KITPLANES

Welcome to Kitplanes Magazine! Here, we aim to give you an inside look at what it takes to create a magazine specifically designed for aircraft builders. You’ll find updates and images that may not have made it into our standard editions. Or perhaps something different entirely!

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Hangar Space, New Murphy Project

1 week ago | kitplanes.com | Thomas Wilson

Lately my personal windsock has been swinging around the compass, so this month I’ll touch on a few of the latest doings. The largest of which seems to be my hangar mate taking on a Murphy Moose build. Hangar SpaceOur hangar, already a warren of biplane struts and wires with cars stuffed in between (talismans from my former life), has taken on something of a submarine claustrophobia as the Moose-making ramps up. That’s OK, we’re all about squeezing the most out of our rented shelter.
Replacing Studs When Switching to P-Mags

1 week ago | kitplanes.com | Paul Dye

Are you changing your ignition system from regular mags (with impulse couplers) to P-Mags? You’ll probably find that the studs installed on your engine are WAY too long—you’ll be removing the impulse coupler spacer, and that’s about an inch thick. Fortunately, E-MAG Ignitions, (maker of P-Mags) has the right (shorter) studs available. They simply need to replace the longer ones. Removing studs that have been in the engine for a long time can be challenging.
Dynon Acquires Trig Avionics, Expands Product Portfolio

2 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Omar Filipovic

Dynon Avionics has announced the acquisition of UK-based Trig Avionics, known for its transponders and compact radio systems. The deal brings Trig into the Dynon Group, formalizing a relationship that has included years of collaboration on integrated products. Trig has supplied Dynon with private-labeled transceivers and transponders used in SkyView and Advanced Flight Systems panels.
Risen — The Master of Efficiency - KITPLANES

2 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

Airplane design embodies a wide range of variables even before you consider how it is you’re going to build, sell, service and otherwise support the love child of your aeronautical genius. High on the list: You have to decide what it’s going to do, what is the main mission? To be a delightful handling device for pure aerial fun? To haul the whole family on trips?
CubCrafters NXCub in Nevada

2 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Omar Filipovic

You’d think the man who has a bunch of fast airplanes in his hangar—including a jet—would not get terribly excited about a Cub, and one with a nosewheel. But you’d be wrong. Paul Dye is taking the CubCrafters NXCub through its paces for an extended flight review at his home in Nevada, where Brad Damm of CubCrafters dropped it off this week.
Building for IFR: Do You Really Need It?

3 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Paul Dye

I have been an instrument-rated pilot for close to 45 years now. I have flown lots of single-engine, single-pilot instrument hours and much of it was with steam gauges. I grew up reading Richard Collins in FLYING magazine, so I appreciated all the subtle ways in which an IFR flight could end in tragedy and always remembered the lessons of others so that I wouldn’t come to grief. At least not in the same way.
AI Amuses, But It Can’t Replace Aviation Experts

3 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

Artificial intelligence (AI) has succeeded in one thing if nothing else: dominating the tech headlines. If what you want is a regurgitation of factual-sounding information not so much strained through critical review as aggregated from every source (accurate as well as questionable), then AI may suffice for basic information gathering. But it’s also amazingly dumb in that it can’t seem to differentiate the published works of an actual expert from late-night internet flatulence of a prolific crank.
Tools and Shop Organization: When It's Time to Start

3 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Vic Syracuse

One of the key skills needed in building an aircraft is organization. With the long lead times from some of the various kit providers, organization is something you can get started on prior to the kit arrival. Inventorying everything is certainly one of the first things you will do when the kit or kits arrive. But even more important is to decide on how and where you are going to store them.
Putting Off the Tailwheel Spring Repair

1 month ago | kitplanes.com | Thomas Wilson

Unlikely as it seems, I may be one of those giving procrastination a bad name. Certainly it’s one of my core competencies; ask anyone at the magazine involved in the production of this column. In moments of introspection this can lead to guilt, and guilt leads to defeat, and when working on airplanes—especially building a kit airplane—score enough defeats and the plane never flies. Or the airplane might fly but short of what it could be.
The Canopy Takes Shape—Spring Boost for the F1 Rocket Project - KITPLANES

1 month ago | kitplanes.com | Paul Dye

While some of the KITPLANES editorial staff was busy in Florida last week at Sun ’n Fun, I stayed home—because we had some days warm enough to do canopy work! The result: The F1 Rocket project looks much more “airplane-ish,” and I’m quickly reaching the point where it might make sense to put it on its gear and think about mounting the engine. If we get to that point, it opens up a vast array of work that can be done—firewall-forward connections, baffle work, and installing the cowling.