously known as Stits, now polyfiber. 

I have used polyfiber a couple times in the past and am using the Stewart method for attaching the fabric and tapes on my Kitfox project. I much prefer the Stewart System method for this.  I am deviating from their system from the tape attachment step and using latex paint for the final finish. The method for that can be found here:

http://wienerdogaero.com/Latex.php

The Artex ELT345 can take a NMEA string through serial and if present will broadcast location with the emergency signal if an accident happens. The nice thing is it uses standard NMEA sentences, so any GPS that can do serial will work. I am using an inexpensive NEO-8M GPS like in the picture that can be bought on Amazon for about $12. it has to be fed 5V, but I have a 5V bus in my airplane so not a problem. There are only 3 wires to hook up, 5V+. GND, and serial out from the GPS. You do have to reprogram the baud rate on the GPS to 4800 to match the Artex and you have to make sure the Artex you buy is for 4800 baud. the 9600 baud ELT won't work with NMEA.

Specifically it says "approved personal type", so that tells me it has to have FAA approval. Also PLBs are not crash activated, so if you are not capable of activating it, it is useless. An ELT is automatically activated in a crash. Maybe its my job, but I just don't see how saving a few hundred dollars is worth it. Best solution in my book is an ELT and a PLB.

You can still use them, but you should probably test them more frequently.  Also, part of the original certification of those included the panel mounted remote. If you don't have that then it technically isn't legal. Even with it you are really just satisfying the requirement to have an ELT if you have 2 or more seats. If that is your only intent then the AK-450 will do that.

Personally, my project kitfox had a AK-450 installed and I opted to replace it with a Artex ELT345, which is a 406/121.5 MHz ELT. It has a couple benefits.  First the 406 MHz is picked up by satellites and the signal can include a GPS location for immediate notification of position to emergency responders. Mine will have the GPS location in the signal via an inexpensive GPS ($15). You don't get that position reporting with 121.5 MHz ELTs. They transmit to ground stations and then they have to try to triangulate your position. I will be flying my airplane to see relatives who live in remote areas with lots of forest. I work as a NTSB investigator and I can tell you that airplanes have been lost in the woods not to be found for several years or at least long enough for help to be too late. If I am unfortunate enough to have an accident, I don't want to wait any longer than necessary for help and a few hundred dollars for a little piece of mind is well worth it in my book. I look at it this way, I'll pay for insurance to cover the airplane at probably at least $1500/year, and the new ELT is like insurance for me at $688 just once, not annually.

He is talking about the early kitfox mixers on the model 1-3, which were Avid style mixers.

We need pictures!!!!

As mentioned in the TeamKitfox ad, just putting model 4 wings on does not make a model 3 a 1200 pound gross weight airplane. There were several fuselage modifications and wing strut modifications. The original model 4's had the same 1050 pound gross weight as the model 3 but had the new airfoil on the wing.

Don't have one personally but a friend has a Dewalt heated jacket and loves it. Runs off the 20v tool batteries so if used on an aircraft with marginal charging system would not strain the aircraft electrical system/battery. Thought about this too for my Sonerai. Hopefully warmweather gets here and I can forget about it until next year.

Last time I flew it was about 20 F out, but that was in my Sonerai that has absolutely no heat and not the greatest sealed cockpit around.  I'll probably install seat warmers in that one.

Probably not before it flies, but I'm planning to put heaters inside the cushions on my project. I know for those built in retrofit sets they are 3 amps on low 5 amps on high for one seat, both butt and back. 

Covering is going very well. I have previous polyfiber experience, and the Stewart method is a whole lot more pleasant. It is very easy to do and I like that the fabric can be repositioned. I remember doing my Sonerai in polyfiber I used probably 30 spring clamps. On this the most I've had in there is 2. I'm actually using 3m Fastbond 30NF glue which is reportedly the same as Ecobond. Holds very well. 

Another side done and one side of the vertical tail to fuselage transition piece. So far so good.