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Canadian Mark IV Builders


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I am new to the forum and am wondering if we could get a thread going of Canadian builders. I am looking to start in the summer of 03 when I get my new house completed in Nova Scotia. My biggest concerns are the lack of suppliers using our severly devalued currency and shipping equipment from the USA.

If there are any Canadian builders on the forum who would be willing to swap information, how to's and pitfalls it would be greatly appreciated.

 

John

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There is some interest in the Calgary area in Cozy construction. I have not committed to it yet, I spoke to one other last evening. There may be one or two under construction but I haven't tracked them down. You are correct, we may be able to find some dollar relief by communicating. Fact is, Florida is closer to you than we are. May I suggest any other Canadian builders or interested parties sign on and make yourself known!

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Well I am not building but am 95% sure that I will be building in the near future. I would be very interested in getting in contact with anyone here in Calgary building one, or even anybody building a composite plane.

 

As everybody else I have been doing preliminary materials sourcing. I have tried a couple of plastics stores here in town but none of them seem to have the required materials. I have tracked down the North American importer for MGS epoxy and to my great surprise they are located in Ontario. Their website is http://www.airheart.on.ca. I asked for a supplier here in Alberta, but they don't have one so I ordered a couple of litres of L335, 0.5 litres of H335 and 0.5 litres of H340 all for a total of $55.80 plus $28 shipping plus GST. I figure that the equivalent Wicks order would be at least $120 Canadian. The one fly in the ointment is that I emailed them to send it last Friday and still haven't had a confirmation that it was shipped.

 

Anybody have a line on foam and fiberglass suppliers? Actually for foam I noticed that the Dow Styrofoam dock billets are the required 7". Is this a coincidence or is all the polystyrene foam used basically Styrofoam of the appropriate thickness?

Rui Lopes

Cozy MkIV S/N: 1121

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Not quite Calgary but I know of a builder in Edmonton. I was there on a business trip for a week and found out he was there the night before I was to go home - oh well. I know he is on the Cozy maillist - not sure if he is on this forum. His name is Joe Toop. I believe he's around chapter 13 so he must know where to get the parts.

Rick Maddy

Denver, CO

Cozy Mk IV #824 - Chapter 18

http://www.maddyhome.com/cozy

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Great idea to start a Canuck thread!

 

I am in Edmonton, and while I have not yet begun to build, I expect to start in Spring '03, once I get my shop set up. Oh, and I guess acquiring a set of plans would be useful too...

 

Nice to know there is another builder in Edmonton.

Trevor Howard

Edmonton, AB

Canada

 

COZY MKIV #1171

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Just finished talking to Laura at Airheart about my small, test epoxy order. We confirmed a few things about the order and addresses. They don't take credit cards since they usually deal with large comapnies but were nice enough to accept a personal cheque and will ship when I send them an email that I have sent the cheque, not when it actually gets there. In all, it came to $89.67 including tax.

 

I also mentioned my search for Canadian suppliers of the foam and glass and she said that she will ask their technical guy (Peter) when he comes in. Appearantly he is also an aviation nut and may know a bunch about this.

 

She also mentioned that if I knew of any other builders in the area that it would be a good idea to pool the shipments as the shipping costs would be less. So how about it, any builders in the Calgary/Edmonton area interested?

 

Overall I got a very good feeling from dealing with this company. As long as the shipment goes through (and I have no reason to believe that it won't) I heartily recommend them to any Canadian builder.

Rui Lopes

Cozy MkIV S/N: 1121

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May I suggest to Calgary interested parties to visit the website of the Recreational Aircraft Association of Calgary at http://www.spots.ab.ca/~raac/ These are a great bunch of homebuilt enthusiasts, some of whom are building from fiberglass. Visit the site. There are monthly meetings and people with a great deal of knowledge.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Phillip Johnson is in the Ottawa Area, there is a flying III in the Montreal Area, I'm building about 30 minutes north of Toronto, and there are 4 or 5 other builders and wannabe's that I know of in the Toronto Area.

 

I've seen more than that in Ontario, but I haven't seen them here!

/dan

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Dan:

Would you have the time to post the various suppliers you are using in Canada? or are you planning on perhaps a website where this might be available? are you using Wicks etc for the packaged supplies?

 

I may have to use a drop location in Maine when I get to Nova Scotia and just fly over from Greenwood to pick up supplies shipped from US dealers if most is not available north of the border.

 

 

John

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The Glass Cloths (7715,7725 Bolt size only on UNI ~120 yds) as well as MGS epoxy I've been buying at Fiberglass Factory Outlet in Mississauga (and the layup supplies). Spar Cap tape seems to be Wicks or ACS only.

 

Cloth for Peel-Ply I've mainly been using a cloth I acquired (10 bolts) of dark blue nylon/polyester.

 

Urethane and PVC foams I've been buying from Wicks, as sourcing these I've found difficult here. The Styro you can order locally (Dow distributers).

 

Hardware is mixed - some from local sources, some from Wicks. I look at prices. Some nuts/bolts sizes etc are less than Wicks/ACS prices here, some sizes are outrageously more! Metal is normally local, but some from Wicks due to price differences.

 

I'm sure that your local RAA chapter in MB or NS will have comments on the local suppliers, and you will certainly find that many of the boat builder shops in NS will have ways of getting many of the items also. They should have suppliers for an "approved" epoxy, even if they are using different resins and hardeners, as well they'll likely have the low density urethane foams (1 and 2 inch), and access to all the supplies.

 

N/A distributer for MGS is Airheart(SP) in Hamilton - either try direct or a local shop to only have about 6 months supply on hand (expiry dates). Aeropoxy dealer is Leavens Aviation (Tor/Edm) who is also good for some hardware in package quantities, but doesn't have many useful items and is not cheap. Some of the adverts in the COPA magazine have been very useful!

 

UPS charges too much in brokerage fees, but they do get things delivered on time, so it does get used. Some of my shipments I pick up in Buffalo - although it costs me a day to go get it, others I ship via my company's Buffalo address and truck - but that is really slow.

 

I haven't done a website - probably should, I own the servers!

 

/dan

/dan

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For all those Canadian Cozy builders just a question about the CARS for experimental aircraft.

 

Who will you be using to fly the initial 5 hours or am I misreading the requirement to have a 100 hours on type pilot fly the first few flights?

 

As well Dan thanks for the tip I totally forgot being posted out in Winnipeg for the last 6 years about all the fiberglass fishing boats in NS. There is a fairly large composite aircraft parts maker as well in Lunenburg, NS - Atlantic Composites that is a division of EADS the AirBus parent company. I will have to check with them when I get there for possible supplies even if its by promising someone a flight.

 

For the other Canadian cozy builders any comments on insurance and whether this might be a problem??? and if any of you have suggestions of possible carriers?

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

 

John

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John,

 

As far as I know, there is no restriction for the first flight except that you have sufficient experience. Type is a very broad category! I'd check with TC, but I'm sure it's not that restrictive!

 

For insurance, make sure you're a member of Copa or RAA, both have group insurance programs which do not have exclusions, however the base programs do not cover hull. As discussed many times on the list, self insuring the hull seems to make a lot of sense if you are the primary pilot.

 

COPA Silver Wings (liab etc - mandatory coverage) under $750 / year 3 pax. Considerably cheaper for the first while as "only one seat is licensed".

 

RAA's rates I don't have right now.

/dan

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  • 3 years later...

Not building anything yet, but just thought I'd see if any one's still checking out this thread. I live just North of Toronto, and I'm looking into building. Not sure yet if it's going to be a Cozy or an EZ. I'll keep everyone posted.

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  • 6 months later...

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