Phil Kriley

I ordered the chapter 13 kit from AS&S and it included a piece of "bush stock" 1015/1020 BUSH STOCK 3/8 X.065 that I ASSUME is to be used to fabricate the NG-14's. The plans don't tell you what to fabricate them from - they just say "fabricate them"... The "bush stock" inside diameter is too narrow for the bolts, so I drilled them out. I hope this is OK - the archives have mention of this, but no answer. If anyone can put my mind at ease, I'd appreciate it! TIA!

Thanks Rick! I got the bolts and put the wheel, inner tube and tire together with a few pounds of pressure in it. Seems to be OK - good enough for me to continue working on the nose section, anyway!

Thank you! Looks GREAT!

You might want to take a look at this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1981-...item2a039d97ed

I bought my front wheel from another builder, but it did not come with the bolts to hold it together, and there are no markings on the wheel to tell me the manufacturer. There are three holes, and they are not threaded. An AN4-21 or 22 looks to be a good fit. Should I use a washer under the bolt head and under the nut? Should I use "shoulder" type locking nuts? Any help woould be appreciated - thanks!

Talking to yourself? There is most definitely a kink at the trailing edge. Sanding it flat will make quite a mess...

Thanks for the info - looks like a winner!

The easiest and least expensive thing to do is add the lead - we're not talking about adding 50 lbs to the plane - just enough to safely balance the parts. Follow the plans as to how much you can add and see if that does the trick. If not, then sand off the paint and try again - explaining to the painter that it is imperitive to have as light a finish as possible, and explain why. Please let us know how it works out for you! I've been thinking about having my elevators, ailerons and rudders finished and painted ahead of time, just so I won't be worrying about them.

Very nice!

Remember to use the right epoxy for the forward face of the spar, as it becomes the rear wall of your fuel tanks. Have fun! This was a very satisfying part for me.

Welcome JHICKS! Next summer, visit a canard fly-in or two, and of course Oshkosh. You can usually find folks willing to give rides, and you might find some for sale as well. The canards tend to park together at Oshkosh, so you can get a real good look at 50-100 of them and get a real good feel for the variety of quality. Happy hunting!

That was Neiman-Marcus' price, and included training for two. Pretty pricey training! LOL! I guess N-M needs to make a hefty profit! Can't imagine many takers...

Marc mentioned shot bags, and they have been very handy in my project. I bought two 25-lb sacks of lead shot at the local gun shop, and made 10 five pound sacks of shot. I used old drapery material for the bags, and put the shot into heavy plastic bags inside the cloth bags - don't want to have any lead dust to deal with. I've used them throughout the build. They don't damage the foam with dings like you can get if you use iron weights. I figure they'll come in handy as ballast when it's time to fly. Happy building!

I do not believe you could make your own bow, because it is made of S-glass laid up in a mold and baked in a kiln. And I have no idea what epoxy they use. You want to buy the bow and nosegear strut from Featherlite. Then you will take the parts and follow the plans for the extra layups that go onto the parts. Good luck!

At least Neiman-Marcus seems to think so... According to Neiman-Marcus... ICON A5 Sports Aircraft and Pilot Training for Two Price: $250,000 Forget the his and hers towel set. Instead, how about a luxury aircraft built for two? The Icon A5, designed by the same team who created the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne, is made of lightweight carbon fiber and features several James Bond-like touches including "spy-movie wings" that fold up, as well as the ability to touch down on land or water. But even 007 needed a license to kill -- so included is a FAA-certified Sport Pilot License training for two.

The Cozy Girrrls site shows how to use the click bonds to attach something to the surface of the fiberglass. I used click bonds on my plane's aileron hinges by inserting them through the top skin of the wing. Here's how I did it: I drilled the holes per plans, and got everything lined up correctly. Then I inserted the click bonds through the holes from the outside and traced around the heads on the top skin with a Sharpie. I removed the click bonds and used a router attachment on my Dremel to route out the area inside the circles so that the click bonds would sit flush with the top skin. I added 2 bid to the inside of the wing to provide more strength to make up for what I removed on the outside. I floxed the click bonds into place and put 1 bid over them from the outside, and peel plied. I put hardware store nuts on the inside to pull the click bonds nice and tight, squeezing out any excess flox, and squeegeed. I think they turned out great! I attached the other half of the hinges to my aileron this past weekend, and last night we attached it to the wing and I'm REALLY pleased with the result. I took a few pictures and will post them if I remember. You can see a similar process on Wayne Hick's site, even though he later changed his mind due to aesthetics. I don't think he routed the top skin as I did.

Welcome to the forums! I don't know much about Varieze's, but 120 max cruise is way slower than it should be. Heck, my old Beech Musketeer would beat that, and it was not known for it's speed.

It almost looks like cinders from a coal furnace - any chance there is something falling from the ceiling of your workshop? If you peel-ply everything, it will help give you a more uniform appearance and overly wet areas will be very obvious - it will also protect your layup from whatever is contaminating it. I would not reject that part, but you are doing the right thing in trying to find the root cause.

Squeegee your micro per the instructions, then lay your cloth on and pour epoxy over the glass or else you will be pulling micro up through the weave, and that's not a good idea. Pour it on, move it around with the squeegee, then remove most of the epoxy with light passes of the squeegee, then add you next layer of cloth and stiple/squeegee, adding epoxy with a brush in dry areas.

Wicks or AS&S will send you new material if needed. But small gouges are easily filled with dry micro - post some pics and we can help you.

A real man would have done that to the OUTSIDE of the cover... Very nice - I've never learned how to do that with a router!

Oh! OK - then I agree with the previous responder - I used a cone-shaped Dremel bit. You just have to be careful not to cut all the way through the glass.

Why did you remove all of the foam on your seatback?

I'm really dissappointed in the price. I'd have been willing to pay a premium, but not that much. I'd have been willing to part with half that much. $62+k - no way.

Beautiful plane, but in the first set of pictures it looks like several of the "stickers" are either coming up or not pressed down?