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victorbravo(at)sbcglobal.
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 Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:17 pm Post subject: Newbie Alert, Bought Kit: Take me to school on the Firestar |
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Greetings from Los Angeles. I just made an arrangement to purchase a partly built Firestar II kit. Don't have it here yet (couple of weeks probably).
I am seeking information and experiences from experienced Kolbers in several areas. I am certain that a lot of information is in the archives, but I am new to the Matronics lists and I have no experience with where to find the specific types of things I'm looking for. Absolutely no disrespect or laziness intended: I'm SURE that many of my questions have been answered over and over before... but I really don't want to sort through thousands of pages of general discussion and "I flew to X place today" information before finding the relevant answer. All help in navigating quickly to the right information is greatly appreciated.
The questions that I already know that I want answers to are:
1) What are the known issues, problems, inaccuracies, common mistakes, and things to avoid when building this kit?
2) What are the (mechanical, aerodynamic, structural) upgrades, tweaks, hacks, and modifications if any that are known to be worthwhile and desirable to have?
3) What are the upgrades, tweaks, modifications and "improvements" that people have tried which did not work, caused problems, or wasted time?
About me:
Age: Old enough to know that The Riddler is Frank Gorshin and not Jim Carrey 
Pilot: approx 1800 hours TT, First Solo 1977, private pilot rating, airplane and glider
Owned Aircraft: RV-3, Taylorcraft (4), J-3, Cessna 172 "straight tail" (current), Cassutt F-1 Racer (Race #81, Reno 1988-89)
Owned Sailplanes: Mini-Nimbus, AS-W20, AS-W20BL, Ventus B-16.6 (contest # VB, 1981-87, 2 FAI speed records, 1984)
Graduated A&P Mechanic college program 1983 (still haven't taken the FAA test)
Holder of FAA STC-PMA manufacturing approval for a safety/performance upgrade product on numerous certified aircraft
Interest in Kolb:
My interest in the Kolb has happened only recently. When I first saw them way back when, I disliked the looks of the design compared to traditional aircraft. The flat bottom airfoil (all too similar to my old Eagle 63 R/C models), and the harsh angular shape of the fuselage lines, didn't agree with me. Over time and with a lot of water under the bridge, my flying desires and realistic needs changed. I took a second look at the Kolb with a fresh set of eyes and an open mind, and I finally realized the brilliance behind many of the Kolb's features. My desire to have a low and slow airplane had to also address the fact that it had to fit in a T-hangar along with the larger 172. So the Kolb folding wings is a make-or-break item. The placement of the tube spar in the wing, behind the max. thickness point, had initially annoyed me all to hell, until I learned from a senior level engineer that this unusual placement balanced out the forces between the torsion/twisting moment of the wing and the lifting moment.
Anyway, I am very thankful for answers and information from the members of this mail list. I'll be glad to provide more information about what I will be using the Firestar for and why/where I will be flying it if anyone is interested.
Bill Berle Whiteman Airport, Los Angles, CA
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Richard Pike
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 1671
Location: Blountville, Tennessee
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:59 pm Post subject: Re: Newbie Alert, Bought Kit: Take me to school on the Fires |
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Figure out if you have the old style thin wall gear leg to axle fittings. If you do, call Kolb and get the new thick wall version. Yeah, they are expensive; buy them anyway. The old thin wall ones will break in a hard landing. Also make sure you do not have the "short" landing gear legs that only go part way up into the socket. A hard landing can kink/damage the socket.
A 503 is plenty enough engine, but if you want a 582, be pepared to beef up the upper cage a bit. Instructions in included link.
Make sure your instrument panel is easy to remove or slide out to access the back side.
John Hauck came up with a mod where you add a brace to the lower vertical fin and from there up to the steel ring just below the elevator inboard hinge point. It is possible to put a large side load on the tailwheel and over time this can fatigue or crack your vertical tailpost below the steel ring. Beefing this up is good, study the included pictures.
The MKIII will not fly hands off, but a few degrees of dihedral in a FSII and an adjustable elevator trim system and it will fly hands off very nicely.
When you do your fuel plumbing, use only soft aluminum aircraft fuel line, P/N 03-40400
https://www.cps-parts.com/catalog/mepages/3003versatube.php?clickkey=108654
and good quality fuel line from the auto parts store, not any of the clear, or blue, or yellow "ultralight" fuel tubing.
More stuff on this link: http://oh2fly.net/oldpoops/kolb.html
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
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_________________
Richard Pike
Kolb MKIII N420P (420ldPoops)
Kingsport, TN 3TN0
Forgiving is tough, being forgiven is wonderful, and God's grace really is amazing. |
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