conchohoncho

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[>:]I'm trying to pua a KMP Beaver together. I have met with too many problems to say this is fun. My latest problem is which way and how do the windows glue into the fuselage. From the inside or the outside? The only one that I can fit is the round pair. The others don't come close to fitting in their respective places. Any help would be great.
Richard

conchohoncho

My Feedback: (120)

[>:]I'm trying to pua a KMP Beaver together. I have met with too many problems to say this is fun. My latest problem is which way and how do the windows glue into the fuselage. From the inside or the outside? The only one that I can fit is the round pair. The others don't come close to fitting in their respective places. Any help would be great.
Richard

beaver180

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Hi there Richard,

Haven't yet put my windows in either but.... they do go in from the inside. I will be sanding back the inside edges until I get a nice flush fit. Then I'll give it a little black paint around there and use clear RTV or canopy glue to stick them in.

Only thing I don't really like is the main landing gear... yuck! spoils the otherwise good ( enough ) lines I think. Would be great if I could figure a way to make my floats with wheels and do away with the U/C legs. Mine has a Saito 180 FS for power.

Hope that helps ya, Paul

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Richard, Paul is correct.

You install the plastic windows from the inside of the fuse. And you will have to do some sanding around the window frames to get the pieces to fit well. I (against common sense) used thick CA (no kicker). The windows have held up great and did not fog when I glued them in place.

Be patient... they'll fit. But you might have to work with them a little.

Good luck,

Noah

themadmax

My Feedback: (70)

Hey,
I read this article online the other night that said the fogging can be avoided if you put Future on the windows before using CA. I can't state that's true as I've not used it.

I do know that common rubber cement does a wonderful job. Paint it on, inside and out, where you don't want glue to stick prior to cutting the piece out. You can handle the piece without fearing of scratching, etc. and the rubber cement rolls off, easily, once dry. One can leave the rubber cement on right through final painting as it's impervious to virtually any solvent (Paint). I'd recommend painting it on thick as it protects better and comes off easier...just doesn't look very good. Cleaning the brush, immediately, with acetone will allow the resuse of the brush but if you don't get on it, immediately, that brush is history. I use a 00 brush for edge work and a big'un for the rest. Just edge and clean your brush before going to the larger size. I lost one 00 brush because, once dry, it's rubber! The main advantage over masking with tape or a self adhesive protective covering is that nothing will wick under the seal.

Let me know how that works for you and pass it along.

beaver180

My Feedback: (10)

Hiya Noah long time not hear :-) Still haven't got mine in the air! slack aye... have you come across any wheel'd floats?? My Bea will be mainly "Land Based" but I would like to change the look of the stock gear, even better wheeled floats

Chow for now, Paul

conchohoncho

My Feedback: (120)

Thanks for the reply. I have had so many problems with this ARF that I am ready to pitch it in the trash.
1. The arelons were too short. Replaced bt KMP but I still have a gap as I installed the flaps first before I nticed the short arelons.
2. The Al part for the rudder/tailwheel was screwed up as the hole for the rudder wasn't straight. It was replaced by KMP twice and both of them were bad. Finally a friend of mine made one for me on his lathe.
3. The landing gear farings had to be rebuilt because of a change in the diameter of one of the legs on the landing gear.
4. The rudder setup sucks and I just know that it won't hold up.
5. Now the darn windows don't fit the holes in the fuse.
6. The pvc strips that go on the bottom of the fuse are white instead of red. Will look like crap if I use them. Also they are the wrong size.
I'm going to call Kondar next week and chew on him a bit.

Mine, if it ever flys, will be powered by a Saito 170 three banger.
Richard

conchohoncho

My Feedback: (120)

[:@]Still on the KMP Beaver
I forgot one other item.
7. The fiberglass tube in one of the wing halfs is tight. I sanded the inside of the tube untill I am blue in the face. This was done per A Kondars direction. It's still very tight and I'm afraid of damage every time that I install the AL tube into this wing half, but I'm tired of sanding.
What a waste of time and money this project is turning out to be.
Richard

Didg

Their quality control leaves alot to be desired.
I had their Critical Mass Sea Fury.
I won't go into the long list of problems I had with the model and the replacement parts that followed, but suffice to say, I won't be buying any more of their products.
Compared to the quality of ARTF's from Hangar 9 / Great Planes etc. It makes me wonder how they remain in business.

conchohoncho

My Feedback: (120)

[:@] One more problem with the KMP Beaver. I did get the windows installed after much sanding of the frames. I'm now working on the top hatch cover. In my ARF is a thin / warped piece of fiberglass. The instructions say to attach it with sheet metal screws. After removing and reinstalling them about 2 or 3 times I'm sure that the holes in the fibergalss will be too large and require a larger screw. This can't happen too many times or there will be a series of too large holes. Anyone that has a fix please give me a shout.
Thanks,
Richard

Thunderbolt47

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Beautiful Beavers guys. If I had a lake to fly off of I would deffanently have a big one.

BTW, what are those two round black thingies hanging from the bottom of some of them?

Later,
Kelly

cf-drg

My Feedback: (1)

conchohoncho, I know exactly what you mean, couple of friends have them (KMP Beavers).. One fix that I have done to some of my aircraft is drill out the holes and glue blind nuts up from underneath.. A 2-56 or 4-40 would be the ticket..

mario tavarez14

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my beaver almost finish after 5 years

Baldeagle

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Mario VERY nice. Is that a Unionville kit? Rich

Goinstraightup

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Fantastic job Mario!!!!!!!

pettit

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#1: Cannot compete with Mario's beautiful plane

and

#2: it isn't on floats,

but

Here's my MRAeroDesign Beaver just about ready to gp.

Using a Saito FG36 four stroke gas engine, DX7 radio and it ONLY weighs 23.5 pounds

(thanks go out to all the shotgun owners who let me use 3 pounds of their lead shot for nose weight!)

countrygentleman

PLEASE share more info! What kit? Power?

mario tavarez14

My Feedback: (37)

this is the fiberclassic BEAVER this kit is out of production for long time i have this kit for 9 years i get this kit at toledo show, but 3 months to go
i decide to finish her now this is the result , for power a fuji 64 , xoar prop 24x8 all digital hitec servos and dx7 radio , 80 leingth and 117 wingspan 31lb

ssw

My Feedback: (1)

My recently completed KMP Beaver. I had it out for sea trials last weekend. Has not maidened yet. I was a bit under propped and will bump up to APC 18-6w. Yes, all the problems here too. A brief list of mods:

1. Rudder and water rudder converted to pull-pull.
2. Did not use any of the struts and little of the hardware that came with it.
3. Reinforced the wing spar tube to the fuselage.
4. Used "Sea Commander" hardware for float carriage.
5. Used Ertel Rudder
6. Installed nylon threaded bolt in wings at leading edge w/ wing nuts instead of hook and rubber band system.
7. No tail wheel. Float fly only.
8. Custom paint and graphics.

Power: G-26
Weight: 20 lbs. 6 oz.
Radio: Futaba 9C

Goinstraightup

My Feedback: (26)

SSW those foat mounts are simply stunning. Very nice!!!

airportbum

Here are a couple of shots of my Ikon beaver. OS 120 Surpass with Airtronics computer radio, working nav, landing, beacon, and strobe lights. it has panel lines, rivets, full interior, opening doors, and corrigated control surfaces. The model is over fifteen years old and is on its second color scheme. I also fly it on floats. I will try to scan some float pictures and post here. Jeff

airportbum

This is my other Beaver. It is a Unionville 8' with a Super Tiger 91 and an Airtronics radio. I also have floats for this one.

Aerobatic_Tom

AirportBum, that Ikon Beaver is a fantastic model. Thanks for sharing, it is what this thread is all about!

airportbum

A couple more from a different angle. Thanks for the compliment. It flies very well and the lights look great at dusk. It won pilots choice at the State of Maine Scale Shootout a few years ago.

jiott

Hey you Beaver believers, take a look at a REAL Canadian bush floatplane! The Noorduyn Norseman has as much or more history in the bush as the Beaver, plus it is a unique looking airplane with its funky landing gear fairings and otherwise classic fabric covered good looks. With this model you won't be just a "me too" among many other Beaver floatplanes. The Norseman is an 8-10 passenger aircraft with legendary load carrying capacity and workhorse reliability. Many still fly today in the North.

This model is an 85.5" Unionville kit covered with SolarTex and latex house paint & polyurethane clearcoat. The kit has been modified to include flaps and flaperons, as well as much more scale float mounting and water rudder steering cables. This is an excellent flying model with no bad habits and the Saito 100 engine I have in it is plenty for float flying. It weighs about 13 lbs on the floats. It is painted to match CF-JIN, a Norseman restored and still flying out of Red Lake Ontario. Red Lake has a "Norseman Days" floatplane festival every year in July. I don't recall Beavers being honored that way every year! The CF-JIN Norseman even starred in a movie "Snow Walker". Did you know that Glenn Miller, the band leader, disappeared over the English Channel during WWII in a military Norseman.

All in good fun. I like your Beavers too; all 100 or so of them!