argoldman

I'll be there Th, Fr, Sat, Sun-- Ill look for those funny winged birds on their noses ---and their keepers

MGS, if dropped on a plastic table protector will harden to a knife edge. If your batch was soft, look at the porportions and mixing technique. The fact that it takes days to set is not a positive, as you have no idea of what is happening below the cured surface. This is not polyester and will not totally cure to proper strength if the ratios or mixing is off. (polyester will) Keep mixing

If the original builder was not a commercial venture, regardless of what you paid him/her for it, you will qualifiy for the 51% rule. In effect, the rule says that 51% must be built by a non-comercial entity. You may have to prove to the FAA that you have the proper knowledge of construction to obtain your repairman's certificate for that plane. Make acquisition of the prior builder's log and pictures part of the sales agreement. Without them, you will have a lot of splaining to do to the FAA

Hold it there!!!! Don't purchase any avionics or engine instruments until one of two things happen. 1-- you can absolutely steal them 2-- you absolutely can go no further in your construction until you have them. These items, like most things electronic are going through an increasingly accelerating technology explosion. your project will take much longer than the time necessary for what is available now to bedome obsolete (sometimes a matter of months). I just hard that Garmin came out with a new handheld, I think it is called the 396 which has terraine warning, weather etc etc. My guess is that it will sell for under 2K as did the previously offered ones. Imagine your chagrin after purchasing a 296, and before you get it out of the box, learning about the availability this new one. It will probably be at OSH to take a look at. Knowing, or not knowing, what is in store, what I am going to do is desgn the instrument panel so that it is structurally sound with removable panels, probably aluminum that I can modify and install at the last moment. This will also enable me to update the panel if desired, and to do any repairs without major contortions. For VFR flying, and most of IFR, OMNI is obsolete (or rapidly becoming) now as is ADF, as is LORAN as is DME, as will be the older style ELT, Hold off on electronics, eingines and props as long as possible. Most of your wiring will be local for the electronics so you don't really have to plan ahead. that much. The cozy has some nice wiring conduits from the firewall, which should be easy to use. In the building of my dragonfly, in my haste to get the "Latest" electronics, before I needed them, I bought a Garmin 612, loran, which I then had modified into a 618, only to find that when it came time to install it, Loran had all but died and GPS was the rage. I then got the GX55 (I think), which was tray and mostly plug compatable with the 618. For the $ that I spent on the original, and the modification-- to find that the market value for it was practically nill, plus the new 55 (now practically obsolete), had I waited, I could have had an incredibly more sophisticated setup. (or be less poor). Again if you can steal these devices, the story changes, if you are willing to put them in you plane.

One thing you might find handy is to make a small hotwire and power it with a 10 A. Battery charger. Works like a champ for the small jobs. I don't know how it would work for the biggies, however. You do not want to use a charger that requires some battery power for excitation.

Can't speak EZ ily, However there is a lot of action with the Corvair in the dragonfly world. The person to contact regarding Corvair conversions is William Wynne http://www.flycorvair.com/ who is the corvair equivelent to Tracy Crook with rotaries. I can't speak to CG or mounting ease, or even using it in a pusher configuration. Wynne should be able to give you the info that you desire.

Greetings A. I plan to do that. I have to decide and find out just how I want to accomplish this withoiut cutting big time into my building time. Currrently, I am trying to figure out how I want to wrwrite the instruction manual and reedit the videos to take great material and make it easily useful. Having built the D-fly from scratch I look forward to the time saving steps of the kit approach. The ability to take an item off of the shelf (as it were) eliminating the necessity of trudging through deciphering and understanding chapters of construction techniques, and have at least four major pieces Upper fusc, lower fusc and strakes smoothed and already primed will help insure that I will have the plane finished before I am too old to fly it. We will see!

With the standard aerocanard, the windshield seems to be more of an expanded Long-EZ (copied from the MK IV) type which comes more to a point on the front deck and expands out to the shape of the rear. The SX is more of a RV type affair, somewhat broad and I believe starting a little further forward and going higher before going horizontal. I did see the molds for both tops. Al is now working on a new plug for this windscreen as adaptations of existing screens have proven unsuccessful. Following the forums, I am having second thoughts, also about the nose mounted oil cooler. I will hedge my bets by installing the lines (very simple) in case I decide to use them. Some velocities use a nose oil cooler, with what degree of success, I am not sure. The Kit built uses Triax and biax, among other places, for bulkheads, and uses 8 (I think) triax plys for the solid glass inserts on the main gear bulkheads as well as the landing gear pads (I think they use 16 plys for each layup here). The dragonfly was indeed fun and nimble. Because I kept redesigning it, built 3 offices underwent lower spinal reconstruction and life, in general during its construction, I built it over a period of about 20 years. That which was learned there is: unless you are young and have lots of time left, go according to plans and let other people do the R&D for you. Although doing your own R&d is fun and rewarding, it burns up time like a cheap clock in a fire, especially after you spend months developing something which you think is real good, and after looking at it, decide that there is a simpler and more elegant way to accomplish the same thing.-- A vicious cycle. I conservatively estimate that in that one craft, I built at least 3 planes, throwing away two of them It was ultimately powered by a Mid-west Rotary (nee Norton) Owned by Diamond with a 3 blade electric C/S Airmaster prop with warp drive blades. Failure of engine to accelerate after a letdown to 1000' AGL resulted in an arrival, downwind in 35K gusting tail winds, on the short only available landing postage stamp which destroyed the aircraft but allowed me to walk away. When the aircraft came to a stop, the engine was still running, although unable to accelerate, ---albeit with a much shorter Prop. Love that glass and the reclining seating position. Year round capability is great. I have heat in my hanger, however I am not insulated and leaving the heat on for curing gets somewhat dear. Of course you could ask why I don't insulate--Reference the song of the Arkansas Travler-- I do have the capability of turning the heat on from my home, so that the hanger will be nice and warm by the time I get there (about 40 min). The hanger is at ENW, (kenosha Wi) when I get the major parts, I will post it and everybody is welcome to view, criticize and possibly help. Even though I am still sick today, and played hookey from my office, I probably will go out to the hanger to finalize things. (priorities has priorities)

Thanks John, the only difference, that I can see, at this point, is that it is a different top, the windscreen is less pointed, & higer with different back windows. The top comes as one piece from the nose cover (nose ocne is separate) throgh the top cowl. Inconstruction, you separate the pieces. I believe that he forward opening canopy is a selection that you make while constructing it. The Aerocanard uses 600X6 tires although you can use 500X5s. They suggest a nose mounted oil cooler for cabin heat. Jeff uses a lot of Triaxial and some Biaxial in the construction, great materials if you handle them correctly, however you must use special caution when handling the tri-ply since it is easy to disrupt the Uni layer necessitating straightening with plyers. Handled properly the upset doesn't happen. It is a real time saver. In my dragonfly I used Biaxial with an overlayer of UnD. The hanger will be ready this weekend. My glass rack (made of PVC pipe) and plastic is done. My construction table is also complete. The majority of the templates for bulkheads are finished and the foam is cut, soon to be glassed. My epoxy box (masonite with a light bulb) is finished and I am testing the temperature stability that I can achieve. In addition, my wife has stopped calling the project the "are you out of your Fu----g mind thing" to "that plane" In the past 38 years she has suffered with 8 other planes, 3 of them surprises. things are getting exciting

Greetings, Having Been through the whold mouldless making with my dragonfly, I decided to have them make the whole Magilla. The SX top is available separately for about $2725 and mates with the Tub that they make which is wider in the back. I believe that someone is adapting one to the standard homebrew bottom, and that was listed on their website. Looking at it today, the site seems to have changed, however it is probably still available and the fact that it has been done before means that doing it again is probably possible. Give Al a call. I have seen the molds. They are really beautiful and seem to be first rate work. Since Al has just started, (still installing ventalation in the construction hanger,) and is going through the training, there might be a little wait for the part. It seems, however, as if it will be worth it.

Yes, Jon, what you said. I visited Al (the new owner) about 3 weeks ago and saw a bunch of newly minted strakes (looked very high in quality), as well as a shop benig assembeled in a large hanger for the new business. Al seems to be moving along well with this new venture, if not at great speed. he seems to be covering all the bases and seems very positive about what he will be able to do and what his new company will provide. They are making my SX kit. I am now reviewing the videos (on DVD). I will, from time to time, keep all informed about my experiences with them, on this and canard community. At this point I am cleaning out my hanger to begin construction of this, my second glass airplane (first was a dragonfly). My bulkhead templates and preliminary cutting of bulkhead foam and firewall is completed. Hopefully the parts will arrive toward the end of june, so I can start, in eranest, after the marriage of my son. (Although I would like sooner) Al is an aeronautical engeneer, currently with Boeing on the F-15 project, his resume includes working with the Eclipse team. He is located on the Bowling Green (MO) airport which I believe he owns (or gave to the city to get it paved). Give him a chance to get this endeavor started and moving and I think his presence will be very positive for canardians.

Big things happening at Aerocad. It is my understanding that plans, kits, parts, etc will soon be available as a one stop shopping experience, again, for the Aerocanard.

anybody out there have any experience or knowledge about the Carbhinge replacement for aluminum hinges?? Enquiring mind wants to know!!

Can't speak for the cozy, yet, however, as much fun as the dragonfly is, it has a rather light wing loading and thus turbulance is rather uncomfortable. In rain, with the VGs (and I would also add gap seals), it has no bad habits. Composite aircraft are similar to ice chests (or surf boards for that matter) in their ability to insulate and thus massive heaters are not necessary especially in the daytime because of sun thermal load. In the dark, they, like any other insulated vessel will get colder, especially because when you enter and exit them, it is like opening the door of a hanger and allowing all of the warm air to exit. Neither is an STOL aircraft. If the terrain you routenely fly above is less than hospitable to a aircraft that requires a longer hard srface runway I would suggest against a dragonfly and probably against the cozy and opt for an aircraft with a lower stalling speed and thus a shorter ground necessity.

In my imperfect recollection, I remember that Zoche has been showing his diesels at OSH for the last 18-20 years, each time promising that the engine would be available for sale in the following year. The mock ups-he shows are quite good looking. One wonders if he ever plans to manufacture these.

Greetings again Matteo, I just looked up the numbers of the glass that we used in the dragonfly that I mentioned before. The Bidirectional cloth was 7500 it is a 10 oz cloth 60" wide The uni was 7715 no strength given provided in 30" widths The invoice was from 1983. The bi was $3.40 per yard and the uni was $2.80

Greetings Matteo, I remember that about 18 years ago there was a battle between our fearless leader Burt Rutan and a small supplier of fiberglass (Ira Hale ) located in the town of West Texas who was selling an equivalent material to Burt's (uni and bi) except that it came in 60"wide rolls. Burt tried his best to get it taken off of the market, including I believe threats to Spruce and wicks to withdraw support for their companies should they carry the material. Of ourse, it seems that the whole thing was about $$$$. Under pressure the company reformulated their bonding cemical and the material turned out to be stronger than burts. but was still discredited by burt. Many Dragonfly aircraft were built from that material (including my own) I believe Burts material was manufactured by Hexel and the rogue company was Burlington Mills. If you have a source for burlington fabric, find out what the equivalent materia is in their inventory. This is all from memory of over 18 years ago. The company that originally sold the material was Alpha plastics which was then bought by another company and I believe that company was purchased by Aircraft spruce and exists as aircraft spruce west, in georga. Good luck with your fiberglass hunt. If all else fails, can't you import the fabric from the USA?? By the way compositepro, carbon tows, I believe 6"wide were very successfully used with room temp cure composites in the spar caps of all dragonfly aircraft. these caps were combined with a bidirectional shear web to form the spars of the wings, canard and rudder.

Greetings, I have received my "m" drawings for the aerocanard and my kit will be constructed sometime next month by the new owner Al, in St. Louis area (bowling green) under Jeff's tutelage. Mine will be an SX. I am accumulating the parts now, including electronics (from a previous plane), elect nose gear, elect belly board, main and nose gear, and items too numerous to mention. After some honeydos, I will start construction in earnest (other than an hour here and there in preparation) I chose the Aerocanard mainly because of the kit availability, having spent 20 years building a dragonfly from scratch, and then modifying it extensively over and over again. Everyone should build at least one plane from scratch. I'm excited about the build and will do a lot of the work at home (bulkheads, gear reenforcement and tabs etc) When the Fusealge etc arrives, I will move the project to my hanger at Kenosha WI (ENW) where shortly thereafter it will start looking like an airplane. (fameous last words) Rich canardly contain myself

Although kit time savings being small might seem the case, a tremendous amount of time is spent in smoothing the wings, canard and fuselage just to make the bird filyable let alone presentable. This activity probably represents the single largest expendature of time in building. Just think of the hundreds of square feet of rough, uneven material that you must fill, conture, fill conture, fill conture (did I mention filling and conturing) and smooth. You will not be able to understand this unless you have done it. One main advantage of the kits is that the outside surfaces, at least, are made in a mold. The time savings of having the parts premade is also significant. One thing that you know, if you are building, or will know when you start is that all procedures take much longer than you expect them to, not to mention the remakes necessitated by incorrect interpretation of plans or the many other factors that creep into this "sport". Smoooooooth Rich

Mixture of materials (glass /carbon/kevlar) is possible and used many times, but it must be done with knowledge of the materials. The dragonfly spar uses carbon caps. HOWEVER, when mixing materials, the stronger (for want of a better word)material will bear most of the load until it snaps and then transfer the load in a rather abrupt manner to the other material possibly causing a failure mode less able to bear the stresses than either one of them separately. It is unwise to haphazzardly mix matials without the proper engeneering backround. Pure carbon can easily be used for cowlings, etc where it doesn't share load with other non-carbon structures, and a great weight saving can be realized (It even lightens your wallet at the same time) Total carbon planes are somewhat common. The Lancair IV is all carbon as, I think was Spaceship I as well as the Starship. Carbon is not a pantacia, however. Look in Spruce's catalog for a rating of the physical properties of the various materials readily available. (first page of Composite material section) The best carbon is on a perfectly cooked steak Rich

Karollina, The main problem in building an aircraft like the Cozy, EZ or dragonfly using vinyl ester resin is that that material dissolves styrofoam. This is the material that is used for the cores of the wings, canard and winglets. This is not a great thing to happen. I believe that the Glassair uses either epoxy or vinyl ester resin and Lancair uses the other, however neither of these aircraft utilize styrofoam (polystyrene) in their wings. Dissolve to black. Rich

I remember that back in the '70s or late '60s Mooney had a model called the Super 21. This aircraft ustilized an IO360 200 HP. What they did is have a control that would open the induction to the airstream just in back of the prop and bypasss the air filter. They claimed a 1 to 2" increase in MP at cruise. Not recommended was low altitude use of this option. Obviously the degredation of MP is a product of altitued as well as temperature. One of the nice things is that with increased altitude, true airspeed increases. Turbos are nice but they are more complex, involve more maintainence as the intake temperatures are severely increased and suck more fuel in an effort to keep the jugs cool. Whether or not they make sense in a particular installation depends on the mission of the aircraft. I believe that Mooney found, in one of their models that replacing the Turbo engine with a larger normally aspirated engine increased all of the good things and got rid of a lot of problems. Rich

Thank you all for the welcome. My understanding is that only difference is that the SX canopy is different. It is slightly larger and the windscreen comes more foreward on the fuselage giving more front seat percieved room. The rear windows are also different shaped. There is at least one being built at this time. They still have to make a plug to form the different windscreen. Jon thanks for the fine fein suggestion. I will look it up. I kind of got used to those sleepless nights. It also gave me the opportunity to look over the layups that I had done hours before (many times in disbelief). Rich

Greetings all, It is a pleasrue to joinn this group. I have been lurking in the backround and have decided to finally come out of the hanger. I have just sent in a deposit for an aerocanard SX, which I will construct from various kits. I understand that my kits will be the first built in the new location in MO and will be built by Jeff as he trains the new aerocad owner in the fabrication techniques. Previously, I built a Dragonfly, from scratch, which unfortunately was sacrificed to the gods of engine failure near Peoria IL a little over a year ago. The survivability of that "incident" convienced me that I would rather be surrounded by Glass in a semi-reclined position should I have to repeat the experience. I have been flying for about 38 years, this will be my ninth plane and second homebuilt. I look foreward to, once again fill my lungs with epoxy fumes, fill my clothes with epoxy spills and the occasional awakening at 3 AM to do a necessary knife trim. (not to mention my wife's gentle words of encouragement which sound something like "What the hell are you doing now??") I hope to learn a lot about the aerocanard/coxy/EZs from this forum and will contribute when I feel that I can make a contribution. I am located in a northern suburb of Chicago and will do most of the major construction in my hanger at Kenosha Wi. (ENW). If there are any locals around, speak up. I look forward to someday (soon) joining the ever growing flock of Fearless leader Rutan's glass dreams. Rich (forgive the spelling-- no spell check)