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
