![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")
KITPLANES Virtual Round Table: Shops and Shop Spaces
Whether you build in a big box or a one-car garage, you can benefit from shop organization and tool selection.
Mounting On a Curve
A long time ago, when homebuilders began installing Garmin 430s—the most popular IFR GPS/nav/com of the day—we were mostly left on our own to...
Nutsert Notes
Let me say right up front that I hate nutserts. Also called rivet nuts, threaded inserts or rivnuts. (I’m sure there’s a formal product...
Lightweight Stepladder
I affectionately refer to my Jabiru light-sport as being a “low high-wing” airplane. This is because, despite it being a high-wing configuration, you have...
Support Your Wings
Having constructed several high-wing aircraft kits, I can attest to the anxiety that comes from the exercise of mounting wings to the fuselage. This...
VHF Com–the Good, the Bad, the Ugly
With a panel full of glass and diodes turned into all the colors of the rainbow, the poor old VHF com sitting over in...
Torque Wrench Basics
Torque is a twisting or rotational force about an axis such as the length of a bolt. It is measured in foot-pounds, inch-pounds or...
Jam Nut Triple Threat
Jam nuts serve a purpose and that is to prevent actuating arms from becoming disconnected. I found three examples on the same airplane. Two...
Prepare for a Charge
The battery you install in your homebuilt kit will have nearly the same kind of life as the one in your automobile. It will...
The Other P Factor
Late last year I flew from Southern California to Tucson and back in my Jabiru Light Sport. The flight was about 3½ hours each...
In Case You Missed It
Ask the DAR
Recertifying a Homebuilt after major changes. Changing the gross weight when putting a Rans S6S on floats.
A Tale of Two Kits
What a difference a few years make. Paul Dye discusses the evolution of kits, using the two he built (Van’s RV-8 and RV-3) as examples.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook reflects on the past years celebration of KITPLANES first quarter century, and finds that predictions for the next 25 years don't come easily.