![[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")
Kitfox with a Rotec
The Rotec-radial-powered Kitfox Super Sport taps into our nostalgia for radial engines but with a modern touch.
Thatcher CX4
If you’re a builder on a budget and don’t aim to do long cross-country trips, the Thatcher CX4 may be worth a look. By Ed Wischmeyer.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook comments on how recent software enhancements improve the performance of the Grand Rapids Technologies Horizon HX EFIS.
What’s New
ShareZen eases shared plane ownership, and marking wires is made easier by Bogerts tool. Edited by Mary Bernard.
Buzzwords
Pilots compensate all the time for aerodynamic effects such as ground effect, often without being conscious of it. By Ed Kolano.
Safety Is No Accident: Auto-Engine Conversions
Ron Wanttaja crunches the numbers to determine whether homebuilts powered by auto-engine conversions are inherently less safe than their traditional engine brethren.
The Dawn Patrol
Threatening weather at the annual Gathering of Eagles event in Gardner, Kansas, failed to subdue the antics of The Dawn Patrol, for better or worse.
Makes You Go Hmmm
Rotary-engine enthusiast Paul Lamar details the benefits and efficiencies of using rotary power for homebuilt aircraft.
Into the Coal Sack
Paul Dye discusses the ins and outs of landing at night on a narrow, obscured by trees private runway.
Letters
Dont Look!Dick Starks Dawn Patrol article, Were going to have to count that as two landings, in the December issue is an illustration of...
In Case You Missed It
The Home Machinist
Home Machinist Bob Fritz had been looking for a way to compare the effectiveness of various screw extractors he had accumulated in his toolbox, and he found a willing test subject in a Cessna 170s 60-year-old gas tank.
Confessions of a Blockhead
Gauge blocks are the foundation for pretty much everything. At least everything that has...
Build a Bear: Mellow Yellow
Dave Prizio and team build a paint booth (too small), test drive charcoal masks and bunny suits, and discover the joys of covering your homebuilt plane with $400 per gallon paint.