![Careful planning and determination will get you to your goal of building and flying your own airplane. [Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Pulsar-Sunset.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "Last Bits")
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AdobeStock_262642207_AGCuesta.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Winging It")
![Lowell Farrand spent years serving as an FAA DAR and is in the EAA Hall of Fame. He offers sound advise to builders. [Credit: Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-4.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Think Like a Builder")
![The 160 hp turbocharged Rotax 916iS is a four-stroke piston engine with redundant electronic fuel injection and ignition. [Credit: BPR Rotax]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PIC_916-iS_iSc-2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "2026 Engine Buyer’s Guide")
![The alternative to bending down as the propeller is pulled through the compression stroke is to keep the back straight and bend the knees slightly, stepping away in a crouch. [Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_1519-scaled.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Manual Starting Methods")
Cable Classroom
Most homebuilt aircraft use control cables, so it's helpful to understand how to select, install and maintain them.
Down to Earth
Many homebuilders understand their kits as just a starting point for their own preferred modifications.
Anatomy of a Modification
Paul Dye takes readers through a rework of his RV-3's fuel system to illustrate why some mods are a sound choice.
Ask the DAR
Can a former Part 103 aircraft be registered as an LSA? And how is an appropriate Phase I flight-test area determined?
Aero ‘lectrics
This month, Jim Weir describes how to create an LED strip with any three colors and offers a brief lesson on human optics too.
Wind Tunnel
Certain situations and configurations just call out for a ducted-fan installation. Barnaby Wainfan explains the benefits and drawbacks.
RANS S-7S Courier
Marc Cook pilots the new RANS S-7S and finds many improvements, from increased fuel and storage capacity to a simplified aileron-control system that makes handling better than ever.
Editor’s Log
Editor Mary Bernard addresses readers’ concerns about legibility in the magazine and offers a correction about pricing of the Safari kit helicopter.
In Case You Missed It
Bullish on Weight
For Red Bull racing professionals, reducing the engine weight in their aircraft is serious business. We can learn from their experience.
All About Avionics: Cutting The Metal
Heres something to ponder: By the time you get to the point where you are ready to build the panel in your homebuilt aircraft, you've already mastered many of the skills and techniques you'll need to do it by virtue of completing the airframe. That statement is all the more credible when it comes from someone with a vested interest in the subject, our own avionics expert Stein Bruch.
All About Avionics
Much of our focus in this series has been on the latest and greatest electronic gadgetry. But traditional instrument packages, the so-called six-pack, have their benefits. Avionics wizard Stein Bruch extols their virtues and explains their vices in this months installment.