I wrote: >>"I wonder how many KRs have their elevators "biased" by the aileron cables, and are trimmed out to compensate? I'll bet this is a major reason why some KRs are fast, and others are "not so fast"... <<
What I meant is that the way the stock KR stick setup is constructed, the tension on the aileron cable pulls the bottom of the stick in line with the axis of the cable. Now if the elevator isn't in line with the horizontal stabilizer when the aileron cable is taut, it's "biased" one way or the other, and some force will be exerted on the elevator cable by the aileron cable, as odd as that seems. That's fine if your elevator needed to be biased to be trimmed properly, but chances are slim that the bias will be in the correct direction or amount, especially given the highly "mobile" CG of the KR with header tank and no wing tanks, not to mention passenger. Now you're flying "out of trim", and your trim tab will be called upon to correct. Now you've got unnecessary drag, lower top speed, lower fuel consumption, lower range, etc. Oddly enough, if you were the optimistic type, you would wonder if this "self centering" tension on the elevator wouldn't help tighten up the light elevator stick forces. If you played your cards right, you might could use it to your advantage, IF the elevator ended up trimmed perfectly for whatever passes for your normal cruise condition. Once again, it all boils down to whether or not you're paying attention to the details, or just slapping a plane together so you can get flying. That's why I'm still working on mine. I revel in the details... Mark Langford, Huntsville, AL N56ML "at" hiwaay.net see KR2S project at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford
