Bushbaby Explorer Mk2

[Steve L]

Hi , my Explorer kit is near ready to be shipped here from Kitplanes For Africa. I opted for the quick build wings, hopefully reducing my build time as I'll be on a mission to have it flying by summer. Bit optimistic I know but gotta try, round Australia trip here I come. Anyway have been looking at You Tube vids on building rag and tube and it looks fairly easy but time consuming.

 

After months of looking at Kitplanes and other manufactures I settled for the Explorer because Africa's outback and its flying conditions are more like Australia's than any other country. Folding wings is a must have along with STOL as I want to be able to land almost anywhere and pack it in a trailer on occasions. Their web site is professional and have been excellent to deal with.

 

I would like to hear from other Bushbaby owners with building tips and its flying characteristics, although I'm sure it will fly well.

 

will keep you posted

 

Steve

 

 

[Steve L]

The kit has arrived, all unpacked and assembly has started. Cant believe how many parts there are, I'm sure KFA have sent me too much stuff. Looking at the parts inventory every

 

part, nut ,bolt and washer is part number tagged which corresponds to the assembly manual drawings very professional. I'm impressed even I cant get things mixed up. They have

 

done a excellent job.

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve L]

Been awhile since posting, near 3 weeks in the NT and now I'm off to QLD for a stint working, gotta pay the bills I guess. With all that time away I have still completed my 17th day on the Explorer. Working an average 5-6 hours per day it's coming along nicely. Today I removed the wings after dry fitting them, set one on a trestle and started sanding and epoxying the cap strips. Contemplating extra fuel tanks so now is the time to study and work out if more fuel is worth it. I'll also loose time sourcing resins and making temporary moulds but thems the breaks. Does anyone know composites available here in OZ that are suitable for mogas particularly ethanol? maybe I should start another thread on the resins.

 

Steve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitplanes]

Wow Steve, looking good man. Keep it up. You will be flying in no time.

 

 

[Steve L]

Nearly 6 weeks away working is doing nothing for my build. Just as well I didn't bet a carton on having it finished by Christmas. Anyway today is day 18 on the Explorer.

 

more pictures to come.

 

 

[Kitplanes]

Hi Steve, keep at it. Your baby will soon look like this one

 

 

 

[Steve L]

Looks good Stefan. I'm dry fitting the engine atm, more pictures to come.

 

 

[Steve L]

I'm back !!!! Hopefully for a couple of weeks this time. Day 20 and the tank extensions are nearly complete,

 

Dry fitted the Rotax today, sat in the Explorer and made plane noises for awhile. The nose is heaps high I'll

 

have to carry a milk crate to stand on to check the oil. ( and I'm six ft tall haha )

 

C

 

 

 

[Kamloops]

Nice build.

 

Keep up the great work.

 

 

[Guy s]

Thanks for the update and looking good Steve. No worries with prop clearance in the paddocks eh.

 

 

[mAgNeToDrOp]

Nice work, what size/type tyres are those?

 

 

[Steve L]

Not big enough haha! They r Carslisle turf guide 8.00 - 6 . . . 18" tall with 4 psi in them

 

 

[Guest steve woods]

Hi Steve

 

Looks good

 

 

[Yenn]

What are you going to cover it with?

 

I used Stitts Polyfiber for my Corby. Very good but I have had a couple of repairs to do that entailed removing and replacing fabric. The cost of Stitts finishing paints is horrendous for small quantities. I am looking at Oratex for a small area under the rudder, but havn't ordered any yet. It seems to be good accorcing to Kitplanes.

 

 

[Steve L]

Doesn't sound like you need much and small quantities of anything out of the norm costs an arm and a leg. The fabric was supplied in the kit, as well as near everything else needed to assemble. Not Sure what it is but I'll have a look tomorrow when I'm back at the plane. Nitrate and butyrate seem to ring a bell ( that's what's on the cans ) but as I have never covered an aircraft before I could be wrong. I'll ask Stefan.

 

 

[Kitplanes]

Hi there Steve, your build looks great... The covering is from us at Kitplanes for Africa. We developed the nitrate butyrate system about 18 years ago and have been using it ever since on our own products and the last couple of years some other repair orgs and homebuilders have bought from us. The system is made to mil spec but we have never officially certified the system as they are approved for use with our aircraft. You can either finish your aircraft with coloured butyrate or you can paint with Automotive paint. We use paint at the factory to get that nice shiny finish and it will last 15 -20 years like that or you can use the coloured butyrate and then it will last much longer, The fabric weight we use is 77gram/m2 or approx 2,25oz/yd2 and is polyester fabric. The thing to understand about painting your aircraft is that the paint will get brittle over time and start to crack, the fabric will still be in perfect condition underneath. if you polished atleast 2 -3 time per year, then the paint will last. If you look after the aircraft the paint will last nearly as long as the fabric will. As standard we add a flex additive to our paint and it helps but you still need to polish regularly and keep it hangared when not required to be in the sun.

 

And for the guys saying that you cannot repair a painted aircraft, well that is bull. Our fabric bond can be used on top of the paint and will not come loose. Our system is much cheaper than most. An aircraft the size of the Explorer will use abour 33-35m of fabric.10-15 litre of Nitrate, 15-20 litre of butyrate, 3 litre of fabric bond and about 100gram of UV paste that gets mixed with 5 litre of butyrate. We developed the system to work with commonly available lacquer thinners and you mix 50/50 except for the fabric bond where its about 20-30%. For a whole aircraft the covering costs (Excluding paint) ex factory will be just about 1000USD.

 

 

[Steve L]

thanks Stefan that explains it very well. guess I'll have to go the automotive paint because I'm painting two colors, plus i like shiny things haha!

 

 

[planedriver]

Glad my sister can't read this post.

 

I used to pinch some of her expensive petticoats to cover some of my larger models.

 

Fortunately she never recognized them once they were fitted to the airframes and hit with a few coats of dope.

 

 

[Kitplanes]

Show us a pic of those tank extensions you are making..And what colour scheme are you thinking off?

 

 

[Steve L]

I'll take some tank pics tomorrow, colour red over white similar to ZU FDP. love the radial

 

 

[Steve L]

[Kitplanes]

How about this one

 

 

 

[Steve L]

Has been awhile since posting. Tank extension pics below, still need to fit top covers and slosh them. Have dry fitted the wings for the last time to check the final pitot and fuel line routing and making sure the tank extensions work. Presently setting up the flapperon linkage, then wings are ready for covering.

 

 

 

 

[Steve L]

Here's some more pictures. The baggage area is huge, was thinking how the hell am I going to fill that till my wife came by today with some lunch, " that will hold about 40 pairs of shoes " she said . . . Bring on the brownie points haha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitplanes]

Very nice work there Steve. Keep it up.