![[Credit: Wikimedia Commons]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/F-117_Nighthawk_Front.jpg?w=534&h=462&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")
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AdobeStock_125628775.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Roll Recovery, Part 2")
![Ten hours of dual instruction in a tailwheel-equipped aircraft is usually required for proficiency. [Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AdobeStock_354747155.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Learning How to Drag Your Tail")
A Sign of the Zodiac (Part 7)
It’s about the journey, not the destination, as Rick Lindstrom’s homebuilt Zodiac 601 XL is ferried by friends from Florida to its new home in Cloverdale, California.
Build Your Skills: Composites (Part 8)
Last months installment in the Composites series detailed how to do vacuum-bagging of parts at home. This month author Bob Fritz discusses how to inexpensively build one critical component in that process: the vacuum pump.
The Home Machinist, Part 9
If parts that don't quite fit are grinding you down, author Bob Fritz has a solution: Use a lathe to create a smooth finish on a precisely proportioned piece. While hes at it, hell demonstrate two ways to use the machines calipers to measure necessary offsets.
Aero ‘lectrics
Columnist Jim Weir offers his annual awards for the best products or services seen at Oshkosh/AirVenture 2007.
Barefoot Flying
A relative newcomer to the U.S. kit aircraft clan, the Sport Air Corsario import from Rio de Janeiro borrows characteristics from other amphibians while displaying a personality and pleasurable flying qualities uniquely its own; by Dave Higdon.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook weighs the relative merits of perfectionism in building and maintaining homebuilts versus using the aircraft for its intended purpose: flying.
Unusual Attitude: GPS and Reality
While he admires and uses them, author Norm Ellis laments the lack of user-friendliness in todays GPS units. Editor Marc Cook counters that argument and extols the virtues of GPSes, complications or no, and their value in the cockpit.
Letters
Com Radio FeedbackDear Stein Bruch: Just read your article in the August 2007 KITPLANES . Nice work! A couple of quick comments: The Garmin...
In Case You Missed It
Firewall Forward: Electrical Systems, Part 1
Don’t be intimidated by the prospect of wiring—plenty of homebuilders didn’t know how to do it when they started their projects. Get yourself the right tools, then jump in and start learning. Dave Prizio outlines the basics.
The Usual Suspect, Part 2: Missing Power
The dark interior of a hangar comes into focus as an announcer says, “Building...
