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.

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

Very sound advice regarding the seats. It's one of the reasons we do not install a small toolbox there. You luggage bay can structurally carry 40kg so rather use that. (Staying within the CG limit off course). I will e-mail you a spreadsheet of the Explorer CG and you can then fiddle with that a bit. Installing a slightly heavier prop will also expand your CG envelope a bit more. (Obviously loosing a bit in MAUW)

http://www.nuplex.com/composites/products/browse-products/epoxyvinylesterresins/novolacbasedepoxyvinylesterresin/derakanemomentum470-300

http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/bushbaby-explorer-mk2.135145/ The above is the link to Steve's build project.

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

Hi Steve, you can use Derakane 470, it's what we use at the factory and has excellent properties. You can use Kevlar but we use glass (160gr and 300gr) in combination. When you use alli then turn some rings on the lathe around the surface that will be glassed in. This will help prevent leaks and will also make the fittings adhere properly.

The Explorer and Safari have no relation to the Kitfox. The older Bushbabies were related to the Kitfox 4. They only look alike from a distance. The only similarity is the wing profile. The flaperon sizes, spar thickness and the amount of ribs in the wing are different. We have a thicker main spar, use a alli doubler tube and have more ribs. We also have the fiberglass leading edge cuffs as standard. I measured a Kitfox 7 the other day just out of curiosity and the the Kitfox is 90mm longer than the Explorer and the Explorer is 10mm wider and higher in the roof. The Safari is 140mm wider in the cockpit and 300mm longer in the fuselage section. The total lenght of the Safari is about 450mm longer than the Kitfox 7 SS. The Safari is much larger than the Kitfox overall and can carry more load.

Hi Steve, Thanks for posting. I had a couple of guys contact me asking if you are going to document the build here. I am glad you did. looks like you are coming along nicely. Keep those pics coming.

I am not sure weather he will start a new thread or continue on this one but if he does start a new one I will ask him to post a link here.

I am not sure weather he will start a new thread or continue on this one but if he does start a new one I will ask him to post a link here.

If anybody is interested in speaking to a builder in Australia that is assembling an Explorer then please contact me at the factory or pm me. He is in Angle Vale and is open to receiving calls regarding the build. He will be posting his progress here soon.

If anybody is interested in speaking to a builder in Australia that is assembling an Explorer then please contact me at the factory or pm me. He is in Angle Vale and is open to receiving calls regarding the build. He will be posting his progress here soon.

In South Africa all aircraft certification is overseen by our CAA. The definition of a LSA is largely the same with the only difference is max level speed is 150kts and we can have retracts and VP or CS prop. We have Bushbabies and Explorer's in Auz and the wings can fold, same as the Kitfox and Eurofox

Hi David, Could you please ask the builder to drop me a mail. There is some upgrades he can do himself that will improve the handling of the plane. Especially with the UL upfront. regards Stefan

Looking out for those pictures... If you can please try and get a serial number so I can add the pics to their file.

That would be great. There are a couple of projects going in Oz.

This aircraft showcase item has been removed.

No Sorry, you are on your own there. We supply the firewall forward hardware with a kit but the rest is up to the homebuilder to decide what to do check out the Sa microlighters website there are 2 threads that you can read with tons of info http://www.microlighters.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8397 and http://www.microlighters.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=13393

Hi, The mods gave me a grilling so not sure if I am permitted to answer but here goes. Yes, the Explorer is limited to 600kg while the Safari can be either LSA (600kg) or VLA (700kg), the planes are identical. In South Africa it is the builder who decides in which catergory to register the aircraft. Hope this answers your question.

NASA was just an example, and a bad one at that, but I do agree with you. A lone amateur build the ark and a group of professionals build the titanic and look how that turned out:laugh:. My point is that a little bit of knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge, so the homebuilder must be careful to just"modify" this and that whithout keeping basic aeronautical principals in consideration.

To add to this, you can also deduct the lift created by the roof as well, if it's a high wing plane. Alpha is set at the manuevring speed, normally around 12-13degr when setting up the test rig. The weight is not distributed evenly when testing. Lift is normally eliptical as mentioned before and easily calculated by using schrenks method but the weight distribution differers when its a strut braced plane or a cantelever wing arrangement. With a strut braced plane the shear and moment normally peaks at the strut attachment and then tapers off to the tip and inboard to the cabin attachments. If the aircraft has a cabin then other factors such as compression of the roof and other trusses must also be factored in. This can easily be calculated using Eulers formula. Remember to use a design safety factor when doing the calcs. Add to this the ultimate load factor required for production of 1.5 normally and you should be well on your way. This will ensure that you have some"fat" build into your design. There is nothing worse than having a showpiece that breaks during testing. The wing and fuselage testing is but a small part designing a safe aircraft. The best course of action will be to do your design calculations by refering to a certification standard like FAR 23 or ASTM F2245-10 for LSA or CS-VLA or the Australian equivelant. Most of these documents also have the formula's required for your design file which should include a aerodynamic , structural and performance analysis. Enjoy your design and remember the old saying " If it looks right, it will fly right" Leave experimental designs to the experts like NASA, it's cheaper and safer....

Thanks. The vids were taken in the Mpumalanga lowveld, adjacent to the Kruger National Park. Some shots were of the nortehrn shores of Kwazulu Natal close to Kosi Bay.

TBO is 1500 hr's to be safe but can be extended to 2000. If you think about it, the average GA pilot fly's about 35-50 hr's per year. so even if you work on 100hr's you will still fly for 15 years.

The BMW works well if installed professionally and using tried and tested systems with it. The ignition system was developed from scratch by a SA engineer and homebuilder. This included the hardware and software for this engine. The gearbox was a take off gearbox that was slightly modified for better longivity. It is a good alternative and the price is about 50% of a Rotax, fully installed.