marksires

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Posts posted by marksires


  1. Here are a couple of pictures I acquired somewhere.  I have a set of Avid non-amphibious floats, and I found these when figuring out the rigging.  I still haven't installed them, would prefer amphibs, but I bought the non-amphibs when I found them.

    Hope this helps.

    Float left side.jpg

    front close up support.jpg


  2. Well I still have a few things to do on this one.  Get some heat in the cockpit, make up streamlined struts, bits and pieces like that.  Then I should finally finish and paint the cowl on the Avid.  Probably eventually I'll want to put it up for sale.  Not sure on the trip down south this winter, Covid and all.  The condo wasn't hurt by the hurricane of a couple of weeks ago, wood fences around the building were blown down, but no damage to the building we stay in anyway.  Place next door had all the vinyl siding pealed off.  Will be a good time to be a small contractor down there for a while.  Lots of roofing and siding jobs to be had.  Not that I'm interested.  Still have another Kitfox 4 and Avid MK IV to finish someday, and waiting for the 503 for the ultralight B1RD to come back from the shop.  No shortage of things to do..... JImChuk

    Maybe not as good as you think.  Someone mentioned building materials had gone way up.  I looked at the price of a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" OSB.  I paid $8 a sheet 4 or so years ago.  It was almost $28 when I looked a couple of weeks ago!


  3. I'd agree some model C variant.  It has the Model C tail, but it has a trim tab on the elevator, which I didn't think came along until the Mark IV.  My model C has the Mk IV rudder because the builders ground looped it and damaged it, but still has the original elevator with no trim tab (darn it).  Without original paperwork it's as much a paperwork/bureaucratic paper chase project as much as a build project though.

     

    Mark

     


  4. I brought my Avid C model home in an 8'x20' trailer.  I had to take off 1 wing and the horizontal stab because it wouldn't fit through the door, which was only 7' wide.  Length it fit fine, with at least an inch or two in the front and back.  When looking at enclosed trailers, always check the door opening width, it is almost always smaller by a surprising large amount due to the frame.  

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  5. I bought a whole pickup bed load of spruce a year or two ago when Wicks was selling out a bunch of overstock/cutoffs in an online auction.  My intent is to use it to make new fairing as I refurbish my Avid.  The existing ones have cracked/separated from the tubing, and my attempts to remove one of the partially separated ones broke it.

    I got a LOT more Spruce than I expected - I thought it was a couple of small bundles, and instead I barely fit it all in my 8' bed under the tonneau cover - it looked very pregnant the middle.  Once I get the process of making it worked out, I'll probably make a bunch of it.  I really don't have much else use for the Spruce.

     


  6. I'm just starting to refurbish my Avid - the 'original' frame paint is in very bad shape.  I forgot to take the batteries out of the ELT before it sat in a shed for a few years, and the batteries exploded and leaked, so I may have to replace the tubing under where it was at - I haven't had a chance to asses the damage to see if it is just some surface rust or worse.

    I plan on stripping everything back to the frame, cover the wood 'bits' with aluminum tape (mine has the wood spine), media blast the whole thing and then use a good quality epoxy.  That should hold up as long as I'll be around to fly the plane!

    So, Jim, if you're in Gulf Shores this winter and miss working on an Avid, I'll have one in North Florida with lots of work to be done! :lmao:

     

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  7. A buddy who owns a tire shop put on the new meat in 15 minutes including removing the old tire, all by hand. And he didn't even use any Band-aides, what's the world coming too!

    The Band-aides aren't the important part, it's the proper use of words to convince the tire it's in its best interest to come off easily :P

    2 people like this

  8. My condolences, take care of what's important, the plane will be waiting patiently for you to return!

     


  9. Have you looked at UL?  They look promising, but are rather pricey.


  10. Looks fantastic!  The neighbors are going to hate you when the horrible thunderstorm comes and dumps 5 inches of rain in 2 hours.  You know it is going to happen! :rolleyes:

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  11. I ran across this again and couldn't remember if I'd ever posted it before.  Very eye opening!

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  12. Hmm, not sure what it's for, the current Taildragger version 66" wide, the nose gear is 62" wide, this is right in the middle.  Probably for a taildragger, I see the height measurement now.  Current taildragger is 22 1/4" , nose gear is only 16 1/4"

    I'd be interested, but I haven't decided if I'm changing mine from TailDragger to Nose gear when I rebuild it.  I have the front section that has the nose gear attachment, but I'd have to cut off the old one and have the new one welded on.

     

    Mark

     


  13. I go most every year, but wasn't planning to go before all this, and certainly wouldn't go now.  I don't play Russian Roulette on purpose either.  (every day is a really a game of Russian Roulette, we just pretend it isn't).

    While I tend to agree that the virus isn't as dangerous as was originally feared, we also don't need it hanging around recurring every year, and learning how to be that dangerous.

    Mark

    1 person likes this

  14. Translation for us 'mericans'

    Sub er avid hello,

    Well done for your initiative to mount leading edge spouts on an avid. I did it myself on my two speedwinds

    and that changes the performance a lot and especially the stall speed (32/35 and parachutal descent)

    friendly your

    Marc Comte


  15. With the shape of that cowl, I think I'd rather make a mold from the inside rather than the outside.  Doing layups on the inside of the mold will be challenging, and removing the mold, unless you plan a one-off and destroy the mold, would be easier.  Plus, the inside dimension to mate with the lower cowl is more likely to be correct.

    Pour foam is decent for a one-off mold.  For long term use, not so much since it continues to cure and expand for quite a while after the initial 'cure'.  Use thin plastic, like really cheap paint drop clothes, inside the cowling, pour the foam in.  Let it cure, then it looks like you should be able to slide the old cowl off by pulling the mold back toward the 'cockpit'.  Tape up the mold with packing tape (although that shrink looks pretty good to), put some mold release on that, then lay up the new cowl over it.  Just don't wait too long before using the mold, as mentioned, pour foam continues to cure and expand over time.