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Gap seals
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occom

Joined: 26 Aug 2006
Posts: 404

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:48 am Post subject: Gap seals

I haven't got to the point of needing to worry about this yet. Progress 

fixing my aircraft has been far slower than I planned, so I guess it's going 

normally. Anyway, the posts about building complicated gap seals made me 

wonder about the simple gap seal that were on my tail surfaces. The builder 

had simply used 4" pinked tape on the gaps. How effective would that be? 

I've seen it used on other aircraft.



Do not archive

Harold Lanfear

Joined: 02 Dec 2006
Posts: 6
Location: West Grove, PA

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:44 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

I saw several references to gap seals and thought I'd add my 2 cents with an easy idea from a friend of mine who helping with my construction.  I use two pieces of clear plastic packaging tape.  One piece is turned over and overlaps the second piece by about 1/3 of the width - you then end up with a 'gap seal' about 4" wide with a stickly surface on opposite sides that will adhere to the top of the elevator and bottom of the rudder.



I've used this on my KF4 since day one and only replace one piece in 670 hours.  The piece I did replace came off easily and the adhesive cleaned up easily with a little mineral spirits.  Since its clear, the paint color and trim isn't disturbed.



Best way to prepare this is to pull off a piece of tape about 4" longer than needed and lightly tape it 'sticky side up' to a flat surface.  I used the fuselage behind the turtledeck.  Carefully stick the second piece to the first; lift up and trim the ends to length.  The only difficult part is threading it through the gap without sticking it to something.



I don't use it on my rudder since I built in balsa extensions during construction to fill 90% of the gap.  These were fabric covered along with the rudder.



Hope this helps.  BTW, I used the cheap Chinese tape which held up at least as good as 'name brand' stuff during outdoor weather testing for 6 months while I was building.

_________________
Kitfox 660+ Hrs, RV-8 70% done/ 90% to go!

kmamjones(at)comcast.net
Guest

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:43 am Post subject: Gap seals

Mr. Lanfear:  Am I missing something or did you misspeak?  Did you mean to 

say "top of the elevator and bottom of the horizontal stabilizer"?

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Harold Lanfear

Joined: 02 Dec 2006
Posts: 6
Location: West Grove, PA

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:25 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

Whoops!  That would be an interest trick, if you could get it there.  Thanks for bringing this out.  



Yes; of course, it should be Horz Stab to Elevator.  Whichever is top and bottom is your choice although I've put the leading edge of the tape on the bottom of the Horz Stab and the trailing edge on the top of the elevator.  If a piece doesn't seal well on the leading edge, you can add a short piece of tape to assist holding it firm and nobody will know   



I don't know of any reason this won't work on the rudder / Vert Stab gap as well.

  

Harold

_________________
Kitfox 660+ Hrs, RV-8 70% done/ 90% to go!

Bob

Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 89
Location: Damascus, Maryland, USA

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:34 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

I've also seen simple V-shaped self-adhesive door weatherstrip, purchased from the Aviation Department of any local Home Depot.  As with any gap seal, it makes it more important in pre-flight inspection to make sure twigs or other debris isn't resting in the gap.

Bob

_________________
Remember that internet advice may only be worth what you pay.

CrownLJ(at)verizon.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:59 am Post subject: Gap seals

[quote]"The builder had simply used 4" pinked tape on the gaps. How effective would that be? 

I've seen it used on other aircraft." I have this on my Avid, and it works great.  It is an AD on the Tiger Moth to use pinkedtape as gap seals on all control surfaces including the ailerons.  It's been on the Mothfor at least 30yrs that I know of with no problems. larry[b]

john beirne

Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Posts: 24
Location: Ireland

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:26 pm Post subject: Re: Gap seals

Interesting. Does the gap sealing make any difference to the handleing on a Kitfox

Michel

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 966
Location: Norway

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:33 pm Post subject: Gap seals

On Feb 15, 2007, at 10:26 PM, john beirne wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		    Does the gap sealing make any difference to the handleing on a Kitfox


	


With my  model 3, I never managed to do a proper 3-points landing 

before I fixed the elevator with some tape, John. So I guess, yes, it 

makes a difference. Now I have it also on the rudder, for crosswind 

landing.



Cheers,

Michel

_________________
Kitfox 3 - Jabiru 2200

john beirne

Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Posts: 24
Location: Ireland

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:55 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

I fitted the elevator gap seals as suggested previously but I didn’t get a chance to test fly the aircraft until this weekend due to weather and work commitments however I have flown five hours over the weekend and what a difference it makes to the flare and landing rollout –previously I had been bouncing down the runway in the fox but now I produce nice three pointers consistently I am used to larger aircraft  (PC6 / PA31) and have always thought the kitfox handling a bit washy Thanks for a great tip guys. 

John.

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kirkhull(at)kc.rr.com
Guest

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:45 pm Post subject: Gap seals

Can you post pics of the gap seal and any details on how you made them





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n85ae

Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 403

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:23 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

I never installed gap seals, and my nose heavy Series 5 with an IO-240 

has never been a problem to three point. Even when using 8.50's so the

only opinion I can offer is that for me at least I don't have any need for

them. 



I generally land flapless, but occasionally with 1 notch. I can pretty must

tailwheel first the landing with no trouble.



So if you're building a Kitfox, you really don't need to feel like they are

an absolute neccesity (they aren't).



Jeff

kr2(at)earthlink.net
Guest

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:12 pm Post subject: Gap seals

Hi Kirk,I made my own gap seals on my kitfox 4 and they work great,after

talking with the group I decided to do mine with 3" wide pinking tape and

repaint my fabric on the tail,just a little poly tac and some pinking

fabric and it makes a nice looking pro job.....heres a pic.....



 hopes it helps you out....MarkN61AC

[quote] [Original Message]

 From: kirk hull <kirkhull(at)kc.rr.com>

 To: <kitfox-list(at)matronics.com>

 Date: 3/25/2007 7:51:34 PM

 Subject: RE: Re: Gap seals



 



 Can you post pics of the gap seal and any details on how you made them





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n85ae

Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 403

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:58 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

I would imagine the best way to do gap seals would be the way ACA does

on the Citabria's, etc. Which would be to bond a small tube to the leading edge of the elevator and then fabric over it. If I did mine over again, and 

were I to do a gap seal that's how I think I would do it.



Basically you would take a small diameter tube, slightly smaller in diameter than the gap between the elevator and the stab. Then bond it 

to the tube on the elevator LE between the hinge points. Then fabric over

it. Sort of like this (end view of elevator) "o=====Oo" but with the

small tube centered between the hinges.



Jeff Hays

kitfoxmike

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 373

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:05 am Post subject: Re: Gap seals

great idea on the pinking tape, I was going to redu mine, I think that is what I'm going to do.

kirkhull(at)kc.rr.com
Guest

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:22 pm Post subject: Gap seals

Thanks  does it help much with low speed landings?  When I use full flaps

for landing I don't have enough control to keep the nose up at the 3 point

attitude.



--

kitfoxmike

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 373

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:29 pm Post subject: Re: Gap seals

I guess the question would be, do you need that much flaps.  I can land short with no flaps and roll out at most 300 ft.  Landing with no flaps is a lot of fun, no stress on the arm, pulling back. Generally when I land slow, lets say 55-60mph over the numbers and then at 5 ft off the runway I flair and add just a touch of throttle the tail will hit first.  So I have plenty of elevator.  When I do wheel landings I go about 5mph faster and let it set ever so nicely that I usually don't know I'm down, I glance at the wheels to see that their moving, then I drop the power and the tail comes down nice and easy.  When lifting off I get possitive control on the elevator and responds very nicely.  Sealing the gaps are well worth it.

kitfoxmike

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 373

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:36 pm Post subject: Re: Gap seals

Oh! another tip on landing.  When the runway gets turbulant, take and move the stick back and forward slightly, this really stabalizes things and helps bring the craft down to the ground without all the jumpy altitude loss, same with the rudder pedals, dance on them left and right. This will give you a real nice landing while other are all over the place trying to hit center line.

kirkhull(at)kc.rr.com
Guest

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject: Gap seals

I'm just getting use to not having the training wheel on the front.



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kitfoxmike

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 373

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: Gap seals

believe it or not, I'm building an rv7a, so I guess I'm going back.  I'm looking forward to having a nose wheel.  Then again, I won't give up my tail wheel, I love it.  I'll still fly the 7a the same way, and hang the nose in the air on landing until it has to come down.  Oh and less flaps in windy conditions.

dan(at)azshowersolutions.
Guest

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:07 pm Post subject: Gap seals

Go Mike...The 7-A has been my dream machine for several years. You will have the best of both worlds. I flew to Oshkosh last year in a buddy's 6-A that he finished in Feb of 06...What a time machine from Arizona. Did it in 8.5 hours. Still working on my KF IV though...work gets in the way too much :>) How far along are you on the RV?

  Dan, Mesa

  http://www.azshowersolutions.com/Kitfox1.html



kitfoxmike <customtrans(at)qwest.net> wrote:

  [quote]--> Kitfox-List message posted by: "kitfoxmike" 



believe it or not, I'm building an rv7a, so I guess I'm going back. I'm looking forward to having a nose wheel. Then again, I won't give up my tail wheel, I love it. I'll still fly the 7a the same way, and hang the nose in the air on landing [quote][b]

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