2013 Progress | colorado-kitfox

April 2013 - Jan 2014 Progress

This page documents the project status with pictures and text. Scroll to the bottom to see the latest pictures.

The beginning April 2013. This project was purchased from a builder in Las Cruces, NM. This is a photo he sent prior to picking the kit up. The builder enrolled in the jump start program & the fuselage, wings and tail feathers came covered.

The ol garage gets converted to the new "hangar". Ready to begin!!! April, 22, 2013. We head south to pick up the kit this weekend.

Kyle, Jared and Eric headed to Las Cruces, NM on April 26th, to pick up the Kitfox from Jim McDonald. We had a great time & Jim & his wife were a real pleasure to work with.

Now everything is nicely ticked away in the garage ready for whatever the manual says is next.....I think a paint booth

is in the near future.

6/18/13. Working inside the cockpit for a bit. Had to construct the adjustable rudder pedal brackets from raw aluminum stock. Also installed control assemblies for the elevator, aileron and flaperon.

6/18/13. Fathers day found Kyle and I sealing fuselage and wing seams in prep for spray coats of Poly-Brush.

In early July the paint booth was assembled and ready for Poly-brush, Poly-spray and paint.

Mid-July found Becky and I covering the fuselage in prep for the paint booth. Amazing how much tape is needed!

July 19, A great guy from a local paint store came over to show us the "hows" relative to spray painting. We completed the first 50-50 coat of poly-brush on one wing. The next day Jared and I with our new found skill added another coat (3:1). This is really stinky stuff but the fans in the paint booth did a good job of keeping it down (the masks are a must have). Note Jared sealing seams between coats. Sprayer used is a DeVilbiss Finishline FLG-670 HVLP unit using a 1.5 tip. Also got the DeKups disposable cup system which makes cleanup a breeze. Compressor is a 2.5 hp 21 gal unit.

July 25, the final coat of Poly-Brush is applied to the fuselage after Jared and Macy give it a good cleaning and Becky irons seams. Next is the silver Poly-Spray!

August 5th, Jared and Dad finish the final 3 cross-coats of Poly-Spray (silver) on the fuselage. Next are the wings and tail feathers. Bought a paint shaker powered by the compressor. Does a great job of mixing the Poly-Spray!

August 6th, Jared and Dad move one wing into the booth and get busy turning it silver!

August 11, Jared, Kyle, Becky and Eric spray the 2nd cross-coat of silver on the left wing. The final coat was completed on Aug 31st.

Sept 3rd, the right wing is transferred to the jig in prep for poly-spray (with help from Eric's brother Jeff who was visiting for the weekend). The first cross-coat was completed on Sept 2nd. Then the rudder seams needed some attention (seams were sealed while watching the US Open!).

Sept 7th. Finished all coats of silver on the rudder and moved on to the horiz stab. Jared come over to help iron seams and get the first cross coat applied. Jared also assisted with shaking the poly-spray!

Sept 26th: Finished all silver coats on the horiz stab and finished the first 2 cross-coats on the elevator. Also had to get the poly brush out & spray the butt ribs. So, after the next spraying session, all the silver should be DONE! Took a total of 6.25 gallons of Poly-Spray. Also, both my fans died in the spray booth due to paint inhalation, so I bought 2 new fans & placed some cheap filters in front to catch the paint....works great & saves the fans. Also unpacked the landing gear.....

Oct 25th: Completed the white coat of Desothane on the fuselage. Went on really smooth using a 1.3 tip. Under the Desothane, I sprayed two coats of white Poly-Tone as recommended by the factory paint guys. The fans were on high & there was good ventilation. Still need to be careful since the mist is toxic. That should be all the spraying for this winter since temps are dropping fast. Time to get back into the cockpit & finish rudder assembly, heater, parking brake, etc.

Dec 17th: Ordered the squeezer from Aircraft Spruce and the rivet dimpler and sets from Cleaveland Aircraft Tool. So, tonight was dedicated to dimpling and squeezing rivets in the flaperons. Got a nice flush finish on the top. Much better than pop rivets!

Left flapperon tip installed. Made from a block of balsa.

Mass balance weights drilled & clecoed in place.

Working on fitting the fairing to the lift struts. The right strut is being fit in this picture.

.Cutout in the fairing with the jury strut attach bracket

Oct 27/Nov2nd: Jared and I shrunk the paint booth for the winter to make room for working in the fuselage. This weekend was working on the center console to mount the adjustable rudder pedal handle brackets and the flapereron adjust bracket. Also mounted the parking brake unit and epoxy varnished the floorboards.

Nov 8: Began assemby of the rudder pedals. One inboard rudder assembly was bent just enough to prevent the plastic bushing from fitting, so Kitfox was nice enough to send me a replacement. They are so good to work with! So, I finished one side and am waiting on UPS to deliver the new assembly. Riveting went smooth and makes a nice finish. Next is to start the install of the rudder pedal brackets.

Nov 18: Received the new rudder assembly from Kitfox. Fit nicely! So, the pilot side rudder assembly was assembled and riveted together. Then, with the help of friend Cecil Wilkinson and Jared, we were able to get the entire assembly in place and drill all the holes to mount the full assembly.

Nov 23: Finished installing the rudder pedal assemblies after a bunch of fine tuning to make sure the pedals move as smoothly as possible. I also installed the 4 brake master cylinders. Note the colorful paper clips in place of cotter pins...just in case they need to come out in the future.

Dec 3rd: Started working on the flaperons. Drilling the holes in the trailing edge in prep for riveting. Going to go with solid flush rivets, so I need to get a rivet squeezer. All the holes are drilled. Also need to start working on the end caps (making them from a block of balsa wood).

Jan 2014...Its Flapperon time....installed the metal inboard end caps and the used balsa to create the end caps. Lots of sanding, bondo, sanding, bondo, primer, sanding, bondo, sealer, sanding, primer later....I think they are done. Now working on the control horns thanks to the rigging sent by brother Jeff (sure is nice to have a brother who has gone before me on all this!). Also drilled the holes for the mass balance weights.

Drilling holes for the mass balance weights that attach to the flaperons (2 on each)

1/20/14: Broke out the next project to install the lift strut fairings. Lots of cutting & trimming. Used the Dremel tool to cut the material. Decided to run the material above the upper support & cut a small cuff at the bottom. Not going to put the aluminum lower cuff as described in the instructions. Also, with the help of Cecil, drilled the holes for the flapperon control arms using the jigs provided by my brother Jeff. So, putting the flapperons aside until I'm ready for painting

Right wing strut with fairing before the cut is made on the rear fairing needed to aviod impacting the side of the plane when the wings are folded.

Right wing lift strut with final faining cuts made.

Right flapperon horn drilled and cleco'ed temporarily until it is riveted on after painting is complete.

Left flapperon horn drilled and attached.