tonyslongez

Tony- my point about the craftmanship is - it is obvious the guy was wanting to do the best possible job. If you see a crappy job- you typically think "well the guy maybe missed something- he wasn't careful". Thats all. Theres plenty of shadetree mechanics that can "make 'sheet' dance", as the oldboy saying in the South goes. Buly tried everything he could before resigning himself to the last decision.

I agree with you 100%. A nice install is a nice install. I think he was close to figuring out what the gremlin was that was causing him so much grief. You can certainly have those types of problems in any install right? I didn't agree with his decission to yank his install. Look how far he went. He did miss something. I believe he had a wiring problem somewhere if I remember. Like you said

I KNOW MY limits..

Tony

I thought it was interesting to show Buly's install. Sure Buly had problems with his beautiful install, just because you can install something pretty doesn't mean you can make it run. Interestingly enough Tracy's installs are not pretty at all and yet he flies the hell out of his airplane. I really want the rotary to work. I would love to put one on the Berkut. I'm just scared to death, do you install a LYC and go fly or go rotary and spend 9 more months after the build to get it running. I'm not sure if it's there yet.

Tony

Sorry to butt in. I just love landing gear discussions. I talked with Robbie Grove several months ago about gear for the Long Ez. If I had a problem getting the gear legs for the Berkut I was going to order a set of alluminum gear. I think the alluminum would look good and would solve the heat issue from heavy breaking. The alluminum is quite a bit stiffer than the glass so make sure you land like a butterfly. Maybe we could take a que from the berkut and make lower talons. The only thing about the long Ez bow is, it has creep

Today

Dale and I finished up installing the longerons and did a carbon layup inside the fuse. We also did a little finish work while we where at it.

Pic 1) This is the backside of the longeron. I had to install the phenolics for the canopy latches. The phenolics are floxed in with two plies of bid over the top.

Pic 2) This is two plys of carbon on the floor, extending up the side of the fuse as high as the consoles and lapping 2"in onto the instrument panel. Now many of you may ask WHY? Well heres the story. If you've never seen the bottom of a berkut fuse there is a noticeable lack of thick foam on the floor. Remember the plans on the long Ez that had the builder do this real elaborate floor with pockets of foam dished out of a 2"in thick block? Well that thick foam was great if you crashed, it meant the pilot was less likely to be ejected out of the bottom of the fuse. Well that type of floor doesn't lend itself to a production aircraft that uses molds for it's shape. So after talking with a few of my Indy buddy's. It was agreed that two plies of carbon would help prevent the ejection of the pilot out of the bottom of the fuse in the event of a crash. Look at Pic 4 this is Charles Brackens berkut. I know this was a bad crash but look where the fuse failed, right at the instrument panel. look what happen to the pilot seat, right out the bottom of the fuse. A few other Berkut crashes have revealed the same problem. So for my piece of mind, I'll put down the two plies of carbon. I'm also going to extend the carbon down the nose on the other side of the instrument panel.

Pic 3) Here's Dale sanding the lip on the longeron.

Pic 4) Charles Brackens airplane.

(Over 10,000 views now, WOW!!)

Tony

Are they a wood core wrapped in carbon?

larry

No ! they are a mix of carbon and glass. The very tops of the longeron are a black gel coat. The rest of the longeron is carbon glass and foam. The gel coat might be something like this.

http://www.fibreglast.com/showproducts-category-category-10.html

Tony

I am interested in the specifics of the longerons.

Larry

Sorry, I don't have that information. The longerons are a premolded part.

How about some construction details such as materials and layup schedule?

Larry

Can you be more specific?

I only have layup schedules for the parts that I build from the construction manuals, which I have shared. I have know idea what the layup schedule is for premolded parts.

Tony

Today Dale and I got a full days work on the Berkut. Here is what we did.

First let me start by saying this took almost 8hrs to accomplish. This has been some of the most tedious work yet, But it was perfect when we where done.

Pic 1) Here is the Longeron clecoed in place

Pic 2) Here is the longeron in the depression on the fuse. This is what took so damn long to fit. GOOD LORD. It wasn't hard but like I said earlier. Tedious,

in the end the longerons where perfectly level and the fit and finish is outstanding.

Pic 3) This was the really cool part. When the longerons where fit in the depressions. I noticed that the bottom of the longeron was sitting perfectly on top of the spar. The other longeron was exactly the same which verifies the spar is in the correct position, not that I didn't think it was, but it was nice to see some extra validation.

Tony

Here is the console after the layup has cured. I don't know if you can see it but the finish is outstanding. Not that it really matters, the fuse will be sprayed with zolotone. but it's nice to make a light part. This week Dale and I are going to build an oven. I'm also going to get a vacuume pump and start bagging all these parts. Hopefully I can get some pre-preg material and play with that. I'm going to build the oven so it can reach at least 400deg. If you know where I might get some timed out pre-preg let me know.

Pic 1) Console after the mylar has been removed.

One other thing that I didn't mention in the last post. When you use mylar you have to wax it before you lay it over the wet fiberglass.

Sorry it's just one pic that's all I had time for.

Tony

Today Dale and I layed up the consoles. If you remember the early pics. I had to scrap the consoles do to the workmanship. I started reading the plans for installing the consoles and made a small modification. The plans called for the removal of the top twoo plys of bid and the removal of foam core to accomodate a piece of phenolic block for the seat belt. Well since this is new construction I went ahead a layed up the block and console in one shot here are the pics.

Pic 1) console. with phenolic block

Pci 2) Close up of the phenolic block (YES it got sanded)

Pic 3) Once the layup is done I covered it with mylar and squeeged the excess resin out. I'll leave the mylar and peel it off after it cures. The finish is unbelievable. The reason I use mylar and not plastic is mylar will not stretch like plastic will. When you stretch the plastic it will shrink back into original relaxed state which will make a rinkle or intorduce air in that area. use mylar it works great.

Tony

wow, very nice!

Regards, Chrissi & Randi

Thanks Girrrls. Anyone can have a set for a mere $10,000. That includes the trunions. these gear are good for 3400lbs G/w.

More pics coming soon.

Tony

Are you going off the drawings for the pivot trunions? They're a lot more complicated than the A or H arms.

Richard

May I direct you to post #217. Those are 3D solid works drawings of the trunions and upper gear leg. I drew those from a set of drawings. I'll give you time consuming to machine. Difficult! not at all.

Very nice machining, Look GREAT!!!

DMCHAPLIN.

Yes they are pretty. They are a bit pricey though.

Tony

O.K. I recieved my landing gear parts this weekend from california. Here the pics.

Pic 1) I started to polish my A and H arms last night. I'll finish that up this week.

Pic 2) Here are the cnc billet upper gear legs. this is the top of the gear leg.

Pic 3) Here is a side view of the upper.

Pic 4) Not the greatest pic in the world. These are new main gear actuators. Very pretty.

Pic 5) Carbon pre preg MG-30 bulkhead. WOW!

All total was about $9000.00 dollars in machining and material cost. I still have to make the trunions. Which I will do myself. Now that I have a set of A and H arms. I can machine extras if I need to.

I must say Tony, taking a basket case as you have and transformed it into what you have now is remarkable. Your workmanship is outstanding and you will wind up with a great AC when you are finished. Your posts show what can be done to correct problems for people who buy unfinished projects ,which maybe have some quality build problems. Keep up the good work.

Jack

Thanks for the reply. I'm doing the best I can. I've been very lucky with this project, having Dale's help. That guy can build anything. Not to mention, the host of other characters that are helping as well. (names being withheld to protect the innocent). Anyway thanks for boosting my ego. I think the next set of pics will be of the new landing gear. I pic those up on saturday.

Tony

Pic 6) Here we have two plys of bid lapping onto the upper engine mount bracket, onto the firewall,and onto the spar.

Pic 7) Once the two plys are on the engine mount. Two more plys of bid are applied lapping onto the firewall, onto the spar, and over the first two plys on the engine mount. Giving us a total of 4 plys onto the engine mount 2plys on the spar and firewall top and bottom.

Pic 8) This is the right side (looking toward the nose) of the firewall no gap

Pic 9) This is the left side of the firewall no gap:cool:

The triangulation and level of the spar was absolutely perfect. Right on the money:thumbsup:

Tony

Today Dale and I mounted the spar. Here are the pics.

Pic 1) I sanded the entire area of the firewall that was going to be involved with the layup. I brushed a healthy dose of resin in the sanded area.

Pic 2 ) Here you can see the flox that was applied to the spar prior to install. In the video. you mount the spar with a glob of flox well dale wouldn't have any of that. We spread the flox evenly over the spar, tappering the flox at the edges.

Pic 3) When you install the spar. you have to be careful not to get any of the flox scrapped off as you are inserting the spar thru the fuselage. You can see how the spar is as far forward in the cut out's as possible.

Pic 4) Once the spar is in, it is clamped to the firewall. A large amout of flox was squeezed out. (I wish I had taken a pic of that).

Pic 5) Here is the top of the spar. I'm applying two plys of bid 19"in long using the aluminum foil technique. Doing layups with foil really makes the job alot easier.

Next Post.

Could anyone tell me what is the main difference between pic 3 and 4 I can't notice. Just kidding

Mak that's really funny! Thanks for the support buddy.

I almost forgot about the phenolics that need to go between the engine mount brackets. here are the pics

Pic 1) This is the phenolic block 3 of the edges are radiused. The edge facing inboard is tapered. you can see it in pic 2.

Pic 2) Trial fitting the phenolic. Here you can clearly see the tapered edge.

Pic 3) A generous amount of flox is used to set the phenolic in place.

Pic 4) One ply of bid is used to cover the entire block and engine mount brackets.

Tony

-welcom back. If your just tuning in. We're working on the lower engine mounts of our Berkut project that we obtained from a previous builder a few months ago.

Pic 1) Here are the plys of bid lapping onto the firewall and the engine mounts. There is an excessive amount of glass that hangs over, this is trimmed away so no air is trapped at the edges.

Pic 2) Here I am stippling the inner plys real good. I need to make sure no air is trapped in the layups between the engine mount brackets. (nice face full of fumes)

Pic 3) This is what the engine mounts look like all trimmed up. Once it cures, I'll give it a quick sanding to knock down any edges. Otherwise, the engine mounts are now complete.

Pic 4) This is a before shot, in case anyone forgot what it looked like when I got the kit.

Coming up! We mount the spar on our Berkut project, and we'll take a look at the new landing gear.

Tony

Pic 6) I know it's hard to see but the next bend is the overlapping of the two opposing flaps of glass onto the firewall. So what's happening is, six plys lap onto the fuselage, six plys lap onto the engine mount, and twelve plys lap onto the firewall.

Pic 7) This is an ugly picture the flox was very difficult to handle due to the crampped quarters of the fuse. I'm like a baby rhino trying to handle a popsicle stick not an easy thing to do. My horn gets caught on everything.

anyway, once the first ply of glass is put in place, more flox is added to the opposite side for the next layup.

Pic 8) This is the upper outboard engine mount. You can see how the glass is applied. The first tab of glass is lapped onto the firewall while the other is held out of the way.

Pic 9) Once the glass is in place. Peel the aluminum away exposing the backside of the fiberglass.

Pic 10) Now we lapp the opposing tab onto the firewall. this will add up to be 12 plys of glass. On the inside of the engine mounts the total lapp onto the firewall is 24 plys.

More to come tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Tony

I had a little time left tonight before I called it a night. I started the layup on the lower engine mounts. This is not the easiest layup to follow in the plans. There isn't alot of diagrams to go with the layup sequence. I carefully read and re-read this section. In case anyone trys this layup at least you'll have some pics to go by. Here we go!

Pic 1) The first thing you have to do is layup six plys of bid 9x40 on the bias

Pic 2) After the six plys are wet out. Cover the layup with aluminum foil. Mark off (6) 6x8in sections. Cut the sections into 6 rectangles

Pic 3) Cut a 3in slot right down the middle of each rectangle.

Pic 4) This is where the plans are a bit confusing but once you get it, it's not to bad. The first thing you have to do is bend the rectangle into a 90deg angle. like so.

Pic 5) The next bend is perpendicular to the first bend.

I made my trunions from 1/4 in angle with self aligning 3/8 bearings.

Jack

That sounds like it would work.

Today I was busy with layups. I had to remove the engine mounts which where only super glued in place. here are the pics.

Pic 1) This is two plys of bid on the lower cowling mount. These plys where removed when I had to remove the firewall when I took the spar out to fix it.

Pic 2) This is the bottom of the rear roll over structure. I have to remove these old plys of glass. I had to cut thru them to seperate the roll over structure to install the new firewall.

Pic 3) This is the lower front side of the firewall with two plys of bid

Pic 4) I don't recall posting a picture of the finished spar close out. Here it is.

Tony

looks a bit over kill, why does it need to be so intricate I used 1/4" thick angles, the same thing the long eze uses to support the gear. the load is mostly down on the trunions and most of the load is up into the longeron area. the bearings are 3/8" spherical bearings mounted in the gear leg. the h and a links have solid brass bushings on 3/8" AN bolts. the upper part of the gear leg shown as casting in your drawing could be made all on piece with the lower gear leg. mine is all carbon but could be made as one piece aluminum from Grove. there is a one off canard at chino with this type gear. and there is an eracer at Hemet that is mounting this type after an off field landing took out his original glass gear. the gear leg in the pic is for a KR 2. the size material would be a bit larger to support the berkut

Lynn

I don't know why the gear are the way they are. I think it has to do with the 3400lb ATOG. I believe there was an issue with gear creeping, with the older style all carbon leg. From what I remember talking with Dave that's why we now have aluminum uppers and lowers. As far as the trunions they are basically 1/4 thick only they house that KP-8 bearing. I personally like the bushing idea, but that is not how the Berkut gear are set up. send me some pics of your gear I would love to see them.

Tony

Lynn

It looks like to me that in the first picture that would be considered the trunions.

The second pic might be considered the A, and H arms.

here are some drawings of the older style Berkut gear. The trunions are represented in blue. The embossments retain the KP-8 bearings

Tony

If you use Grove gear why do you need the upper trunion? just bend like the original gear legs and drill the end for the pivot. can also be drilled for the brake line.

The newest Berkut legs were made with a flat piece of G10 as a center core with carbon on both sides. the flat gear leg is clamped to the trunion and wheel spindle casting. like the nose strut

Lynn

The trunions as I recall are the pieces that attach to the MG-30's bulkheads. The trunions house the kp-8 bearings which the upper gear leg pivot. I don't think you can just bend the aluminum gear leg to form an upper. The new upper gear legs are far more heavy duty than the aluminum gear leg itself as an upper. The newest berkut gear legs no longer use G10 stock for the core. The gear legs are solid carbon fiber. The gear legs where never clamped to the upper gear and lower talon they are potted in ly505 resin. which is now no longer used either. The new gear are rapped in fiberglass at the top of the leg and autoclaved then machined to the proper dimension. the gear are then pressed and bolted into the upper gear legs.

Tony

I get asked a lot about the gear and there are builder that do need the gear to complete there project. let us know about what the cost will be and give the idea some time to get the word spread and I think there will be more then you may think that will want the parts.

Lynn

Time is of the essence. I don't know how long this opportunity will be available to us. I think there are some areas of the gear that may be cost prohibitive. For instance, The gear legs are now solid carbon fiber pre-preg. Very exspensive. I was thinking Robbie Grove could cut a set of aluminum legs to fit the uppers. This would also save money, by eliminating the lower talon. So you would need the upper gear legs, trunions, A and H arms, actuator arm, actuators, and hydraulic pump. I'll try to get a cost for both aluminum and carbon legs.

1) Are you doing the "T" arms (that bolt to the H arms?)

 

2) Are you doing the pivot trunions?

 

3) Are you getting rid of the lightening pockets in the gear upper end? And are you aware of Dave's mod to the cast uppers that involved welding heavy plate to tie the two pivot arms together?

Richard

All of the issues with the older style Berkut gear have been fixed. The gear that you have on your Berkut are cast aluminum. the new gear are all billet. including the upper gear leg and talons, A, and H arms, and the actuator arm. The trunions are billet as well.

When you see these gear you'll want a pair. They are beautiful.

Tony