Big Steve

Why do you want to turn a nice flying light little airplane into motor hog. The plane does not need that kind of weight or horse power. If I remember the original longeze was promoted without a starter and a 025 c1c that weighed in at 250 lbs. Your motor is over 150 lbs heavier than the plane was designed for. Its your money your time and your life. I built one with the 0235 c2c motor it flew beautifully carried me my cousin and all the fuel we could stuff in it anywhere we wanted to go. It got 30 miles to the gallon and got there fast. If it aint broke why fix it? STeve

tomwang: What are you using for bulkheads? How are you going to attatch your canard? The fuselage is the easy part it is hooking all the flying surfaces in the right place that makes it fly. STeve

I will cut the longeron pieces that stick out just before I install my final metal firewall it will cover them up. Right now I use them for turning the fuselage and as general handles. My spar is made but not installed I am holding off on this until I get all the frufra done in the fuselage. Once you put on the center section spar and start on the strakes turning over the plane gets to be a lot of work. STeve. Build on

Tomwang: There is a gentleman on one of the other list who is making a fuselage very simiar to the one you are making. Great Idea take a Longeze and make the fuselage rounded maybe lighter. Just make sure you test everything really good before you test your life in it. STeve

I hit the wrong button and posted. Here is the other picture of the heat shield.

Here are a couple of pictures of the heat shields on my CozyIV it has Matco brakes the shields are .063 thick. I plan on painting them with a special paint before I taxy or fly.

Al Wick asked to post this so everyone could see it. Steve Bunch of little cool things about this design: 1) Not shown, but microswitch placed behind cam is only tripped if canopy is actually latched. So no false trigger is possible. 2) The springs hold cams below flush, so no more ripped pants. 3) Just before opening latch, spring load approaches infinity (well, you know...sorta). So little risk of opening under pressure. 4) I can close canopy with it un cammed (unlatched). That allows me to use car trunk latch to lock canopy at night. Note that wide area washer at seat back. That's essential, as seat back is pretty flimsy.

Having built a Longeze and am about 2/3 done with the structure of a Cozy IV I would say that the Longeze is about what Waiter said 15%-20% less work. I really like some of the things that Nat added to the Cozy IV. The Turtle back and Canopy is a whole lot harder than building a Long. There is a lot more jigging in the IV than the Long If somebody would have given me a set of Longeze plans before I started on the Cozy I would have built another Longeze. There are some things about the Cozy that I like a whole lot more than the Longeze. I like the way the main gear is mounted and the way the motor mount attaches to the airframe. Nat spent more time figuring out nice things too like drip rails and wiring helpers. They are different airframes to build so in some ways hard to compare. I plan on building an open ez when I am done with the Cozy I will probably incorporate several cozy features into that build. Build on Steve

Dmchaplin said: If you dont use urethane for your spar remember that the inboard part of your spar is gas tank. Urathane does not disolve in gas. Wing foam does. Do not I repeat do not use wing foam in your spar it could ruin a lot of work. I used the urethane in my spar it worked great. Your spar does not get bumped in the build stage like your nose does so using urathane is no big deal. I did not use urethane in the nose because I knew it would be exsposed for a long time and would get all dinged up. Dont use wing foam in your spar. Build on STeve

You could put your nose on and the nose gear. You spend most of the time it seems building stuff for the fuselage. The wings spars and canard I would not want to ship around to much they are also big and bulky. You could also build your turtle back it would fit in the container with the fuselage when you ship it home. I am not going to build my strakes or attatch my turtle back until I am almost done I will build everything else. Once you put the strakes on the game changes your shop shrinks and you are always ducking under them. build on STeve

I was down to Jackpot last night for the 4th of July fireworks show. It is a fabulous show and they always catch the desert on fire so it is like going to a 3 ring circus. There were about 10 canards down there. Even a Cozy IV correct me if I am wrong but I was told the bird in the picture is Nat puffers original Cozy IV. Nice looking airplane it is now a 1 seater and has lots of electronic stuff in it. Living here in Idaho there are not to many canards to see so I always look forward to the Jackpot crowd bringing there planes down close enough for me to drive in and see them. STeve build on

Ryan wrote: Heck who needs ventilation after a nice 10 hour layup with eze poxy I feel no pain at all it also kills all the flys and runs the cock roach's out. I was going to use mgs on this project. But when I started nobody could get any. So I had the pump for eze poxy just started using it. I built the Long with it so I was used to it. (eze poxy is just like the old saftey poxy) Availability is important to me. I dont like vendors slowing me down. Steve

I usually fill the really "deep holes" with eze poxy micro. I know that I will be going over them again with west system. I also use the extra micro when I have it to smooth out places where foam is exposed like the bulkheads it gives it a really nice look when it is painted. For all you weight freaks it does ad weight so maybe I better just throw that little bit of extra in the waste can. I have started using small paper cups like they put nuts in at a wedding. Maybe 3 oz. I use popsicle sticks to mix it. This way I can do a 1/4 squirt out of the pump and it is still pretty easy to mix up. Dont waste that stuff it is expensive!!!!:

After building 1 1/2 airplanes out of epoxy and fiberglass I have learned not to waste the stuff. If I have a little left over in the bottom of the cup I will mix micro with it and spread it somewhere on the plane. I am going to have to frosting cake it someday anyway. Now that I am building lots of little fairing parts doors and semi non structural items. If I have a little left over I put it in a baggy and put it in the freezer. I get it out the next day let it sit for awhile and then put some fresh epoxy out of the pump on it then mix it up. I only do this on stuff that is non structural. Dont waste the stuff fix all your wifes stuff with it:D Back before gloves became popular all my drink cups had epoxy finger prints all over them. I still have a 20 year old drink cup with epoxy finger prints. Build on STeve

Rock: You could do that using the same materials we use to make a standard canopy. would take a lot of before thought. That canopy is going to be really flimsy. My forward hinging canopy is shorter and it wiggles all over the place when it is not bolted down to the fuselage. I like the look. I think you could make it work I just dont know if it would work the way you wanted it to. My .02 STeve build on

Re: Greetings from Roseville, CA. Welcome: I went to High school just north of you in Lincoln. We used to run buy the airport when we went for long runs. I have never been back to Lincoln airport since I graduated but when I finish my present project I plan on going there in my plane. Make sure it is okay with the wife before you start a very involved long term project like building a plane. Lots of guys trade their wife for a plane, in my book that is a bad trade. For most of us building is an addiction that keeps us at home or at the airport you wont meet nicer people than homebuilders in general. Welcome Steve build on.

I have a tinted canopy from Todd. It is a very nice canopy and looks great. I do not think it is to dark to fly at nite with. Time will tell I am still building chapt. 18 Build on STEve

Steve I. Said: You will be really greatful for those shoulder harness's with out crashing or flying upside down. I flew across the badlands of Colorado in the summer time once. The turbulence was so bad that without the seat belts I would have been in the canopy continually. Fire extinguishers are not the answer here, better through points in the firewall and a different way of getting fuel to the engine I have never been a fan of hard lines with fuel in them. They crack and leak unsuspected. That said I will probably use the plans method of getting fuel to the gascolator then braided lines wherever fuel connects to that rattly Lycoming motor. Build on STeve

Drew: It took me 4-5 hours to tape the fuselage bottom to all the bulkheads. I layed out a sheet of tin foil 36" long and then marked off 2 " lines I then layed out 2 8" wide pieces of bid and wet them out. Then used the Dritz scissors to cut down the 2" lines that I had made I think I had to do this about 3 time if my memory is correct. Gives you really nice tapes to install. You can pre bend the tin foil with the glass on it and just push it into the corners. The hardest part is getting the tin foil off the glass with the latex gloves on. Build on STeve

Phil: The hinge for my nose cover is straight of the Cozy Girls web site just resized to work for my application. The hinge for the canopy is my own design with some inspiration from Dennis Passey. If you want to see some pictures of the hinge go to my web site. STeve build on

Well I have great news to report. My forward hinging canopy works. It is a little different but it is structurally pretty strong. I did raise many issues doing it and I am slowly working through each one. I do not regret doing it and I dont think it took me that much longer to do than to do it the plans way. I have finished the hinge for the nose access door. The whole top piece has twisted and flexed so I will have to do some major grinding to get it to fit when I glass the nose back together. I don not regret doing the nose the canard cover and the canopy frame all at the same time. I would not glass it all at the same time if I was to do it over. Lots of things to do the addiction continues. Build on STEVE

I used aircraft grade douglas fir. It is 20% stronger than spruce but 20% heavier. I had a planner and it saved my about $150.00 Build on STeve

Extra people can make the build go faster by getting layups done faster and parts prepped faster but you still have to wait for the resin to cure and the hours for that does not change no matter how many people you have working on it. You also have to have a shop big enough and enough tables to keep everyone working or there time means nothing. My .02 STeve Building on

Andrew wrote: I bought a 4" 150lb. unit from Firgelli it works very nicely and easy to install took me a couple of nights total. That also counts making the aluminum mount. It cost 109.99 + shipping. I have not flown the plane but I figure as long as I can get electricity to it. It will work. The landing brake is not a necessity but it sure in nice as Lynn says to taxi with. My .02 build on STeve

Well after a short 10 hour session in the shop. I am now the proud owner of a glassed top Cozy IV. It takes awhile to glass the whole thing in one pop but it is sure nice to have all the smooth connected surfaces all bonded together at the same time. Build on STeve