![At Sun ‘n Fun 2026, Viking Aircraft Engines surprised the crowd with its first complete kit — the V-42, a high-wing twin powered by two Honda-based engines. Here’s an early look. [Credit: Andrew Robinson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/P1020293.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "Viking V-42 Twin")
![A STOL CH 750 [Credit: Mike Davenport]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/STOL-CH-750.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Why Are So Many Airplanes Yellow?")
![A Zenith STOL CH701 on Zenair amphibious floats rests on a sandbar on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. [Credit: Zenith Aircraft]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/zenair-floats-STOL_CH_701a-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Zenith STOL CH 701 at 40: The Iconic ‘Sky Jeep’ Design Audit"){kind=tracking}
![[Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/IMG_2791.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "The Safety Triangle: Balancing Skill, Knowledge, and Judgment in Flying")
![A SubSonex personal jet in aerobatic flight. Thea design will expand with a two-place model kit in the months ahead. [Credit: Sonex Aircraft]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SubSonex_Acro.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Sonex Reopens")
Letters
On a Lighter Note...Hopefully you can help me out with a solution to my problem. I have an electronic sign that used to mount...
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.
