Thanks to everyone who's replied so far.... Collective responses below. 1) Engine ID: Photos are here: http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/dcacklam/KR2%20Pics/Engine/ Diehl case, SuperCarb.... Plane was built in 1986, IIRC there were more folks in business making aero-VW motors back then...
2) Gear: I've already bought the Diehl nose-gear kit. The 'reverse-the-mains' thing is just my attempt to save some time & money by re-using the existing gear (but making it fixed, not retract) & the existing holes in the spar. If that can't be done, I'll buy Mr Root's set of (assembled) Diehl mains that he's selling here. The entire tailwheel assembly comes off today & the steering cables will be cut off of the rudder cables.... 3) Longerons/crosspiece/etc: No, he didn't drill or screw into the longerons to put that brace there - it's glued with triangular blocks at each corner. The only penetrations of wood in the cockpit area, are the hinge for the canopy, and 2 angles used to fasten the instrument panel to the 'boat'. Both of these are into the 'inner' strip of longeron wood (the longerons on this perticular plane are constructed of 2 pieces of bent wood glued together side-by-side, and all of the hardware penetrations go into the inner one, with the outer left in tact). I don't know if this is 'standard' KR or not, but on this plane the entire upper-nose section (windscreen, fuel tank, panel - everything above the 'boat' in front of the pilot) is DETATCHABLE - it's held in by 3 nut-plates on either side (mounted to the skin (with aluminum backing plates), not the longerons). Hence I assumed that the brace was structural & part of the design (and thus something that needs to be preserved). 4) Avionics - the MGL radios nVAero sells are in fact quite nice, but a bit out of my price range for now... My immediate goal is to get the plane safe & airworthy enough to ferry it home from FLA (so I can stop paying $70/mo in storage fees, and so I have access to the tools & facilities where I live (A/o whatever I can rig up in the uhaul yard).... A functional 720ch analog nav/com (as backup to the EFIS GPS) & the EFIS will accomplish this for me. That said, if I had the money & the plane was in my garage vs the uhaul lot, I'd have an MGL panel... 5) Glass/foam repair - Epoxy Resin it is... Which means boat store, around here... As for what to do to fix the damage, I do have some experience with that thanks to my prior MOS (airframe mechanic) - it's just a matter of figuring out what materials & specific requirements the KR has... When I did this in the Army, we had TMs for each aircraft to tell us what was repairable & how to do it... Here? You guys (the experienced builders) are the TM (esp since this bird didn't come with it's RR plans/manual, and you all are far more used to working with wood/foam than I am)... The expanding foam is something I came up with as the best 'in place' filler for the punched-out section of rudder (it's a 3.5"x1.5" area of damage on the bottom right side of the rudder, from improper trailer-loading - cloth/resin is torn open & there is some damage to the underlying foam (does not seem to be any wood structure in the area - just foam/glass). Plan is to fill the foam damage with expanding foam, clamp over with wax-paper (as a peel-ply) & a plywood backer, let cure, then glass over the foam repair once it is no longer expanding. I am involved with my local EAA chapter - I have another project (T-40AS - all wood, Lycoming powered) that I've been working on before this - I just picked up this KR because it's alot closer to 'flyable' (and alot easier to store, not being Cessna-sized) than said long-term project. But that's back home, not in FL. On 1/7/2012 12:06 AM, Dave_A wrote: > For those following, I bought a KR2 while over in Afganhistan... > > I'm on R&R now, and I flew down to FL to get started on making it > flyable& set up the way I want... > > Pics are posted at > http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/dcacklam/KR2%20Pics/ (see > sub-albums (left side of webpage) for engine& other details) > > Things I knew before I came down here: The plane came with no avionics. > I have radios& a BMA EFIS One (yes, I know, they're out of business, > but when it comes to scrounging an EFIS (or primary instruments) that > will fit in a KR's panel, and my budget... ) to fix that... Also, the > taildragger thing... Working on that too... > > The plane appears to have been painted with plain old rattlecan acrylic > spraypaint (1986 variety)... Said paint is cracked& peeling off all > over... So I'll be sanding it off& touching up with an epoxy-based > paint.... > > The right elevator (as viewed from behind the plane) looks good - > although I have a question as to weather the red-brown substance (See > photo with my hand in it, in the 'elevator' album) chipping off of it is > delaminated structure, or just red-brown automotive primer..... The > left, OTOH, is a mess - a huge delamination bubble on the lower surface, > plastic stuck to the resin& painted over, and the upper surface seems > to have had almost no sanding before being painted... > > There's damage to the rudder from where the prior owner struck part of > his trailer trying to load the plane up... Easily fixable though.... > > With that said, I have some questions for the community: > > 1) Can anyone help me identify which engine I have - both in CCs and > manufacture (HAPI, Revmaster, roll-your-own-VW-conversion from an actual > beetle)? All I can tell is that it's a VW-style with a diehl case& > slick mag, and the carb is a POSA Supercarb (POSA + Mixture)... > > 2) The plane used to have a starter, now it has a block off plate... Do > I have to buy the starter from Great Plains, or is there an > alternate/common-automotive source for a starter that fits the Diehl case? > > 3) Is polyurethane resin (bondo-brand fiberglass resin) compatible with > the adhesives commonly used to build the KR, or should I be thinking > more in a boat-supply (eg West System - and if so which one/ones) vs > auto-parts direction? I'm intending to fix the (small) glass/foam damage > to the rudder using expanding foam& fiberglass cloth, and there are a > few delaminations that need to be addressed.... Not having built the > plane myself, I'm wondering what the consensus is on repair adhesives > (epoxy vs polyurethane vs (something else))... > > 4) The crosspiece behind the instrument panel, shown in > http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/dcacklam/KR2%20Pics/FE3B3553-orig.jpg, > hits my knees... I assume this is an important part of the 'boat' > structure, so it can't just be removed. > > I am wondering if replacing it with a taller board (and giving up some > panel space), with 'arches' cut in it to accommodate a more comfortable > flying position, would cause any problems... See > http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/dcacklam/KR2%20Pics/KneeMod.png > for sketch... > > > If you've gotten this far, thanks... I know it's a long post, but it's 1 > day worth of looking/planning/etc, then coming back to the computer to > write it all up.... > > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
