![[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")
LED to a Landing
We have come a long way with light emitting diodes. They went from $200 a bulb in 1968 to 5 cents a bulb in...
Deformed Gascolator O-Ring
Some gascolators have internal O-rings that should be checked for deformation regularly. This was caught on an inspection, but the gascolator had blue telltale...
Firewall Forward: Ignition System Basics
This episode in our Firewall Forward series looks at magneto ignition systems and ignition timing. What it all means, and how to do it...
Shelving Progress
By introduction to his Civilisation television series, Sir Kenneth Clark made a case for the most trustworthy window on a society being its art,...
Archive: May 1988
An impressively tight shot of the Prescott Pusher homebuilt made sure our May 1988 cover was dramatic. There, we promised a flight of the...
Design Process: All-Moving Tails
A conventional horizontal tail has a fixed horizontal stabilizer with an elevator hinged to it to provide pitch control. The “fixed” portion of the...
No Limits!
Marco Cherubini is a paraplegic, but that didn’t stop him from building an RV-7 and fulfilling his dreams of flight.
Extra Fuel–What Price Range?
What from our evolutionary past predisposed us to the need for more? Always more. What scarcity did our species experience that threatened our survival...
In Case You Missed It
Firewall Forward: Lycoming Engine Service School
Dave Prizio attends the Lycoming Engine Service School in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and comes away from the experience with many lessons.
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.
