Big Steve

Rob: After the epoxy cures you can put any epoxy you want over it. If that bothers you When you get done with one chapter or part make the next out of another epoxy. I am using ez 84 it is around $60 a gallon if you buy it in the 71/2 gallon kits. There are ways around that over priced German stuff. STeve

The longer nosed Longeze is a much better looking plane. You have to figure it out yourself though. Not hard to do It adds a bit of individuality to your plane. My Longeze had a very good looking nose and so will yours because you built it. STeve

Killerb1971 posted 1) airplane/flying, (2) food, (3) shelter, (4) clothing.....etc. : ) You mean you actually eat and buy clothes? I need to fix my truck but my plane needs it more. STeve

Now it is time to get epoxy dust and fiberglass all over the floor to make it look lived in. A fuselage and a bunch of parts hanging from the roof will give it a real airplane factory feel. Enjoy the build. Steve:)

Survial suit (worn on all legs of flight over water) Personal Locator Beacons (at least two) Satalite phone life raft MRE's water first aid kit Dye canisters (sea) smoke canisters(land) Fire makeing tools Fire extinguisher a hatchet a .22 caliber survival rifle (perhaps layed up in the airframe, out of sight) and maybe some fishing tackle. Your forgot you have to build the plane first it generally takes about 5 years and 2-3 thousand hours. Start building. STeve:cool2:

If your temperature is below 40* It might never get hard. Take it in the house put it on the table where it is flat and make sure your house is at least 70* If it does not get hard over night you have a problem with your resin ratio or something to that effect. Get yourself a Little heater and some plastic or carboard cover your layups over night my shop gets in the 30's all the time. I use a heater in a box or something to that effect. My parts are always hard when I come out the next moring. Get a Black and Decker heat gun at Lowes for about $30.00. Use it to wet out your epoxy in a cold shop. I went through 3 chineze heat guns before the black and decker it works great and has variable heat. If you cant make a part the plans way I doubt if you can have succes vacum bagging. Learn how to do it the Rutan way and when you get good at that then learn how to vacum bag. You have to walk before you can run. Here is a picture of how I cured a part I was working on behind the front seat.

Bruce it has been 25 years since I built mine I cut them out by hand with a hack saw. As long as they match each other that shape does not matter that much. I am a weight freak I would take all the humps off and put in a couple of lightening holes. STeve

Why not just use what the plans call out? Sitka spruce it is light glues well and a few hundred flying eze's cant all be wrong?

Kraig: Welcome to the addiction. I will have to respectfully for the first time disagree with mr. Edge 513 I have a web site not a real official web site but a place on the web that I can share my pictures with other builders and family far away. Most of which think I am crazy but love to look at the pictures. Here is a web site. The same one I use for my plane log. http://www.expercraft.com/ Even a non computer guy like myself figured out how to work it. I have pictures to share and yes I find time to work on the plane. Infact I am catching people that are almost 2 years ahead of me. But Edge is right I wish I would have bought a project I would be ahead of him if I would have. Much cheaper and saves lots of time. Remember that building is life then you fly and have fun. STeve

welcome to the addiction. I bet there are several builders salivating over your purchase of a complete drybread landing gear set up. Building is life and flying is fun. STeve

I have never used ez 83 but have built over half a plane with ez 84 I am using it mainly because it works with my pump and when I started the plane I could not get mgs. I have about 4 hours of working time with the 84 before I am working on cured fiberglass. It is pretty thick stuff and Keeping it hot in a hot box helps. I also carry a heat gun and use it on all layups to help it wet out. It is tough stuff and really hardens up when cured. It is not as pretty a layup as the clear mgs but it is more fuel resistant and I still have almost 9 gallons so I keep using the stuff. I think it is also the least exspensive of the epoxies approved for the eze aircraft. When I run out I am going to try mgs so maybe some of my parts in the end will be pretty. Here is a picture that shows what a part looks like using ez 84 nice dark brown. STeve

I had one of these on my old Longeze it was just on the other side of the instrument panel. It was hand operated and it worked great just rotate the handle and push. It did weigh more than the plans step. You live in Sunny Calif. and plan on hangering I bet. I would worry more about weight than rust or corrosion. Since you are much lighter than you used to be you dont have to make it to hold up to an elephant. Remember Burts rule throw it up in the air if it comes back down dont put it in the plane. my.02 STeve

My step in my longeze was just like yours Wayne it worked really good you will be happy with it. STeve

I bought one of these gears for the retract mechanism for my cozy. It came with a bunch of holes in it instead of solid. I dont know if you can get a solid one or they just shipped me a new style. I can make this one work but I am going to have to make bushings for the holes to put the screws in. STeve

I built a cabinet on the first plane it was a waste of time. It was to short to do most things on and was in the way all the time. Now I keep the clothe in a cabinet and put up a piece of melaminen with 2X4's under it it is slick and does not catch the clothe it is big enough to roll out the clothe and cut several parts at a time. I put it on saw horses and just set it against the wall when done it takes up very little space. I reccomend a hot box for your epoxy that is time well spent.

Phil: That is a good idea unfortunately to late for me I had to hack and hack and cuss and hack some more to get that thing apart then had to get out the dremmel and dig all the bondo out so I could finish the glass work. I am glad that is over. STeve

Here is a picture of the back of my shop with out the fusalage in the way. I did not get much done on the plane during the holidays due to to many family members comming and going. So I put them to work and cleaned the shop. This picture show my surface plate before I moved it. Now I have lots of room to put my plane flat out and put the nose on.

Jim: I built flew and then sold a Longeze. I live up in Idaho I get down to Salt Lake once in a while. I am building a Cozy IV (a fat Longeze) Welcome to the addiction. STeve

Wileze I would love to tell you how much my spar weighs. My problem is I do not have a scale that goes that High. I have a friend with a nice scale it is heavy but maybe he will let me borrow it. I would like to know how much it weighs. I do know that it took me 64 hours to build that also counts cleaning the shop once. STeve

Kraig: I have purchased most of the expensive stuff I will need for chapt. 13 If I run out of money. (The shop has been real slow the last 3 weeks.) I will start making metal parts. I have designed my front top hinge brakes. I will also start working on my front hinging canopy design. Edge. I like the look of your long nose very becoming. I am also considering that. I have made my ng-30 1 1/2" longer because I am leaving my nose strut the length that it was sent to me. Build on. STeve

I finally have something new to report. I finished chapter 14 today. I am the proud owner of a main spar. I will now be working on Chapter 13 nose and nose gear. I am also going to be doing the canopy and turtle back at the same time. I will be doing a front hinge canopy so wish me luck. STeve

I would be really careful using a solvent if it will melt glue I bet it will melt foam. Of course a hollow airplane is lighter than one filled with foam. My .02 STeve

Unlike some of you I am not a computer genius so I will just post regular pictures I have a hard enough time doing that. Here is the outside of my shop this last summer. I am building the plane on the left side the right side is my welding side I run a business out of it and Store my 1980 turbo diesel international scout there it is my other TOY

Bport stands for Bridge port milling machine They were originally made in Bridgport conneticut. Now in S. America. I do not think you guys understood my above new trick. Using a heat gun and applying epoxy from the top is how I used to do it. If I did not have enough wet epoxy on the part the peel ply would blow off onto my dirty dusty floor. By putting the dabs of epoxy on every foot or so I just put the peel ply on like it was sticky tape and it stays put. Then I go back with the heat gun and pull up epoxy from under neath and add a little if it needs it. It is a whole lot eze er I think I just made up a cool new word. That picture really flatters my shop it is a mess I just cant take the time to clean I have to make parts. This picture show what my shop really looks like. STeve

Nice B'port ...Chrissi I wish it was a B'port even better an eze track unfortunately it is a Taiwan knock off. It works good and better yet it is paid for. One of the things selling my old Longeze paid for.