For ease of building, make the bottom to side a 90 degree angle. Or do not taper top to bottom, Virg
On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 20:43:48 -0500 "Mark Langford" <n5...@hiwaay.net> writes: > NetHeads, > > I've flown in probably 10 or 12 different KRs over the years, and > would like > to point out a few things to those of you who are building, in hopes > that > it's not too late to keep you from making the same mistakes that > many > builders make. > > 1) Widen the fuselage at the cockpit, period! The simple truth is > that > anybody who carries a passenger in a KR2 or KR2S (they are both the > SAME > width if built per plans) will want to surgically remove the > passenger's > left arm at the shoulder to avoid discomfort. I'm pretty skinny, > and I > always have to put my arm around the pilot's neck to fly a KR. > Don't let > this happen to you. Widen it at least 3" at the shoulders, or kick > yourself > later when you come to the realization that your passengers will be > miserable. It's easy to do (unless you plan on using the full RR > premolds) > and won't cost you much speed. > > 2) Make the canopy tall enough for passengers. You say you're short > and you > can see just fine? Your next passenger may need a lobotomy to fit > inside. > My canopy is 17" above the longerons (which is per plans, best I > could > tell), and my seat is 1" off the floor, and I only have an inch > above my > headset. It was worse than that, but I just spent the day hacking > up my > seat to lower it two inches! I thought I'd be OK until I bought the > new > Lightspeed headset that has an extra inch of padding on top. Your > choice of > canopy has an effect too. The Dragonfly is flatter across the top, > giving > ample headroom for both pilot and passenger, and allows more lateral > space > so you can look down over the side of the fuselage. But whatever > canopy you > use, it can probably be reshaped to some extent at the aft end to > take on > more of a squarish shape that'll be comfortable to fly in. I once > flew in a > KR2S that I had to bend my head over toward the center of the > cockpit, and > didn't even have enough room for my arms to move far enough to bring > my > camera up to my eye. > > 3) Don't make the instrument panel hang down more than an inch or > two below > the top of the longerons. Mine hangs down 1.5" below the top of > the > longeron, and I have plenty of legroom, but my legs are skinny. > Some of > these guys look like they're slipping their legs through slots. I > got in > one KR2S where my knees were jammed into the bottom of the panel, > right at > the knee cap. I'm still recovering. If you're using the AS5048 > airfoil (the > tall one), don't forget that your main spar just grew about 2" > taller, and > you're going to need even more room under your panel. Most of the > panels I > see have plenty of room to spare between instruments, and could have > easily > been "tightened up" vertically. If you've got two rows of 3.12" > instruments, you've got enough. > > While I am 6 feet tall, I only weigh 142 pounds (that's why I get > all the KR > rides), so I'm not exactly a giant. Having said all of this, my > wife would > probably point out that I'm one of the few people on the planet who > could > manage to complain about having flown in so many different KRs. But > I like > to think of it as the voice of experience, trying to persuade you > guys not > to make the same mistakes others have made... > > Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama > N56ML "at" hiwaay.net > see KR2S project at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford > > > > _______________________________________ > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > > Virgil N. Salisbury - AMSOIL www.lubedealer.com/salisbury Miami ,Fl
