At 05:41 PM 5/8/05 +0200, you wrote: >I will have to make one or several inspection hatches on my tail section, >for the following reasons: ______________________________________________________________
I included three inspection plates in my tail section. One large cutout just under the horizontal stab, approx 6"X 4" or 5"X 7", one just above the horizontal stab in line with the elevator horn, and one on the turtledeck, approx 8"X 10" in line with the pulley for the elevator cable. I can get to the tailwheel spring and the bottom of the elevator horn through the bottom hole, the top of the elevator horn through the upper hole, and the pulley and tail section through the turtledeck hole. If you are careful, as in using a Dremel with cutoff wheel and a hacksaw blade as a guide to do the cutouts, you can use the cutout piec as your cover. Just epoxy in a stop ridge just inside the cutout and use screws, flat nutplates, or blindnuts to re-install the covers. I used some of each. Make your holes large enough to allow for closing them down with the stop ridges. In the fuselage cutout for example, I glued some 3/32" ply strips to re-mount the cover with tiny wood screws. If you epoxy in some blindnuts, run a screw in and out of each one to make sure they are secure before installing the cover plate. If one breaks loose when installing the cover there is hardly any way to get it off without doing some damage. I lucked out when I had only one break loose so I was able to remove the rest, spin the plate a bit and remove the faulty component. Do a good job on the cutouts, paint the screw heads, and the cutout is hardly noticable. When determining the size of the cutout ask yourself if it is just for inspection or will you need to get both hands in to do repair. Sometimes two holes in the right place with one hand in each is better then one large ,but not quite large enough, hole that with both hands inserted you can't see what you're doing. In other words, think beyond just cutting out the hole. I got my bird back in the air today, cowl patch and all. It didn't seem to slow it down any. :-) Speaking of slowing it down, I did about 30 minutes of loose formation with a friend in his Ercoupe today. I was pulling a blazing 1800 rpm and wollowing all over the place in all the thermals to stay with him. I may try to find some good thermals this summer, cut the power to idle and see if the KR can be flown as a powered glider. Taking Mark's line one step further, so much fun to be had, so little time! Have a good week........ Larry Flesner
