It's terminal. The dream is dead.

[Jimbo Bob 0]

Finally found the time to start to work on my Kitfox Mk4 1200 circa 1995. Sat in storage for 15 years before I had it trucked in from New Brunswick last winter.

After removing the worst covering job you could ever imagine I started having serious doubts about the viability of getting her flying again.

I feared the worse and had a certified aircraft welder come look at my project. Two lower longerons rusted out...but that could have been fixed. Somebody - who should never have been even close to an airplane with a tool - tried to make repairs after an accident. 

Tubes are crooked. Welds are appalling. The whole frame is seriously buggered. 

I'm gutted.

 

[1avidflyer 1983]

One thing nice about a steel tube fuselage is you can cut out the bad parts and replace them with new tubing.  Don't despair, just keep picking away at it.  I completely rebuilt a Kitfox 4 and got it flying last October.  No fuselage damage on it though.  I flew it for an hr this evening, and 1 1/2 hr a couple of days ago.  Something like 40 hrs since I finished it.   All the work was worth it in the end!  Keep looking at finished planes and don't loose sight of the goal!  JImChuk

[Logtrucker 44]

Jimbo, I’m with Jim on this , looks like the seat trus is still vertical maybe sagging a little but with a port-power from HF and a couple of 1/4” chains with grab hooks on both ends 3 or 4 ft long you can sure do a lot. The Avid I started on, the seat trus was twisted 25 degrees on the right side. Somehow I can’t get the starting picture to upload. Modifying the tail mostly for looks. Anyway ‘hang in there’ on the project, a little progress each day gives more encouragement for the next day! I’m 88 now so I need to get this one done.

[Yamma-Fox 403]

It is just awe inspiring reading books and watching documentaries on the remote repair of aircraft in the bush (and polar ice caps).   Some of those with engines or wings torn off and bent all to hell but they kept chugging away and flew em out!

Remember Henry Ford's quote:

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right."

[Yamma-Fox 403]

It also reminds me of the cracked frame on my 5th wheel that started coming apart 1000 miles from home last month.

First welder I talked with said he wouldn't touch it for 5 reasons and recommended that I put it on a flatbed and have it hauled home.

Next welder across town said "Oh yeah, I've seen em worse".   In a few hours we were back on the road and back home now the repair is holding well and engineered better than it was originally. 

Funny how your spirits are effected by a negative outside opinion sometimes... and visa-versa 

[republicmachine 10]

No way everysingle thing on this planet that a man made is fixable.  I'll come get it and start my build.  Now if you paid 12 grand for it ouch, but if it was 2 grand, you're still good.  Just start cutting and call it a raven.  And never just take one guys word.  Sure he may be the best weldor ever but maybe he doesn't like welding tube on hot days.