This really goes back to his pre-purchase inspection. ?Let's see, crummy green foam in the wings and significant delaminations starting to show. ?Maybe we should look a bit deeper? ?Maybe at least remove the wing attach covers and look at the fittings, although it's likely the fittings were painted, so the color wouldn't be obvious. ?If the plane is crappy on the outside, it often times follows that things aren't that great on the inside either. ? Thanks for relating that story Larry. ?
The sad part is that the builder likely didn't recognize that the Aluminum WAFS replacing 4130 WAFS might not be sufficient. ?It would seem obvious to those of us that have been working around airplanes for a few decades, but to the neophite that is building in a vacuum, it might not. ?This is one of the reasons why it is important to get multiple sets of knowlegeable eyes on your project and involve an EAA Tech Counselor in your build. ? FWIW, after I bought my Wag Aero/ SuperCub project from an estate, I spent a lot of time looking over a lot of strange, non-standard things that had been done to the plane. ?I found that most were a redesign of certain portions of the plane that were done either for financial savings or to improve strength as the plane was slated to be upgraded to a SuperCub. ?However, I didn't catch everything. ?The first time I pulled in the flaps in the air, I got a loud bang, the overhead flap handle snapped down, and the flaps retracted. ?When I got on the ground, I found that the clevis fork that attaches to the flap handle (which is the highest strained part in the flap system) had been made from a piece of soft aluminum tube, with internal threads at one end to attach to the cable and the tube cut out to make the ears of the clevis fork at the other end. ?The first time I pulled on it, the ears ripped out. ?Wow! ?Major mistake on the part of the builder. ?An even more major mistake on my part for not catching it. ?The thing I did right was to test the flaps the first time at altitude. I spent this weekend at the CopperState Fly In. ?Most of the comments I got were, "Wow, that's not like any KR I've ever seen!" ?It's hard to get away from the plane to go look at the other planes during the Fly In as there is always a crowd around it. ?For those of you building, that is a very satisfying feeling you can look forward to. ?But I also get to hear lots of KR horror stories. ?Unfortunately, that is the reputation of the KRs in the pilot community. -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM > ----- Original Message ----- > From: ppaulvsk > Sent: 10/29/13 08:57 AM > To: KRnet > Subject: Re: KR> WHY? ALUMINUM WAFS? > > Nice reply Larry. ?Let's do it right.? > > > Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S?4 > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Larry H <laheze at yahoo.com> > Date: 10/29/2013 9:39 AM (GMT-06:00) > To: KRnet <krnet at list.krnet.org> > Subject: KR> WHY? ALUMINUM WAFS? > ? > While at a fly in over the weekend I was talking to a fellow KR2 owner. > Several years back he had purchased someone else's KR2. He did some work to > it, I'm not sure what all he did. He did get it flying however. He flew it a > few times and then noticed his wing skins were delaminating all over. (Crummy > Green Foam) > He decided to take the wings off, take them home for a Major Overhaul. Guess > what? Did you read the title? Yep, some idiot had used aluminum strips for > the WAFs. I have seen a lot of wrong doings on KR2s over the years like > aluminum screen door turnbuckles for flight controls. I have no idea what is > wrong with some people and their airplane building practices. If any of you > reading this want to risk killing yourself then have at it but don't sell > your kiddy playground crap to someone else pretending its a real airplane. > Every time I mention KR2s to pilots at air shows I usually get snickers from > them because they have seen the junky crap like this. > > Larry H
