tonyslongez

Pic 6) I had some really heavy weight carbon Uni laying around not sure where I got it but it was perfect for what I was going to do next. Here's the story. At some point during the build of John Andrewjeski's airplane he said that they had filled the glass to glass area behind the turndown with a carbon "Rope" by taking several strands of uni and laying them inot the glass to glass depression. So here goes. You can see that I have several strands of uni carbon. Pic 7) I thought in order to handle the rope a little easier I would tie the bundle every six inches or so, this worked great for the initiall wet out of the carbon. I had to cut the ties though to let the carbon form a little easier into the depression. Pic 8) It's really hard to see here in this pic. the carbon strands really blend into the turndown. You can see how the rope filles the depression.

Dale and I where real busy today we got alot done on the airplane. Here we go. Pic 1) We had to build a jig for the shear web attach points. Basically we are following the video here. I think it is the same method that is used in the Roncz plans. BTW if anyone ever wanted to know. The only difference between a Berkut Roncz canard and a regular Roncz canard is the carbon sparcap tape That's it everything else is the same. OH YEAH! I forgot you can pull +9g's with a berkut canard. The stock Long Ez and cozy canards are like wet noodles compared to the Berkut canards. Pic 2) The shear web is layed up and the leading edge is dry fitted to make sure everything is straight. Pic 3) This is a fast forward picture we took our time sanding the foam perfectly to match the airfoil templates this is where the skills of an unlimited hydroplane builder really come in handy. THis canard is dye straight. Damn that Dale is so good. After we layed up the spar cap tapes we did our bottom skin layups. Following the plans precisely. This is the last ply of uni just before we wet stippled it in. Pic 4) I waxed up some mylar and and layed it over the canard squigeed out any excess resin. I was suprised how little excess we had. Tomorrow when this all cures and I peel off the mylar there will be a glass finish. I'm not going to do any micro fill on the canard. This canard is the one that I have for sale. I don't want anyone to think That I'm hiding anything with micro.. Pic 5) I removed the plexiglass from the rollover structure. The turndown came out very nice a couple of very small pockets to fill not a real big concern.

Today was a little busy for me but I was able to get a few things done. I've been reading the plans carefully for the "turndowns" on the rollover structure which later will become part of the drip rails for the canopy. Here goes. Pic 1) First you have to use a piece of plexiglass or plywood which ever you pefer. I used plexiglass, you can see thru it which helps while your doing the layup. Here I have fixed my plexiglss to the rollover structure. You can see the bar going across the front of the rollover structure this is to keep the plexi flat against the rollover. Pic 2) The top of the rollover structure has a cutout in the top this allows the canopy to clear the rollover structure when the canopy opens. You need a seperate piece of plexiglass or wood to cover this area. I used a piece of 18lb density foam I had laying around. The edge is tapered slightly so we have a nice trasition for the layup. The tape is obviuosly the realease. Pic 3) Now that we have everything secured nicely. I ran a toungue depressor sized flox radius around the entire structure. the dark line you see on the plexi is the minumum overlap we need onto the plexiglass. As long as I go to that line or past it I'm O.K. Pic 4) You have to allow the flox to get between the rollover structure and the plexi. This will make a nice crisp edge when it is sanded down to the rollover structure. Pic 5) Once again I used the foil method here to make the layups perfect. This will look great when it cures. Tony

NOOOOO GOOOFBALLLLL!!!!!!!!! That canard was cut up and went into the trash. What I have is a brand new canard and wings and winglets for sale. I hope you really don't think that I would try to passs that Walt Sally canard off to someone. I do have morals. Tony

No I found a set of wings ready to go that I would like to purchase they are fairly exspensive. I need to sell these to help buy those. Otherwise Momma is going to have a fit.

For sale Berkut wings and canard. Roncz Canard with carbon spar caps 70% complete and wings are untouched. I have all the carbon except about 10ft of spar cap tape which can be purchased at wicks aircraft supply. I have all videos and hardware to complete the wings and canard. Make your long Ez super strong with the berkut wings and canard. New, these wings and canard where $12.000 10yrs ago with the price of carbon today it would cost well over $16.000. I'm only asking what I paid for them. $6.000. Call or E-mail. Tony 702-858-9380 tonyslongez@cox.net

Sorry gang I've been very busy at work not much time to post. We are however trying to stay busy with the berkut. I want to let everyone know that I'm going to sell my A-kit which is the canard and wings. The canard is almost complete and the wings are untouched. I have all the carbon needed to complete the wings except maybe 10ft of spar cap tape which you can get from wicks fairly cheap. I will post this in the for sale section as well. Thanks Tony

This weekend was very busy. Dale and I got to work on the canopy frames getting them ready for their layups along with the drip rails for the rollover structures. Pic 1) Here is the front of the rear canopy frame and the rear of the rollover structure. Dale and I spent the latter part of the weekend fitting the canopy frames to the rollover structure. Not an easy thing to do. When it was all said and done we where left with a canopy frame rollover structure match of perfection. Dale did such a good job there is NOOO gap in between the frame and the rollover structure. We'll have to go back and sand the gap at least a full1/16in for thermal expansion cycles of the canopy and frame. Pic 2) I dug out the canard out and started getting it ready for the shear web layups. It's cold in vegas at the moment. that can change of course overnight. I want to get the canard and wings layed up before it gets so hot that I have to fight the resin. I followed the video on making the jig for the canard I sighted the two (waterlines?) on either side of the canard airfoil with a " friken laser". Pic 3) Here you can see the "LASER" indicating the waterline. Pic 4) the waterline has to be perpendicular to the table this will insure that your canard lift tabs will be perpendicular to the canard for the correct incidence. I'll attach that aluminum square that you see to the table this will keep the trailing edge straight. Tony

Lynn I agree, but with the MGS its very difficult. I'm squeeching most of the excess resin out of these layups. With the MGS having such low viscosity I would have to add resin to the layup to make the peel ply work. I'd rather just sand it. I have a wonderful array of power sanders. They make your job very easy if you know how to use them. Tony

Today I was only able to do one layup for the rollover structure. Here are the pics. Pic 1) This is the micro fill used to replace the foam in the rollover structure. I'll let the micro cure, sand it and then do the layup. This is the right side of the rollover. Pic 2) The micro on the left was cured, so I sanded it and layed up four plys in carbon. Each ply is stepped back a 1/2in" starting 4in above the end of the foam. (OR about 7in" above the top of the longeron) (roughly)

This is a bit boring. This is all the time I had for layups today between my honeydo's. Pic 1) I figured I better cover my longerons before they get any unwanted drips or smears on them. I just used 2in wide scotch tape to cover them up. Pic 2) This is one ply of bid inside the rollover structure. This one really tried my patience (gravity) I'm not sure why this one ply is here, it's what the plans call for. SoOOO here it is damn it!!! Tony

Dale and I where hard at work today here is what we did. Now I know it doesn't look like much but I can assure you these are the most tedious layups to date. Pic 1) The longeron is hollow so before I packed it with flox and micro. I placed a piece of crbon tubing in between the rollover structer and the longeron you can't see it of course. The tube is sitting on top of the spar under the longeron. The tube will allow me to run wires from my engine thru the longeron. So! micro the corners and layup two extra plies of bid for the o-540 option. Pic 2) Now we have to replace the foam in the turtle deack around the longeron with a large micro fill. This was difficult, with this much micro it's hard to manage. No matter how dry you make it, the micro wants to sag. I did the best I could with it. Pic 3) Next we layup two plies over the micro lapping one inch onto the firewall and engine mount extending forward down the longeron. Pic 4) The last layup is the aluminum plate. The plate is floxed, and one ply of bid is layed up all around. I'll knife trim this later. Tony

Yeah I know. It's not all that I fixed it didn't I?

Pic 6) Here is the layup all trimmed up. Not to bad. Now we have to install the aluminum and finish the rest of the layup for this section more pics coming Tony

Today was a HOlY SH!% I CAN'T BELIEV I DID THAT, day. Disaster averted. For some strange reason I got it in my thick skull to install the longerons before a very critical layup was performed on the upper engine mount. I'm really not sure why I did it but now I had to face the music. Talk about painting yourself into a corner. Here's what happened. A few days ago John Andrewjeski came over and gave me a copy of the C-Kit plans. Obviously included in those plans is the installation of the longerons. So on the first page it says in big letters "LONERON INSTALLATION". Great! I'm way ahead my longerons are allready installed, next step right? WRONG!!!! It seems that you have to layup your upper engine mounts before the longerons go on. OH SH!%!! I thought the layup went over the longeron. NOOOOO!! under the longeron. Here are the pics (BTW) I called Dale in a panic. He quickly came over and smacked me around a little, then we got to work. Here is what we did to solve our dilemma. Pic 1) Here is the EMB installed with flox. Notice the bottom of the longeron above the spar. In the plans it calls for a 1/4in gap above the spar and a 1/2in gap from the firewall. Pic 2) Here is the first engine mount layup so far so good. Pic 3) O.k this is where it gets U.G.L.Y. using the aluminum foil method, Dale and I where able to essentially walk the layup into place. I don't have any pics of that because it took both of us to make this work. sorry! It took us about 2hrs to get this layup in here ( Note to self! upper engine mount layup goes before the longeron:irked: ) Damn it Pic 4) This is the outside of the rollover structure. When I first received the airplane the area for the spar cut out was an inch to high. After watching the video and reading the plans, I can see how a builder could mess that up. In the video the guys airplane they used for the shoot had been cut the same way. Dave mentions in the video that it is of no consequence. This one inch is what saved my Ass. I would not have been able to perform this layup if this one inch had not been there. Pic 5) Here is a flox fill in the corners of the layup. NEXT

Steve Hey I'm a weight nut too or just a nut Anyway I personaly don't want to use plywood in my airplane. Plywood can absorb moisture and a single ply of bid over foam might not be quite strong enough. You're right though I'm sure they all would've worked just fine. I just personally like to use phenolics over plywood. Tony

John No I don't think so. As far as I've ever heard steels are more ressistant to the "battery" condition that occurs with the aluminum. Now I read if you anodize the aluminum you don't need to insulate from the carbon. Tony

Steve The plans call for plywood for the bulkhead. I'm sure plywood would've worked just fine but I didn't want to use it. The bearing is shperical which will keep the torque tube alligned with the downline bearing. I think that if it where just the phenolic it's to rigid. If the allignment isn't perfect it can bind. The spherical bearing makes this portion of rigging the flight controls so much easier. Now keep in mind I'm doing what was conveyd to me people who have built these things before. Don't kill the messenger:D To answere your other comment I'm pretty sure you can use phenolic for more than just bearings. There are several types of phenolic. Some have very good bearing like qualities, others not so good. Phenolics are used exstensively in this kit for all sorts of missions. Tony

Today I insatlled the phenolic for the flight control bearing. Pic 1) Here is the rear of the phenolic bulkhead. I layed up two plys of carbon 2"in onto the fuselage across the face of the phenolic lapping 2"in onto the outer console. It's sorta in the shape of an "S". On the frontside of the phenolic. I layed up two plys of carbon lapping 2"in onto the fuselage across the face of the phenolic lapping 2"in onto the inside face of the console.In the shape of a "C" If you look close enough you can see that the layup was a little long. It was more like 3"in onto the fuselage and console. Pic 2) Here is the bearing mounted against the bulkhead. I layed one ply of bid across the rear face to insulate the aluminum from the carbon. Tony

Drew Thats really funny. Actually what's happening is, when you have two people working on the same project, you can get things done alot faster. I don't have to tell Dale what to do he just comes over and does it. Tony

Today Dale and I got to work on the consoles. We installed our newly machined flight control bearing as well. I was going to get cute with the mounting of the flight controls. I figured, I'd better just make it straight forward per the plans. Here are the pics Pic 1) You can see here the bearing and the associated bulkhead. I had to mill the bottom of the bearing flange so it wouldn't interfere with the elevator input. This took a while for us to install Pic 2) Here is a pic of the upper console placed on top to get my trim lines. Pic 3) Here is the seat belt layup. The edges where slightly frayed. Not a bad layup just not as pretty as I'd like it to be Tony

Drew The bearing housing took me about 2.5 hours to rough cut it to the diameter. Another 1.0 hour to make damn sure I got the tolerances right. Trust me it was painful for me too. the bearing is pressed in. the O.D. of the bearing was 1.190 the I.D. of the embossment is 1.1895. When you start getting down to your I.D. your turning hairs off of the material. A bit time consuming without CNC. I've got to get me a few cnc machines. Tony

Today I started rigging the control linkages. In the berkut kit you receive a teflon bearing that is secured to a piece of plywood. The plywood is then glassed to the fuse and console. When I started on the Long Ez I used bearings to rigg my controls, which makes for a very smooth (stick) action. this time I'm using these spherical bearings. Here are the pics. Pic 1) Here is the teflon bearing that comes with the kit. Pic 2) I had to make a housing for my bearing. I started with a piece of 3"in dia, fortal aluminum. Unfortunately this was way to big and it took a while to turn it down to the diameter I needed. Pic 3) Here is the housing with the bearing pressed in. It's hard to see but the corners have been radiused. Pic 4) Here is a side view of the bearing and housing. the flange is .200 thousandths. The housing is very lite. The wall thickness's are .100 thousandths Pic 5) This is the start of the assembly as it will be in the airplane. I'm not sure if I'm going to use these bearing as they are. I have another idea for rigging the stick. which may be a little more elegant Tony

Richard I'll have to look into that. Today Dale and I got to work installing the pilot seat bulkhead (PSB) and consoles. Here are the pics Pic 1) Here is the consoles microed into place Pic 2) This is a shot from above. You can see the carbon has been sanded all the way around. Pic 3) I remebered to use the tin foil technique this time. This is two plys of carbon 2"in wide Pic 4) Using the tin foil sure makes for a nice layup. Pic 5) Here is a shot of the PSB and and console layups. Tony

Edge Thank you. It's nice to be recognized by my peers. Big-T I certainly don't think Buly failed. I think he's been instrumental in his install. It's nice to see what can be done with these engines. I think the people we REALLY and I mean REALLY!!! need to be talking to are INDY guys. Indy teams have alot of things worked out that involve 200mph. Dave Algie comes to mind. Dave has a wonderful shop and his fabrication skills are the best on the planet. If the rotory engine is going to be a viable power plant that guy is the one we need to get on board with us. When the time comes. I would love to give him some money to make a standard pusher install for the rotory. Tony