Jon Matcho

Congratulations, and a belated welcome to the forum. Projects and used planes are out there, as you may have already seen on Kent's "Sales I've Seen" thread here. Ask questions, share pictures, and keep an open mind. Some prefer Long-EZs over VariEzes, and since you've got a Dragonfly on your list, put Quickies on your list as well. Check out our sister site at www.quickheads.com for Quickie info.

Looks like the main gear wasn’t set and collapsed. New prop and engine tear down will cost a few dollars.

I thought I recognized "Quinton O" (not many of those names around) 🙂 Thanks for reporting it, I'll look into that and see if I can merge your two accounts.

This topic came up elsewhere and an Internet search brought me back here. They might have been inspired, but my bet is that they redesigned every single thing to do with a FHC.

This reads as a personal issue. Please provide some basis.

@spmg76013 I now see why you're concerned. Crossing my mind was the following: Remove the fittings, clean-up, and treat with alodine or another coating. Re-install. Layup a modified UNI schedule, still two 3" wide plies, but from the top of the tank, around the spar, to the bottom of the tank (tapering the top layup). I'd want an opinion on that from someone else though, and regardless I just might do exactly what you're planning to do. You have easy access to get in that area NOW so why not put your mind at ease? Doesn't look like a crazy amount of work, but I feel your pain! Then again, I doubt anyone who has treated these wing fittings has cut the tanks open after effectively negating the 55" x 3" UNI wrap!

I'd be looking for ways to avoid that, but I would weigh against the importance of those 2 plys of UNI which I have no idea what they're for. Your head is clearly in the right area though, erring on the side of caution, but damn... cutting into your fuel tanks. It may not be that bad after all if the tanks are not yet sealed.

I stumbled upon this while browsing Facebook Marketplace (like Craigslist) today. Here's a link. Velocity SE FG $35,000

Thanks for that... we won't be seeing much E-Z Poxy being used much in that case. Another thing to keep in mind is that Aircraft Spruce (and I assume many others) often need to add a "hazmat" charge. For example, note this for the 287 Slow hardener from ACS (which does not apply to the 335 system's slow hardener: Important Shipping Information- H287S Hardener can be shipped UPS ground only. A $25 hazardous fee, and a $45 box fee applies (per quart). Can also be shipped truck collect. Because of that I am moving to Pro-Set. I also just found that the slow hardener for the Pro-Set 125/229 system is more tolerant to slight mixing variations than their fast hardener. I suspect that's true for other epoxy systems as well, but is another reason to like slow hardeners. However, a case for slow hardeners is that I have seen the Tg temperatures being better with slow hardeners than fast for room temperature cures (maybe 10 degrees F). As long as your plane is painted white you'll be fine in all cases.

It looks like a hard to find epoxy system. Here's the manufacturer site if you want to track an answer down from there: https://www.epoxi.com/other-brands I dislike working with fast hardeners as well. I would seek MGS 287 or Pro-Set as I regard them as the best available (IMO, FWIW). Expensive, but when you look at how much you'll be spending overall epoxy is not a big cost. Beyond that someone may speak up about Aeropoxy. I have some of that as well, just because, but don't use it.

@Kent Ashton and @jridge allow me to open up the Downloads section for user-provided content. That's the best place for files like these as opposed to sprinkled in throughout various topics and threads. Once I do that you should be able to upload here just fine Jeff.

Thanks Marc, disassembly was implied with my "...then reinstall" mention. If I pulled the corroded part in your pic just above, at that point I'd just use it as a template to make a brand new part.

There's a ton of information in that AC. I just learned of "Filiform corrosion", which may be on the flat plates. The aluminum around the screws appears corroded and needs special attention (is the white stuff around the screws oxidized aluminum?). Until they're removed you won't know the extent of the problem. The holes should be cleaned up as well regardless. Where the parts appear to be very salvageable (as is the case from the pics IMHO), I would clean and sand down to 400 grit, apply a conversion coating, then reinstall. I have no idea how hard that is to do for VariEze wing fittings.

Not yet. I have VariEze plans intended for Open-EZ land. The pics in that link are scaled to 8"x10", and so I anticipate the scans of the plans I have will be higher quality. Still, thanks -- I'll save for comparison.

Why not post them here so we can all take a look? You can get one of these done if you make it your primary (only?) hobby and have the support of everyone around you not seeing as much of you as they had before.