![[Credit: ChatGPT]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/What-did-you-miss-Topaz-Gigapixel-4x-scale.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "Last Bits"){kind=tracking}
![The best builders learn to combine both mindsets. They build like engineers but think like future mechanics. [Credit: Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_0037.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Building vs. Fixing")
![[Credit: Wikimedia Commons]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/F-117_Nighthawk_Front.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Odd and Unusual Aircraft")
![After nearly 75 years, the basic Tailwind design remains sound. [Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4636.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "The Wittman Tailwind")
![Trimming composites gets the full PPE job. [Credit: Eric Stewart]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/7-2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "A Few of My Favorite Tools")
Alternative Energies
One plane, one pilot, 5 tons of garbage: How Jeremy Rowsell plans to crisscross the globe in a Cessna 172 powered by fuel made from recycled plastic. By Dean Sigler.
Down to Earth
Flight instruction has its challenges, but it has many rewards as well. Amy Laboda reflects on her recent successful launch of a brand new pilot.
Letters
Metal on MetalThis question is in regard to your September 2012 issue article "Installing the Firewall." I am building a Glasair. There are penetrations...
Meet the Fokker, U.K. Style
In 1915, Allied pilots called the Eindecker the Scourge. In 2007, three friends in England bought and built Eindecker replica kits, and improved upon the original design. By Geoff Jones.
Sikorsky S-38 Project
Building a 55%-scale, amphibious twin-engine flying boat seems like an ambitious project, and it is. But this former WW-II B-25 commander with four homebuilt aircraft already under his belt tackled it anyway. By Rick Lindstrom.
Firewall Forward: Cowls, Baffles and Intake Air
How to keep your engine’s carburetor or fuel-injection system breathing right.
Dyno Testing
Dyno testing your engine before installation can be an investment in peace of mind as well as the future value of your aircraft.
Build It Better: Building a Team
Sometimes working alone in your hangar is exactly what you want. But other times a helping hand is called for, and then it helps to know you’re part of a worldwide homebuilding community.
Ask the DAR
When can an ELSA be used commercially? Can an E/AB aircraft be certificated without a transponder?
In Case You Missed It
Got Threads?
What to do when you've stripped a spark plug hole or other threaded receptacle in your homebuilt (once the cursing has stopped)? We have ways...
Dual Time
Its a stool! Its a set of chocks! Its both. Chuck Deiterich shows you how to craft one with PVC pipe, plywood and some hardware.