Rui

Actually I'm using a heat gun that I had from before. It puts out quite a bit of heat. Enough to burn the bristles off the paint brush.... I'll see if I can find some 4 mil stuff. The 6 mil stuff is standard vapour barrier material used in construction. But I really like the results so even if I don't get 4 mil, I'll just be more careful with the plastic from now on... no big deal. Hmmm, my only experience so far has been with the confidence layup in Chapter 3. Maybe the 4mil will work better, but I didn't see any way to get the plastic to bend around the "bump" caused the foam. It certainly isn't a gentle curve... I just let it cure without the plastic and it was fine. Good experience,really as I now see what its like w/o the plastic. While I'm on this subject, I did use the plastic on the bottom (in place if the wax paper), so one side is smooth and the other is rough. I did the strength test and was pleased to find that it didn't break in two. But when I looked at the bottom where the pivot point touched there was some flaking. I turned it over and did the strength test again (this time by putting it on the floor and standing on it) and there was no visible damage. Have you seen this? Does using plastic peel ply make a layup more susceptible peices flaking off?? One thing I should point out about this is that I made my slurry too thick and I can see areas on the bottom where it didn't spread out to. So maybe there are localized weaknesses on this side of the layup. I took some pictures, but haven't set up my website yet. Hopefully I'll get that done sometime this week. Thanks for the tips!!

I tried this technique on my first practice layup. The surface turned out very nice. One thing that I would add is that to make sure that you don't crease the plastic too much with rough handling. Even though I put about 50 lbs of weight on it during cure the crease still showed up. The part came out at 10.2 oz which is below the acceptable range (ie. 10.5 oz minimum with 11 oz ideal). I think I was just too agressive with the squeege. There is only one white area bigger then a quarter. I had forgotten about looking for dark areas while squeeging, I'll have to do that next time. One other question. This method is only for flat layups, right? I tried doing it for the second practice layup but it just would work. Is there some secret of making 6 mil plastic adhere around bumps? On a general note, it feels really great to actually start this. I have never worked with epoxy or fiberglass before and find that I really like it!! My latest "discovery" is the wonders of 5 minute epoxy. I used it to stick foam onto the sides of my hotbox, to apply a stiffener to the door of the hotbox (hinge side) and last night to make a clamp holder. This epoxy stuff is GREAT!

Well however you put it (I guess the correct way of thinking is that the thing is precise since it does give the same reading every time, just not accurate since the reading is wrong) two 14g cans should not equal 30g when placed together on the scale. I guess I would need some standard weights to actually measure the accuracy, but from this single test it looks like the accuracy gets worse the more weight you put on. But then if you measure accuracy as a percentage this makes sense, but I wasn't expecting to see such an obvious error. It comes down to expectations, if the scale measures in grams then I would expect the error in the equipment to be at most 0.5g. Obviously this is not the case with the one I have.

I did some testing yesterday on my new scale (btw, its a Pelouze too) and found that the advertised 1g accuracy is rather optomistic. I weighted two empty beer cans and each alone weighed 14g. When I put both of them on the scale, however, I got 30g. So I think a safe bet is that the mechanics of this scale are the same as the 2g resolution scale, but the display just tricks you into thinking its more accurate.

Just got back from Staples where I picked up a 1 gram granularity scale for $42 Canadian. I looked on ebay and the going price was ~$US20, by adding the ~$US7 - 10 shipping charges it would come in around the same price. I have a pump, and plan to use it most of the time, the scale is only for calibration purposes, but I guess its a good backup in case the pump fails. I'll also look into the check valve that someone on the Cozy list said Micheal Engineering has for people using MGS 285. I hope to avoid leaky pumps....

While I agree that cellulose has a better $/R ratio it doesn't have better R ratio than fiberglass. Actually fiberglass is a little better. I put 12" of cellulose in the attic of my shop/garage which gives me R40 while the 5.5" of fiberglass in the walls gives me R20.

I plan on being able to access both sides of the table (ie. it won't be against a wall). This way all I'll have to reach is 24". Thanks for the advice though. I've bought the material, now I just have to build it. Last night I finished my epoxy hot box. I modelled it on various boxes that I've seen on other builder's sites. Its 2'x2'x6'. It has two compartments, the top one being insulated and having a door for the pump and the bottom being open w/o a door or insulation for bulk expoxy storage. I'll start on the table tonight.

I have 11 ft ceiling in my shop. A little hard to plug things in and out. I do have a plug there though (for a future garage door opener). I will try to use it, but I'll still put a bunch of pluga around the table.

I just finished my flight training and the procedure that I was taught was that as soon as the power came under 1700 RPM the carb heat went on, no matter what the weather conditions.

I plan on using 3 of the engineered wood I-beam like joists that they are building houses with these days. Can be obtained in any length and won't warp on the way from the lumber yard to the house. btw, the lumber yard I now go to keeps the wood outdoors, they claim that storing wood indoors like Home Depot does is what causes it to warp quickly. I'm not sure I believe that but I have noticed that the wood I've gotten there has not warped as badly as the wood I've gotten from Home Depot. I also plan on making the legs removeable. This way I can have a table thats about 1 foot high (ie. with legs removed) for taller jobs (ie. turtleback). I like dust's torsion box idea, thanks!! Also, from other builders I've learned that you can't have enough electrical plugs so I'll be putting plugs every 3 feet along the sides. Space isn't a big issue with me (32ft x 22ft shop) so I'll be making mine the full 48" wide.

I remember hearing somewhere that ASS sends you the fiberglass for a chapter already cut. So if you order chapter 4 you get a peice X yards long, if you order chapter 4 and 5 you get two peices, one for chapter 4 and one for chapter 5. Can anyone confirm this?? If so, and I were ordering from ASS, I'd make sure to tell them to send it all in one piece. I haven't started building yet, but even I can tell that the piece by piece approach sucks.

To bring this thread back on topic just a little I'd like to share my experience with Wicks. I put a substantial order with them (ie. chapters 4 through 19) in September. Furthermore I combined my order with another builder in the area that got almost as much as I did. Everything came and after spending a couple of evenings checking everthing, THERE WASN'T A SINGLE ERROR. My invoice was 13 pages long!!! My order-mates was 8-9 pages long!!! There was an item backordered, but they sent that along a week or so later at no extra cost. I was amazed. I don't mind paying an extra 5% for this type of service when I hear the horror stories from some people who ordered from ASS. One of the really nice touches was that each chapter's misc hardware (ie bolts and rivets) came in a separate baggie. Also each baggie had the invoice page number where it was listed. This way I could verify that everthing was there by going to the appropriate page in the invoice and check it off. Now thats smart, gives me the warm fuzzy feeling that the people at Wicks actually know what they are doing and have the customer in mind. Only if every company I have to deal with was so conscientious (sp?).

Well I guess you found him. I think all should be left in. The good and the bad. At least this way if the argument flares up again 6 months from now we can actually go back and look and see what was said instead of dealing with the antagonist's selective memory.

There's an idea Dan.... Maybe I should have thought of it before I built my shop... But I like my shop (not quite finished yet, but on Monday I had a radiant heater put in and it is so nice in there now) and I'm glad I built it before I started. I know everybody says START NOW, anywhere you can find, but I'm the type who likes to have things "right". I know for sure that if I would have started in "sub-standard" conditions I would have gotten frustrated and probably quit soon after I started. Nothing frustrates me more than knowing that there is a better/easier way, but being forced to put up with something inferior. Come to think of it thats the big reason why I'm building a Cozy. I couldn't stand the fact that I'd have to pay HUGE money for a certified plane or rental of a plane thats older than me when I knew that there is a better solution available. Anyway, one of the big reasons why we moved to an acrage last year was so that I could build the plane (buying an acrage was in our long term plans, the plane just accelerated things). So if you aren't happy where you live, then I would consider moving and taking the plane build into consideration when you buy the new place. I bought my plans about this time last year and have read the first 7-8 chapters at least 10 times, and the whole thing 2-3 times. I think its great having them around while you set things up. Gives you more incentive to get started.... I guess in the end it comes to knowing what type of person you are. I'd say if you have been looking into this for 1.5 years (I'd been looking into this for at least 2 years before I bought the plans) you are serious about building and have the dedication/desire to see it done.

I guess this must be an Canadian/American thing because 6 mil poly in 4 ft. rolls (actually, its 8 ft. wide with a single crease) is available by the bucket load at any home improvement store up here. It's normally used as a vapour barrier that goes on over top of the insulation in home construction. I would think that it would be available at such stores in the northern states at least. I have about 20 ft. of it left over from building my shop.

Just doing some late afternoon surfing and found this web page: http://www.boltek.com/ They claim to have a lightning detector with a range of 600 miles. They even show some examples of their system in a mini van. Has anybody ever looked at putting one of these in their plane??? Seems like all the aviation lightning detectors work better with aluminum all around them (I remember some post from a while back where some people tried installing stormscopes in a Cozy and it didn't work because there wasn't any metal around it). The sellers of this system say that its BETTER to have no metal around it. Seems like the nose of a Cozy would be the perfect place.

When I started to think seriously about building about this time last year I tried pretty hard to find Canadian supliers. My main motivation was the sorry state of the Canadian dollar (about $1.55 to the US$ at the time). Now that its around $1.32 I don't think the drive would be nearly as high. The results of my search were pretty fruitless anyway. I found some places for most things, but I could never be really sure that it was exactly what is specified (ie. the EXACT type and weight of glass and foams). In the end, the assurance that Wicks knew what they were doing and the testimonial of many builders weighed more than my thriftiness. Also helped that the dollar was up to around $1.40 at the time I ordered. The only thing I got in Canada was the epoxy from Airheart. They are the NA suppliers so it makes no sense to ship it back across the border from the states. Also they are GREAT to deal with. The owner is familiar with plane building and loves Cozy builders. Another builder in your area, I think, is Dave Wilnious (sp?). He has a web site. Go to www.cozybuilders.org to get a link. He did the trip across the border thing so you may want to talk to him about it. From third hand knowledge there is also another builder in Grande Prairie that I'm told is almost ready to fly. If you are on here I would love to have a chance to take a look at your project.

I don't have experience with it, but you have to remember that the main spar is a box shape which will have to be accounted for. I forget the dimensions, but it seems to me that 12' will be awfully close. Maybe try making up a dummy spar of the same dimensions out of scrap wood and then try it out. But then remember that it will be 600-700 lbs that you will be moving....

Good question. I'm also planning on widening mine at the seatback by 2 inches. Not sure why I chose that, but it seems that its a small enough change that it shouldn't cause too many problems with respect to other components while still offering a good deal of benefit in extra room. It is also a small enough difference that it shouldn't cause large adverse effects to the flight characteristics. I have no proof in this as I haven't done any sort of analysis (and am really not competent to do such an analysis), but have a gut feel that it should not cause problems. If anybody has donr this sort of analysis I would be really greatful if you could share it (privately if you prefer). I hear that X-Plane can be used as a tool for examining these types of things. Has anybody had any experience using it?

Yes I'm sure 2 inches have been done. One builder in my area is widening his by 6 inches (at the front seatback, other bulkheads are less and the firewall is as plans, or very close to it). Basically he built the tub to plans, got in it to make the vroom-vroom noises and didn't like the fit. So he cut it apart and added the extra width. Added a bunch of time to build, and I'm sure it will cause more headaches in the future, but he said that he just wouldn't be happy with the origianl width (btw, he isn't overweight). I'm not sure whether he changed any other dimensions (ie. canard length, etc). Nat is totally against this as the tub provides some lift and changing its dimensions will also change the performance of the plane. The question is how much it will change it and whether the effect will be negative.... Anyway, I'm on the fence. I think I will make the changes suggested by Nat (ie. make the fron seat a bench), but also maybe add a couple of inches at the seatback only, that way reducing the changes to other parts. One thing that everyone should keep in mind when trying out the Cozy for fit is that your mind can play tricks. I remember when I bought my Honda Civic that the first time I got in it I thought it was cramped (coming from a larger North American car). But soon (ie. 2-3 hours driving), I began to feel comfortable in it and now much prefer its "coziness" to the wide open nothingness I feel when I ride in somebody elses car. My point is that when you try out a Cozy it will feel small, but as long as you can move around a bit and nothing is jabbing you uncomfortably, you will probably get used to it and come to prefer it.

Is the pump you are referring to the EFI pump? Do you think it will put out enough fule to make refueling tolerable. I think I remember you saying that it takes 30 minutes to tranfer fuel from one tank to another on your plane. If thats true then thats the amount time you'll be waiting for the EFI pump in the car to do the same thing...

It makes sense, just never thought of it and sounded weird to me. Don't think it would work for me though, I drive a Civic and it only has about a 50L tank (13-14 US gallons). So are you going to install a pump and pipe into your car, or will you just stick a hose into the tank and pump it out with an external pump?

The advertising for the Renesis also says that it is physically smaller (so that they could wedge it in further back to help the CG in the auto application). I suspect that this is mainly in the intake manfold and such accessory stuff, but either way it certainly bodes well for putting one of these suckers in a Cozy. It may actually mean that a mostly stock engine will fit directly into the cowl... As I mentioned in a previous note, if it can do 250 HP at 8000 RPM then ~6000 it should do around 200 HP which puts it right where we want it. Then add a turbo for altitude compensation (I plan on flying over the Rockies many times in my plane) and you're laughing.

Have a look at the story on the front page of the Kitplanes (www.kitplanes.com) website about the homebuilt Subaru engine a couple of guys put in an RV. They had a hell of a time with both cooling and turbo sizing. The upshot seems to be that you should always intercool and that if you aren't putting in a wastegate then you better be real sure about the relative sizes of the two sides of the turbo.

John, Do you really plan on using your car as a gas carrier!!??! About a month or so ago there was a thread on the homebuilt usenet group about a guy using an old beater pickup as a gas carrier. Appearantly he was inspired by a story by Jim Wier in KitPlanes(I haven't seen it) where he describes how to add a tank to a trailer and use it as a dedicated fuel carrier. Seems like this would be more practical as you wouldn't have to make 3 trips to fill your plane!!!