![Trimming composites gets the full PPE job. [Credit: Eric Stewart]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/7-2.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "A Few of My Favorite Tools")
![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")
![Author Bill Wilson takes a break from measuring and cutting the Lexan windshield during his Onex build. [All Images Credit to Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/image-2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Think Like A Builder")
How the Bead Goes On
Welded assemblies (also known as weldments) can be found on just about every airplane. Even my Jabiru, which is 99% fiberglass, has a tubular-steel...
Metal Magic: Cutting Round Instrument Holes
KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye continues the Metal Magic series with a tutorial on how to cut round holes in aluminum, mainly for...
Worn Out Manifold Hose
Almost all rubber hoses have a shelf life. Most are around eight years. The symptoms were fluctuating manifold pressure readings, and the hose completely...
Metal Magic: Making Square Instrument Holes In Aluminum
You've built most of your airplane, now it's time for cutting the instrument panel blank. KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye shows you how...
What’s the Deal With AN Hardware?
As a new kit builder, you may have wondered about that gold-colored AN hardware that must be used. What’s so special about this grade...
Solving a Calibration Conundrum
Of all things, I never dreamed that out of the 40+ screwdrivers and dozens of driver bits that I own, one day I’d need...
Potpourri
Potpourri (pronounced “poh’purree”), taken literally from the French origin, is translated “rotten pot.” In English, though, it means a collection of small things; in...
Metal Magic: Learning To Love the Step Drill
KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye explains the best times to use the so-called step drill (also called a UniBit) for drilling larger holes...
Disintegrated Drive Coupling
Ever wonder why the standby alternator or vacuum pump isn’t working? There is a drive coupling that is designed to break if something becomes...
Metal Magic: Laying Out Lines of Rivets
In this episode Paul Dye explains how to lay out lines of rivets on a workpiece—a simple task you'll be doing many times throughout...
In Case You Missed It
Wind Tunnel
This month we use the accumulated flight-test data to determine what exactly is causing the unacceptable flying qualities of the airplane so that the best way to fix the problem can be identified;
Repeat Offender
This time I want an airplane strictly built for the joy of flying. I want something simple and relatively cheap for that magical first and last half-hour of daylight, to be low and slow with no place in particular to go and sporting a massive grin.
Design Process: Landing Gear, Part 2
As we started to discuss last month, the landing gear is a major component...