This job is a difficult one. I have completed the assembly of these latches but made a few modifications to make the latch close with a little more strength. The whole process took about 6 days. Have fun with this one!
Hello Kevin and thanks again for commenting. As you can probably tell by now I had to stop for the lack of the proper tools. I have them now however I have some more questions for Kitfox. Perhaps I’ll ask you first. Do you have the bubble doors? If so did you fit the door in the opening prior to installing the the flange material at the bottom, up the back and up top, aft of the door for the turtle deck? Did you buy more wood for the 2.5mm shims that are called for? I’m thinking of using popsicle sticks to meet the thickness. Also if you fit the door prior to all of this, have you attached the acrylic to the outside of the door using all the hardware? I’m looking at the rough pics in the manual & it looks like they have the cowling & fabric on. I don’t know if I should wait or proceed! Thanks, Matt
@@KingFox76 Matt, the process is pretty in-depth. You have to fit the flange material onto the square stock outlining the entry point of the door. Once you get everything trimmed and fitting the way you like it you need to use Superfil to make the corners transition properly. The fabric will attach to these aluminum pieces, so smoothness and nice transitions count. Once these are in place the actual door frames can be dry fitted. It’s important to biased the door closer to the rear than the front since the front of the frame is where the gas charged struts will be attached. I will have to purchase a new hinge because my doors are a little closer to the front and the strut mount will rub against the aircraft forward frame. The bubble doors must fit within the channel stock. Always best to make small cuts when removing material from the polycarbonate. A nice long block sander will help to keep the edges straight. The manual and option instructions are helpful but are definitely lacking in depth instruction.
@@KingFox76 Also the shims are only temporary you can use popsicle sticks. But according to the manual you will need some of the shims to support the false ribs under the fuel tanks. Maybe 1 foot or so of the shims.
Hello @@kevinbisig3261, I think I learned this pretty quickly. I was putting the wagon in front of the horses for sure. I was following the manual in the order as I was moving along as I have done so throughout the build thus far only to find out that I needed to skip around again and find something else that I could actually complete before coming back to the doorframe installation. I will need to order some more rib stiffeners and I can then use them in the future for propping up the false ribs in the wings. Thanks for the replies, I look forward to finally getting this completed with smooth transitions like you speak of. Have a good day Kevin, Matt
@@kevinbisig3261for the time being I’ll be using popsicle sticks but have on order some more rib stiffeners as you’ll see in one of my new videos I am short a few pieces due in part to me following the manual again to find out that some are not necessary and there was a recommendation from Brandon to add some where they are not called for on the lowest rib in the rudder. Thanks again for the comment, have a good weekend. Matt
This job is a difficult one. I have completed the assembly of these latches but made a few modifications to make the latch close with a little more strength. The whole process took about 6 days. Have fun with this one!
Hello Kevin and thanks again for commenting. As you can probably tell by now I had to stop for the lack of the proper tools. I have them now however I have some more questions for Kitfox. Perhaps I’ll ask you first.
Do you have the bubble doors? If so did you fit the door in the opening prior to installing the the flange material at the bottom, up the back and up top, aft of the door for the turtle deck?
Did you buy more wood for the 2.5mm shims that are called for? I’m thinking of using popsicle sticks to meet the thickness.
Also if you fit the door prior to all of this, have you attached the acrylic to the outside of the door using all the hardware? I’m looking at the rough pics in the manual & it looks like they have the cowling & fabric on. I don’t know if I should wait or proceed!
Thanks, Matt
@@KingFox76 Matt, the process is pretty in-depth. You have to fit the flange material onto the square stock outlining the entry point of the door. Once you get everything trimmed and fitting the way you like it you need to use Superfil to make the corners transition properly. The fabric will attach to these aluminum pieces, so smoothness and nice transitions count. Once these are in place the actual door frames can be dry fitted. It’s important to biased the door closer to the rear than the front since the front of the frame is where the gas charged struts will be attached. I will have to purchase a new hinge because my doors are a little closer to the front and the strut mount will rub against the aircraft forward frame. The bubble doors must fit within the channel stock. Always best to make small cuts when removing material from the polycarbonate. A nice long block sander will help to keep the edges straight. The manual and option instructions are helpful but are definitely lacking in depth instruction.
@@KingFox76 Also the shims are only temporary you can use popsicle sticks. But according to the manual you will need some of the shims to support the false ribs under the fuel tanks. Maybe 1 foot or so of the shims.
Hello @@kevinbisig3261, I think I learned this pretty quickly. I was putting the wagon in front of the horses for sure. I was following the manual in the order as I was moving along as I have done so throughout the build thus far only to find out that I needed to skip around again and find something else that I could actually complete before coming back to the doorframe installation. I will need to order some more rib stiffeners and I can then use them in the future for propping up the false ribs in the wings. Thanks for the replies, I look forward to finally getting this completed with smooth transitions like you speak of. Have a good day Kevin, Matt
@@kevinbisig3261for the time being I’ll be using popsicle sticks but have on order some more rib stiffeners as you’ll see in one of my new videos I am short a few pieces due in part to me following the manual again to find out that some are not necessary and there was a recommendation from Brandon to add some where they are not called for on the lowest rib in the rudder. Thanks again for the comment, have a good weekend. Matt