Hankering for an Anchoring
Most airports provide provisions to tie down transient aircraft. I’ve seen everything from loops of rebar sticking out of asphalt to cables and ropes...
Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape With These Pliers
As a builder of a metal aircraft kit, you no doubt have heard the term “fluting” and fluting pliers. Let’s examine fluting pliers and...
Murphy and the Flight That Almost Wasn’t
Most of us fly airplanes for fun. I would even venture to say that all KITPLANES® readers understand the fun side of aviation, especially...
Dating Your Docs & Paint Touch-Up
I’ve been reading recently through a collection of builder log segments with various descriptions of how the builders notated on their paper plans that...
Broken Tailwheel Chain Link
Tailwheels and their associated linkage should be carefully preflighted. Here’s a partially broken tailwheel chain link that has the potential to cause a complete...
A Pea Sea Bored?
Text and phonetically, yes. But if you will sit down, fasten your seat belt tight and just hold on, I will show you how...
Fly Cutting a Cove With a Boring Head
Fly cutting is a great way to put a “finish” on a flat and true face. The sweeping tool marks are not only instantly...
Homemade Open-End Wrench
Anyone who knows me is familiar with my love of homemade tools. It comes from my dad. He was a blacksmith in my youth,...
Those Rivet Holes
In a prior Plane and Simple article (“Debunking Deburring,” March 2023), we discussed the importance of removing the burrs created by drilling holes in...