On this page you will find the previous update entries from the site home page.
Thu 22 September 2010
Build Progress Summary
Build progress has been stalled for the last month with your's truly being a wimp and not getting out to the shed
because of the cold, damp weather we have been experiencing. I have no excuses now that it is warming up again and
spring is in the air. I have just received some 1.25" aluminum channel from Wicks in the US which was on back order
so I can now get the hinges for my HS and VS made.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Get back into the shed and re-start work on HS.
- Draw up hinges and send out to be made.
Recent News off the KRNet
The KR Gathering has been the main topic of conversation over the last week or so with the Gathering occuring a couple
of weekends ago. By the sound of things it was a great success however the weather did not really cooperate for the
weekend and caused problems for folks getting to and from the event. Next years Gathering is returning to Mt Vernon airfield.
Sonex JQP News
The Sonex aircraft in which I am a syndicate shareholder has been moved over the last month from Whitianga to Te Kowhai
airfield out of Hamilton. It is now more accessible to the syndicate members who live in Auckland and as such has been
getting flown a bit over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately because of all the rain we have been having, Te Kowhai
airfield is now very soft and the tailwheel has been cutting up the strip so we are going to have to find a alternative
airfield to practise on and/or look at modifying the tailwheel to a larger 5" wheel.
The aircraft has also had its spats removed
as the numerous touch and goes are starting to cause damage to them. The aircraft will lose about 5 knots top end speed
without the spats but we think this is a small price to pay while we are learning to fly her and seems a better idea to
remove them now than have to repair them latter.
My Flying
My PPL renewal training has been advancing well although
the weather has not been very helpful. I have worked through Steep Turns, Stalls, Overhead Rejoins, Flapless Landings,
Glide Approaches, Short Field Landings and Maximum Performance Takeoff's in the last couple of weeks and I am feeling
much better about my circuits. I have only given my instructor a few nervous moments and he is still willing to fly
with me so I figure I can't be doing too bad. I am hoping to get Forced Landings sorted in the next lesson and then
spend a bit of time consolidating before moving on to do the Cross Country Navigation exercises. My target to try
and sit a flight test in late October is still achieveable but I will leave that for my instructor to decide.
Other Updates
I managed to visit the Open Day held by the NZ Warbirds at Ardmore over the weekend of the 18th and 19th
September and have put together a few photos I took on the day on this
page or you can navigate there from the Airshows link in the right hand margin.
I have also added a couple of new links to the Aviation Articles page as well.
I can recommend the video of the Mirage 2000 and Alphajet. This is amazing footage and well worth a look.
Thu 29 July 2010
Build Progress Summary
Build progress has been very slow over the last six months as I have been focusing on sitting my PPL exams since February.
I finished the last exam a couple of weeks ago so hopefully I will now be able to spend more time back on the build.
As far as the build goes there have been a couple of set backs in that I am now building a new Horizontal Stabiliser
which will use the standard KR hinge arrangement instead of the Dr. Dean hinges. Visit the Build Log
page to get a run down on the reasons.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Order aluminium from Wicks for the KR hinges.
Other News
It has been almost six months since I last updated this website and I have spent the last couple of weeks bringing it
all up to speed. As mentioned above I have spent the time sitting my exams to renew my PPL and with them now finished I went
for my first instructional flight last weekend and although rusty it wasn't too bad an effort. The instructor I am
working with, Mike King, tells me I will probably be solo in the circuit within a couple of hours and then I can take
myself off to the training area to practice my air exercises in preparation for sitting my BFR in a couple of months.
All things being equal I hope to be current again for summer. I will put together a page to record my progress towards
my PPL and will include it in the next release of the site.
Another significant event in my aviation world is that I have bought into a Sonex syndicate over the last couple of
months. I have created a page to log the details of this aircraft and the syndicate and this can be found in a link
in the right hand margin of this page.
In updating the site I have also re-designed the pages that show the airshows I visit, the flying trips I make and the
listing of Kiwi KR's. These are now on separate pages and the links to these can also be found on the right hand side of
this page. Hopefully these changes will make it a little easier to navigate this site. Please let me know if you have
any suggestions for improvements.
Recent News off the KRNet
Oshkosh and Mark Langford competing in an air race have filled the KR Net over the last couple of days. It has been
great to see Mark getting out flying again after four weeks off modifying the wings of his aircraft.
Wed 03 February 2010
Build Progress
I have had a reasonably productive time of it this past week. I managed to achieve all the goals I set for myself last week with the completion
of the glueing of all the Horizontal Stabiliser gussets and the removal of the template 'wings' to allow the elevator to move freely on its hinges.
I have also checked the movement of the elevator and sanded the templates protrusions in front of the rear spar to allow the elevator to reach the
30 degree up and 20 degree down limits as the plans specify.
The focus for the coming week will be to order my first lot of Divinycell foam from the local New Zealand supplier and to finish tidying up the
HS ready for the fitting of the foam. I intend to seal the HS spars and templates using the same Everdure Epoxy sealant that I used on the fuselage
skin. I will then be looking to mount the HS on the fuselage longerons so I can mark out the positions for the vertical support members at the rear
of the fuselage.
I am not entirely sure I will achieve all the intended goals for this week however as this coming weekend is the SportAvex Airshow in Tauranga
which is the major airshow on the New Zealand Sport Aviation Associations calendar for 2010. I will be driving over to Tauranga early Friday
morning and staying for the whole weekend, returning late Sunday.
The other piece of news I wanted to share was that during the past weekend my wife fitted my Christmas present to my car. She had ordered a set
of personalised plates for my car and these arrived during the week. I had intended to fit them to my car myself over the weekend but while I was
out in the shed working on the KR, she decided to fit them herself. This is a photo of the plates. I have to say I am really rapt with this present.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Order Divinycell Foam.
- Tidy HS ready for fitting of foam and sealing with Everdure Epoxy.
- Fit HS to fuselage and mark out vertical support members positions.
Recent News off the KRNet
Other Site Updates
Wed 27 January 2010
Build Progress
Nearly four weeks into the year already. The time it is a flying by. I have had a busy week so far this week after a somewhat quiet week last week.
I hit a bit of a snag last week when I discovered that I had mismatched my Horizontal Stabiliser Balance Horn templates when glueing them to the
mini spars at the front of the balance horns. I made the templates in pairs so mismatching them meant the spar holes were slightly (0.5 - 1.0mm)
out of alignment. I could have filed the holes and forced them to fit but decided to just ditch the balance horns and make a new set.
I ordered a new set of template drawings from the printer and cut these out over the weekend. I have since completed the build
of the balance horns (for the third time) and fitted these to the HS. I am trying to get all the gussets for the HS made and fitted by
the end of the week so I can remove the "wings" from the sides of the templates and free the elevator. I am very keen to see it all working.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Complete the fabrication and fitting of all the HS gussets.
- Remove the template "wings" templates to allow the elevator to move freely.
Recent News off the KRNet
Mark Langford posted an interesting link this week to a ground school aviation theory site. It has a lot of very useful information.
You can find the link here.
Other Site Updates
I have added a new link to the Miscellaneous page of a flight I completed n November in a Slingsby Firefly. This is the first time I have
flown in a Slingsby so I thought I would include a bit of a photo essay of the flight. The link can be found here.
Mon 18 January 2010
Happy New Year to one and all. Another year complete and another year of building challenges to look forward to. As those of you who read this
blog will no doubt be aware, I have not updated the site for quite some time. Sadly I did not achieve much on the build front over November or
December but I have started off the New Year with a hiss and a roar so fingers crossed for a more productive year in 2010.
One thing that did occur in November was that my wife and I flew down to Christchurch for the weekend of the 21st-22nd. While there I got out to
Sumner and caught up with Robin Macdonald for a few hours to talk KR's and aeroplane building in general. Robin is progressing well with his
rebuild and he's given me a number of ideas and thoughts on how to do things. Photo's from my visit can be found here.
The weekend away was however somewhat tinged with sadness for me as on the Thursday before we left I heard my close friend of many years, Andy
Forster, had been killed in a work accident earlier in the day. Andy was a NZ Air Force Senior NCO working as an EOD Operator and was killed
while marking an unexploded artillery shell for later disposal. Andy and I (mis)spent much of our youth together and our friendship had continued
over the years as our families grew. Andy was very professional in his job and loved what he was doing. The exact reason why the round detonated
is unclear but dealing with unexploded and potentially unstable ordnance is inherently dangerous and Andy knew the risks. His loss still came as a
great shock and I will be adding a page to my site to commemorate his life.
Build Progress
November saw the completion of the sanding and sealing of the boat skin. I also roughed out and did the final shaping of the three Horizontal
Stabiliser spars and glued the NACA 63009 rib templates to ply ready for cutting. Also the parts for my Dr Dean hinges for the HS arrived.
I ordered these through Steve Noad at Aircraft Logistics in Christchurch. Steve had nearly all the parts required in stock and gave me prompt
and helpful service.
December saw me trying a number of methods to find a simple, accurate way of cutting out the rib templates. After a number of false starts
I finally bit the bullet and purchased an electric scroll saw which has made the whole process a lot simpler. I kinda wished I had purchased
one of these tools before now as it has come in handy for cutting many other things other than just the templates.
January has so far seen the assembly of the spars and rib templates to form the basic skeleton of the Horizontal Stabliser and I am currently
working through the creation of the gussets required to attach the templates to the spars as well as the fabrication of the aerodynamic balance
horns. I had a bit of problem over the last week however in that a couple of batches of glue I had created did not appear to be hardening off
as required and I had to spend some time testing why this occured.
The other major update I have has been the response I have received after sending out emails to all the KR owners
in NZ who I contacted to get photo's of their aircraft. I have had a great response and have updated the Kiwi KR's page with the new images
and details I have been given. Thank you to all those who sent me the photo's and updates.
I have also added a new page to the Miscellaneous tab which is a bit of a photo essay of a navex flight I did with a friend of mine back at the
End of October. There are some (I think) neat shots of one of New Zealands offshore islands which also happens to be an active volcano. You can
see it here.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Complete the fabrication of the aerodynamic balance horns on the HS.
- Cut and fit the gussets for the HS templates.
Recent News off the KRNet
There were some great links coming in off the KRNet just prior to Christmas. The following three caught my eye.
Images of the three KR's currently flying in Holland on Ted and Stef's site.
http://www.masttotaalconcept.nl/kr2
Gunar Olsen from Norway has created some awesome CAD renderings on his site.
http://www.go-design.no/images.html
A great youtube video of Corvair powered KR's and Sonex's at Corvair College #16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK23b-BWptE
(Make sure you turn the sound up for this one.)
Sun 15 November 2009
Build Progress
I have had a very busy week this past week. I have managed to get the fuselage boat completed and sealed with epoxy primer and put away in
my ceiling storage rack. I have also now made a start on the Horizontal stabiliser having completed the marking out all three HS spars and
planing the forward spar to shape. With a bit of luck I will be able to complete the other two spars by the end of the upcoming week.
Note that I will not be working on the project this coming weekend as my wife and I are heading down to Christchurch for the weekend.
My wife has a meeting/workshop she needs to attend and I am tagging along for the ride. I am hoping to catch up with Robin Macdonald while
I am down in Christchurch so I can take a look at his project. I will take a few photo's and publish them next week.
I was looking back over my construction notes today and noted that Monday the 9th of November was the one year anniversary of my start on
the actual build for the aircraft. I have tallied up the hours I have worked on the build over the last twelve months and it comes to a grand
total of 475hrs. Not a bad effort. If I can average 450-500 hours a year for the next 4-5 years I think I have a fairly good chance of completing
the build in this time. (All things being equal of course.)
Goals For The Coming Week
- Complete the shaping of the centre aand rear horizontal stabiliser spars.
- Cut out the rib templates for the HS.
- Order the parts for the "Dr Dean" hinges.
Recent News off the KRNet
There have been a couple of interesting posts on the KR Net this past week. Fred Bulla, who owned the second KR to crash at the Mt Vernon
Gathering posted a note to say he is back in action and to say thanks to those who had helped him out. He had owned the KR for 22 years but
made the mistake of running out of fuel just short of MVN. He is very lucky to have survived the crash given the aircraft nosed in after
hitting some trees.
The other posting that caught my eye tis week was from Larry Flesner and was to do with the determining the Max Gross weight of a KR2.
Larry gave a very clear explanation of how he calculated the gross weight of his aircraft. His rule of thumb is you take the empty weight,
add the weight of the heaviest pilot possible while staying in the C.G. range, add the weight of full fuel (if that is possible with a heavy
pilot and stay within the C.G. range), add baggage allowance (while staying in the C.G. range) , add maybe ten pound or so, and make that
your max gross weight. That should make you "legal" in all load conditions. The gross weight of his KR is 1350 pounds.
He then added a note that as the gross weight of the aircraft increases, the structural G rating goes down. He then gave an excellent
example to support this. (The KR2 has a design G rating of +/- 7 G's at 800 pounds. That computes to 7 x 800 = 5600 pounds. 5600 divided
by 1350 computes to a 4.15 G rating when flown at 1350 pounds gross weight.)
Sun 08 November 2009
Build Progress
It has been about four weeks since my last update. I have been somewhat distracted from the build over the last few weeks while attending to
various non-building tasks and generally trying to accumulate a bit of domestic credit round the house.
That said I have managed to finally got the bottom skin glued onto the fuselage boat over this past weekend with the assistance of my son.
I ended up making up a center frame to support the fuselage cross members and then used a combination of staples and weights to secure the skin
into place while the glue cured. I am currently in the process of cleaning up the skin having already trimmed the edges and with just the final
filling and sanding of the staple holes required before I seal the complete boat and then put it aside to make a start on the horizontal stabiliser.
I have also spent some time flying recently. Over the weekend of the 31st October - 1st November, I flew with a friend on a navigation exercise
out of Aucklands North Shore airfield and we made our way down country to Tauranga for lunch. After lunch we flew on to visit one of
New Zealands offshore islands which is also an active volcano. White Island is roughly 15 nautical miles off the coast and is about 2km by 1km
in size. The day we chose to fly down was absolutely stunning and proved a good opportunity to exercise my navigation skills. I will add
some photo's from the flight to the Miscellaneous page this coming weekend.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Finish trimming the lower fuselage skin.
- Fill the staple holes and sand them smooth.
- Seal the boat using two pot epoxy sealant.
Recent News off the KRNet
Last week saw the crash of a KR2 in Arizona after the engine lost power at about 300', apparently due to a fuel flow problems caused by a blockage
in the fuel cap breather vent. The pilot put the aircraft down on a piece of nearby real estate where it skidded along for about 450 feet before
hitting a earth berm and coming to rest on top of the berm with significant damage to the underside of the aircraft. Fortunatelty the pilot
was able to walk away from the crash with just a nasty cut to the head but he is otherwise ok. A link to a news article can be found
here.
Since the crash there has been some good discussion on the KRNet over the methods used for attachment of seat belt restraints in KR's.
as it appears the standard restraint installation method published with the plans and used in the KR2 that crashed appears to have failed
under the crash loads. The builder of the aircraft, who is working through the damage and assessing what is required to
rebuild it, has reported that the glue joints of the shear web, to which the restraint was attached, did not fail but that the longerons
physically broke where the rear shear web attachs to the longerons. A number of builders have offered up alternative methods of installng
pilot restraints including Mark Langford who described the installation on his KR2S where the restraints are attached by cable to the main
spar of the horizontal stabiliser. Needless to say I have been taking note of the comments being made.
Sun 18 October 2009
Build Progress
Its been a couple of weeks since I last published an update to this site. Unfortunately work has been getting in the way of my build and
I simply haven't been able to find the time to update the site and publish what I have been doing.
The bottom skin is now marked out ready for glueing. I have lightly sanded the areas to be glued and it is just awaiting me getting off my
butt and attaching it. I have decided to staple the bottom panel as I did with the sides. This will allow me to flip the airframe over and clean up
any excess glue after the panel is attached. Weighing it down would mean I would have to crawl inside the boat through the front firewall to clean
up the excess glue and as much as I would like to think I am capable of doing this, I don't think my physique will allow it. :-)
I have also built a jig to straighten out the bottom cross member at the 'G' position as it has bowed slightly under the compressive
loads from bending in the side longerons. With a bit of luck (and time) I should be able to attach the bottom panel during the coming week.
I have also made a start on attaching the rudder post. This has proved to be a bit more challenging than I expected. I decided to initially
fabricate and attach the 6mm doubler to the longerons. This has meant spending a few evenings of the past week measuring angles, calculating
lengths and widths of the doubler, re-measuring the angles and then re-checking my calculations to ensure I have everything correct. There is
a new page under the Build-Log menu describing the progress to date.
I have also created a new page (Previous Updates) which contains the update history from this page. If there
is something you have seen on the update page that you want to find again you should be able to find it in the previous updates link.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Attach the bottom skin to the airframe and trim it to match the airframe.
Recent News off the KRNet
Most of the discussion over the past week seems to have been on the merits of different types of oil to be used in VW engine installations.
Today Jeff Scott replied to an email about the merits of widening the Horizontal Stabiliser. Given I am just about to start on my tail
feathers the timing of this email could not have been better. Jeff also mentioned that he has increased the chord of his rudder somewhat and
has achieved much better authority from the rudder as a result. This is the first I have heard of someone increasing the rudder chord.
Sun 04 October 2009
Build Progress
I have managed to get through a fair bit in the past two weeks. I got the port skin attached to the airframe and trimmed, filled and sanded.
Also over this past weekend I cut out, scarfed and glued the bottom skins and also glued the rear shear brace in place behind the seats.
I hope to attach the bottom skin over the coming week.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Attach the bottom skin to the airframe and trim it to match the airframe.
Recent News off the KRNet
Its been pretty quiet on the KRNet over the last week or so with most of the posts being general build questions but also including a fairly
extensive discussion on the pros and cons of using Polyester epoxy versus Vinyl Ester epoxy for fuel tanks.
A couple of highlights for me was Mark Langfords description of his Perfect 10 Day. Mark's periodic descriptions of flights he has made and
the cloud photos he takes certainly keep me inspired to continue working on my KR.
Also very interesting is a post just in today from Glenda McElwee giving a link to a new page on her website showing the assembly of her Corvair
engine. Well worth a look. You can find the link at
http://www.awesometrvl.com/fifth_bearing_corvair_engine.htm
Tue 22 September 2009
Build Progress
Trimmed the port skin to match the fuselage frame over the week then filled the staple holes and sanded the port skin smooth.
I didn't manage to get the starboard skin attached as there was a local warbirds airshow on the Sunday to commemorate Battle of
Britain day on the 15th. Daylight saving kicks in this coming weekend so I am hoping to get a bit more time on the build front.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Glue the starboard skin to the fuselage frame.
- Trim the starboard skin to match the fuselage frame.
- Cut and glue together the bottom skin for the fuselage.
Recent News off the KRNet
The KR Gathering was pretty eventful for those who attended. Two KR's crashed on the way to Mount Vernon airport but fortunately
both pilots survived the crashes although both with injuries which required hospitalisation. My thoughts and best wishes for a quick
recovery go out to both pilots involved.
Both aircraft involved have effectively been written off as the images below show. The weather also made life difficult for those trying
to return home after the event.
Links to local newspaper articles about the crashes and the Gathering are listed below.
http://www.register-news.com/archivesearch/local_story_260124439.html
http://www.register-news.com/archivesearch/local_story_260203620.html
http://www.register-news.com/local/local_story_261223644.html
Images from the crashed aircraft.
N4DD Before - 
N4DD After - 
N4207Z Before - 
N4207Z After - 
Sun 13 September 2009
Build Progress
I spent this past weekend (12-13 Sept) attaching the port skin of the fuselage to the airframe. I had a mate, Murray Lee - who is into
aviation and planes as much as I am, come over and give me a hand but unfortunately we had a bit of a mishap on the Saturday with the batch of
glue we were using going off after just 20 minutes after we were only part way through applying the glue. This caused us a bit of grief but
we managed to sort it out and get back on track by Sunday afternoon. The build log has details of what happened.
Goals For The Coming Week
- Trim the port skin to match the fuselage frame.
- Glue the starboard skin to the fuselage frame.
- Trim the starboard skin to match the fuselage frame.
- Cut and glue together the bottom skin for the fuselage.
Recent News off the KRNet
Many of the US based KR Netters have begun preparations for travelling to the KR Gathering at Mt Vernon, IL, USA for this coming weekend.
(Sept 18-19). I am jealous as all hell and I hope to join them at next years Gathering wherever that may be. Have fun guys.
Link - http://www.krgathering.org
Barry Kruyssen announced the return to flight of his KR2 after his crash 3 years, 4 months ago. Barry is based in Cairns, Australia and his
web page can be found at the following link.
Link - http://www.users.bigpond.com/kr2/kr2.htm.
Sun 06 September 2009
Build Progress
It has been a very quiet couple of weeks on the build front. I did finally manage to get out to the shed this weekend and have started to move
ahead with getting ready to skin the fuselage. I am making some final adjustments to the fuselage frame to get a better fit of the skin to the
frame. The Build-Log update link above will take you to the latest updates with explanations of what I have been doing.
I have also been making a few changes to the look and feel of the website. I have added a new page with pictures and links to interesting
articles I have found on the web. This page can be accessed from the Miscellaneous page menu but there is also a link above under "Other Site
Updates" that will take you to the page.
Goals For The Next Couple Of Weeks
- Glue the port skin to the fuselage frame.
- Trim the port skin to match the fuselage frame.
- Glue the starboard skin to the fuselage frame.
- Trim the starboard skin to match the fuselage frame.
- Cut and glue together the bottom skin for the fuselage.
Recent News off the KRNet
Darren Crompton announced his new online business selling AN Bolts and spares to Australian based aircraft builders.
Link - http://www.an-bolts.com.au
The buildup to The Gathering at Mt Vernon, IL, USA on the weekend of September 18-19, 2009 is gathering pace.
Link - http://www.krgathering.org
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