Big Steve

I learned a new trick about applying peel ply horizonatally. I am cutting my peelply off of a 60" roll after a 6-8 hour layup my epoxy is not very sticky and it is hard to hold the peelply on. It has a tendancy to fall to the ground get dust on it and make me want to say words that I should not say. So what i found that works is to take and dip my brush in epoxy and go down the area that need the peel ply. I put a nice wet dab about every foot. Right now I am doing my center section spar and I had to peel ply bothe sides of the bottom of the layup. after I have gone the entire length I just stick the peel ply on and it stays right there. Some of you were probably already doing this. It works great. One other tip do your second shear web layup on saw horses not your table it is to hard to lean over the spar and see what is happening on the other side. Also if you do this before you put your nose on your plane you can store it in a corner out of the way on the f22 here is a picture.

Jon: I thought we had lost you. Your email account and personal web site did not work either. Good to have the forum back I missed it. STeve:D

lots of mail order tool supply places carry the 100 degree counter sinks. Rutland tool is one that comes to mind. ACS and wicks carry them also. STeve

Any body can build one of these. It does not take any really special skills. It does take a lot of determination though. It is like eating the proverbial elephant you do it one bite at a time and over a 2000-3000 time period you get it done. Make up your mind and start Take a bite everyday and eventually it will be done. STeve

You do not have to buy a rivet squeezer if you can get the nut plate to a vice or heavy piece of metal. The rivets have a 100 degree angle so you will need to get a 100 degree counter sink. Put the flat face on the flat part of the vice and use a hammer and a flat faced punch It will flatten the rivet out and squeeze the body tight in the hole. If it is set up already in the plane you are going to have to beg borrow or buy a squeezer. Steve

I wish my "Lawn ornament" Was as far along as mr. edge13"s is Yes I mix my epoxy until it looks good. I am using ez 84 so it is really ez to see when it is done. If I took 5 minutes for every cup I made My last 8 hour spar cap layup would have taken 12 hours ez. Ps. Get your mind off body parts and get back in the shop and build the lawn ornament. STeve:D

For small lay-ups I dont think that keeping the work area at 70* is critical but on large lay-ups like the one you are going to have to do on your fuselage exterior I think you will have a hard time squeeging out all the epoxy you would like to. It is to hard to get the whole surface warm enough to move the epoxy. Maybe the mgs is going to be easier than my eze 84 epoxy but even in a warm shop I have to go over it with a heat gun after it has sat awhile to be able to get any resin to move on the squeegee. MY .02 STeve

Rob: I think you are going to need more than a kerosene heater to heat your garage up to 70*. I used a kerosene heater when I built my Longeze in S. Calif. It never got below 40* and I had to use 2 heaters to keep the tempt. above 70*. Let me know if it works. STeve

That is why I said peel ply is a bit heavier in my opinion. When I did my elevators. On the left elevator I peel plied the whole thing and on the right side I only did the trailing edge and the over lap on the leading edge. Guess which one was heavier and I squeegee the piss out of both of them. Yep the one with peel ply all over. That is why I say peel ply is heavier I personally think that when you pull the peel ply the smooth pattern that is left is full of epoxy from the top peel ply layer and that is what adds the weight. Something is covering up the weave and making that very nice even surface??? My .o2 STeve

I tried using plastic on my seat back. What a mistake that was. I have learned that plastic is a bubble maker in fiberglass never again. That is the only part of the plane I have had to repair so far in the build was the huge bubbles on the back side of my seat back. I have also found that using to much peel ply does add weight you can never soak up enough resin to fill the peel ply weave you have to add a little. I learned this on my elevators one weighs more than the other because of peel ply. Be picky but dont be crazy picky or you will never finish. my .02 STeve

Hans: I hope you realize that you will be storing your wings for up to 6 years or more. They will get bumped and dinged They take up a lot of room. If you put your winglets on they take up even more room. I built a Longeze in a large 2 car garage. I did not have room to store the wings in the garage and still work on the plane. They spent 2 years outside on the back porch covered with a tarp. Just something to think about. Big cool airplane parts for your buddies to look at are cool but storing them with your build takes up valuable building space. STeve

I just finished chapter 9. The torsion lay-ups are really no big deal at all. what is the big deal is all the odds and ends you have to do. It takes a while and Make sure you check out a lot of websites so you can figure out the orientation of the matco brakes the plans have nothing on them so you are on your own. Working with the s glass is also a very itchy situation wear long sleeves and a dust mask or you will hate yourself the night you sand that stuff. STeve

I remember when I was at that stage. I needed to buy a bunch more stuff and start again. You make a big push to get the tub to the point it can be sat in. After that it is a let down. You sit in it and realize you have only eaten a leg or two off the whole elephant and get discouraged. STeve

After thinking about my above semi tirade. I thought there are things that if someone did not know better it would behoove us to try and talk them out of it like solid wires that brake and obvious things that maybe someone who had never built a plane would not understand. I still stand by the fact that the government should not be able to protect my from my stupid self. It is my life. Enough said I hijacked this thread enough. STEVE

Just to throw gas on the fire. If you cannot fly with automotive wire you should not be able to fly with an automotive motor either???? I thought these things were licensed as experimental does that go for the wire and everything else? Who is this supposed faa guy that makes these kinds of decisions on an "experimental" airplane. I know there are some things that just should not be put in an airplane but who am I to tell someone else what he can do with his experimental plane.

There is nobody that has been born that knows how to build a plane right off the bat. It is an acquired knowledge and skill that comes with experience and willing to put in the time and energy to learn. I built my first composite plane without a pilots license. Of course I could not afford it either but did it anyway. You will never get over the thrill of looking at it when you are done and telling yourself "I built this beautiful plane that actually fly's" Building a plane is like eating an elephant. You cannot do it all at once but if you keep taking bite after bite it is eventually gone. I.e. Plane is built. So go buy your plans and dont get stuck at chap. 7 like lots of previous builder do and keep eating your elephant until you have a plane. My .02 STeve

I have a much cheaper cake decorator type aplicator. I cut aproximatly 6" X 6" piece of wrapping plastic mix up flox or micro scrape into the middle fold it so it is tight then prick a hole with a sharp object makes a nice small hole that works really good to aplicate to thin foam or cut a big hole and make a large stream of Goo. I do not know any cheaper way to do it. STeve

I think this means that I am no longer the only Cozy IV builder in Idaho. I will miss the attention. STeve

No it was directed at me. Jerry you dont know the whole story. I apologies for instigating this it is not worth having hard feelings against anyone. I truly enjoyed RR 07 I plan on going again next year. Getting to see my first finished Cozy and going for a ride with Marc was worth a Lobster dinner I would have given him more for the ride but I spent it on Potato salad. I also plan on helping out again. Cant we all just get along and let the little kids dads provide them health care like I provided for my children. Build on. STeve

Rich: You pointed out something else I remember about my flight with Marc. Getting out of a Cozy 4 is allot harder than getting out of a Longeze. In the Long you can put an arm on each side of the longeron and lift yourself out like parallel bars. I am going to have to think about how to fix that. Also The heat duct is a necessary structural thing I guess you could make a spar or something like in the wings but it is beyond my Know how. STeve

The Varieze gear bow has been sold. Thankyou STeve

I kind of agree with you Remi: I figure if they collected money for the lunch they should have reimbursed those of us who popped enough to buy a lobster dinner for a hot dog lunch. Just my .02 STeve

Okay Jon you asked and I will now answer. I am 6'0" tall and weigh 220 I know you wanted to know that. I plan on raising the leg hole in the instrument panel up 1". I plan on purchasing the larger canopy from Tod. I plan on raising the turtle deck 1.5" I also am going to get my side panels as close to the side of the fuselage as possible I might even cut a hole where the stick protrudes and make a flexible boot type cover. I am going to bring my strakes forward to give some elbow space. Dont get me wrong I was not hugely uncomfortable in Marc's plane. Infact I was having such a good time I could have been sitting on a needle and would not have noticed. But there are things that can be done to make a larger frame more comfortable in these planes. Here is the real kicker though. Forget about putting your big buddies in the back seat it aint going to happen. I am trying to figure out how to make it a 3 seater. Build On. STeve

Well it has been awhile since I last updated. I have now pretty much finished chapter 9. I have made my jig for the center section spar and started cutting the foam this evening. I have 540 hours in the project now My anniverery date for starting is November 11, I am now saving up for the expensive chapter 13 hopefully I will have enough money saved when I get done with the spar. My visit to Rough River was very enlightening. After going on a ride With Marc Z. I have decided to do several things to give me more room in the cockpit it was pretty cramped for an old fat guy like me. Build on. STeve:)

Your in Hawaii right just throw a tarp up on the back porch and start making airplane parts the temperature is always right in Hawaii isn't it?