Several of us talked about doing a forum on "KR hints and other stuff" at the Gathering, but somehow we never got around to doing it. So I'll throw this out and encourage others to share a tidbit or two of knowledge they've arrived at during their building and/or flying KRs.
One really dumb thing I did was locate my transponder antenna on the bottom of my plane. I'm not sure what I was thinking there, as it just hangs out in the breeze collecting oil and exhaust, and it could be just as easily mounted INSIDE the fuselage and work just fine. It is possible for oil on the antenna to change the characteristics such that the antenna is not as well matched to the transponder (SWR), degrading performance and potentially damaging the transponder. At least that's what a local EE and avionics whiz told me after my first transponder mysteriously croaked. Inside the fuselage makes a lot more sense, and that's where I put it this afternoon. It took about 15 minutes to move it. One more tidbit that may save your airplane from total destruction is this...while at Corvair Wings and Wheels a few years ago I noticed my seat had a 6" "cut" in it. Closer examination showed the thing was burned. I deduced that the sun had done it by way of the canopy, but couldn't reproduce it. Last year I noticed a charred place on the glare shield...still couldn't figure out the exact mechanism. Last weekend at my father's farm I landed and flipped open the canopy, then started smelling smoke about a minute later. I noticed a super bright patch of sunlight on the glare shield, and the paint was smoking! It turns out the canopy isn't acting like a magnifying glass, but as a parabolic reflector instead. If the canopy is open on a dry clear day, and the sun is low enough to be shining in the back side of the canopy, it can be focused into a spot about the size of a dime and set something on fire! So be forewarned...don't leave your forward tilting canopy open with the inside facing the sun. See http://www.n56ml.com/misc/100912275sm.jpg for a photo of previous charring damage and the "sun spot". The charred spot could easily have become a burning KR, but apparently I closed the canopy before it spontaneously combusted. This all points out why using aviation-certified construction materials would be a stellar idea... Mark Langford N56ML "at" hiwaay.net website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
