Details

Winter flying is fun but cold... 
Last winter, flying with my skis, I was really missing heating in my plane. Surfing the web I found what appeared to be an interesting solution. It arrived today from T7DESIGN:

It is an incredibly compact heater (maybe that is why they named it "Micro Heater") that weigh only 580 grams while rated for 2,2 kW. Well worth a try - it can't get any colder anyway...  

Differential breaks 
I never succeeded to hold my plane on the foot breaks and had difficulties applying even pressure on the breaks when trying to slow down rapidly so I replaced the individual foot breaks with a central break handle on the stick already some years ago. It worked very well and I never had any problems with the ground handing due to central break.
But it is not perfect, you cannot turn "around one wheel" when needed and turns can sometimes be wider than allowed for, particularly on mountain fields. So I decided to improve my system by installing a dual break handle on the stick. It is a kit of 2 bicycle handles that I merged into one. I'm sure it will be easier to apply even pressure by hand than by foot.

Work in progress

As mentioned earlier I have turned the need for reparation due to a hard landing into an opportunity to do a complete overhaul of my plane. The plane was built 22 years ago so it was time to do it anyway.

The true definition of an ultra light

I'm making slow but steady progress. The fuselage is completely striped down, bent tubes removed or straighten. All new parts adjusted and ready to be welded - hopefully "already" this weekend.

Ready to be welded

I have had some surprises when stripping off the old covering that have comforted me in my decision to do the complete overhaul. I found rust and not only odd spots...

Rust found under glued areas

Rust under covering material and layers of paint that I had not detected at visual inspection.

Click to enlarge picture

Note how the original paint has cracked wherever covered with glue while areas without glue are in perfect condition. Using Oratex to cover the plane this time I hope to avoid this issue as their glue is water based.