Big Steve

Phil: Right after acs told me they did not have any hardner for the mgs I called Wicks they did not have any either. So I figured I would start with the ez poxy and get some mgs when it comes in on the slow boat from Germany. Steve

I realize this is a very old post but I have some recent exsperience that I need to share. I bought my plans from acs in Aug. 06 by the first of oct. 06 I ordered basically all of the Chapt. 4-7 foam fiberglass and some small parts. The order got split all the stuff that was small got sent right away. It is now the first week of Nov. I am still waiting on my foam and epoxy and fiberglass. I was held up for 2 weeks because I wanted Mgs epoxy and they had the epoxy but no hardner. Well I changed to ez epoxy so I could get started. That was two weeks ago. They have still not shipped the order. I have called and talked to literally 5-8 different people they all tell me that is not how they treat customers they promise to get this sent. I think it might cost more to get a shipment from Wicks out here to Idaho but at this rate I will never get this plane even started let alone fininished. I guess I am venting a bit I spent a lot of time and effort getting my shop ready to build in. It is now ready I even have a week off of work and nothing to build with. I am frustrated. STeve

I built my hot box with an 18" inside length. If I was to do it over I would have made it longer. Probably 24" inside length I would have more room to keep my 5 minute epoxy hot plus maybe keep some extra epoxy warm. STeve

Yea I have been thinking about that. Not being an engineer or a mathamatics genious I should just lenghthen the connector to the hardner until I get it to weigh the right way or use a graduated device to measure the ratio. I was trying out how to do it mathmatically and just got stumped. STeve

Aircraft Spruce said they would have some MGS by Nov. 9-10th I do not know if they really know though. That is why I decided to change epoxy. When there is Mgs available I will buy some. Maybe by the time I do the fuselage sides. STeve

Jack: The honest cheap reason I have not considered AEROPOXY is because my epoxy pump is the old style 100:47 and I dont want to buy another one. I noticed that AEROPOXY is 100:30 I guess I could make a balance or use my scale I just really like the convenience of the pump. Plus I have already made a nice little box for it to fit in. Heater thermastadt and all. STeve

I am now curious> what does the pro-set look like on the foam? Is it clear like the west system? The plans are kind of weird on this subject there is one place where it says to only use the appoved laminating resins. Which the west system and proset are not on then on the page over it says you can use the west system. I am just trying to build as cheaply as possible I want to use all the approved stuff but sometimes I wonder if we are just really annall about some of material. There are several companies on the web that sell epoxy that other planes are using they seem to work well for them. I sometimes wonder since nobody connected to the plans makes money if you buy from a non approved vendor if it is just a money thing. I am no designer or engineer so I will stay with the approved stuff but I sure wonder sometimes If we have to use the exspensive stuff all the time. STeve:confused:

I just got off the phone with acs they want to send me my order for chapt. 4-7 but cannot send me any of the mgs 335 slow hardner. Of course this totaly bummed me out. I cnat really do much without epoxy. I really wanted to try the mgs out. I do not want to wait so I went ahead and ordered the ez 84 epoxy. This is the same stuff I built my Longeze out of so I know it will work I was just really jazzed about using something with a much lower vicosity. I figured the layups would go a whole lot faster. O well I already have a ratio pump for this stuff so It will be easy to just throw some in and start. I thought the bluish tinted foam parts looked better than the dirty brown of the ez epoxy. Any one hear if we will ever be able to get mgs again? STeve

I built a Longeze back in the early 80's I do not remeber having any kind of mismatch with any of my drawings. The Plane flew great and I am still missing it. I wonder if it that big of a deal having these lines match up perfectly. There are a lot of Longeze's flying out there and I bet their:confused: lines did not match up perfectly. Just my .02 STeve

This Might sound crazy to some but after I finish this cozy I am thinking of building an open ez if the information is still around. I guess I just like the "Build" STeve

Jon: I would love to cut my bulkhead foam but alas I am still waiting for ACS to ship that part of my order. I told them to wait until the had the mgs hardner and ship my order complete. The Mgs is supposed to be in the 25th which is 2 more days. We shall see if they knew what they were talking about. STeve :D :D

I just recieved My first order from ACS. I decided to buy the M drawings because I did not want to cut up my original templates. These drawings are well worth the money spent. They come full size and no jogging of other pages and no trying to line up the lines. I am going to make myself a glass raised table and just trace them all on to other sheets of paper that I can stick on to the foam and just cut them out should work. I guess the reason of this post is just to say the M drawing from ACS are better than I exspected. STeve

What shows do they advertise for? I have not seen anything on them here in Idaho. Of course I do not watch a lot of tv either. STeve

Just scored myself a brand new dritz scissors set. I was at Hancock Fabrics in Twin Falls. I was looking for some cheap nylon to use as peel ply. Did not have anything I liked. As I was walking out I looked over at the scissor rack on the bottom it had a box with the Dritz electric scissors the price tag said $30.00 I jumped on it I have been trying to buy these scissors on ebay for over a month never below $50.00 Any way that might be a place to try. The box I bought was the last one they had. I did get my 50" bid from Thayercraft Industries. It does not have any selvage to cut off. Paid $6.00 a yard and it was 50' wide cost 27.00 to ship it to Idaho from Florida. I am now working on finding a cheap Fein tool have one I am watching now. STeve

I always trimmed at the plastic stage. Never heard of the fein tool until I started checking out all the different builders that are building presently. Sounds like a nice tool maybe not necessary but can anyone really have to many nice tools? Sorry I am late in replying just got back from catching my limit of trout. STeve

Since Idaho is a lot colder than Ca. I am re-insulating my shop. I am in the process of doing that as I write this.I appreciate the link to the Cozy girls site I have already visited them. I have a machine shop and a tig Welder I plan on making every metal part myself. No offence to the Girls Remember I am building on a shoe string. The sale of my old Longeze paid for the Machine shop. It would be an insult to its memory to not put the shop to use. In a former life I was a tool and die maker and certified welder so Fabrication work is something I am used to doing. Aircraft spruce was on the way home from work for me when I built the Long so this mail order stuff will be new to me. I used to live in Riverside Ca. for 20 years. I think a lot of guys when they start building get all excited and go out and buy the chapter kits and dont think about what they really need and how long it will last the first chapters basically need fiberglass foam and epoxy. I allready have all the tools from my first plane. I seem to like the building better than the flying. Dont take me wrong though I love to fly. Have a good one. http://www.canardzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=493&stc=1&d=1159895751 Here is a pic. of my insulation project in my shop. Hope to be done today. STeve

Thought I should say Hi and quit lurking. My name is STeve Harmon. I built a long back in the 80's. My family was growing at the time and so after a couple of years of flying I reluctantly sold my prize possesion rather than just taking the wings off and putting it in the garage. Well 16 years later after a move to Idaho most of the kids are gone and the need for speed is back. I have decided to build a Cozy IV I am the proud owner of plans set # 1466 I would love to just run out and buy everything I need and start building and have it done in a couple of years. But alas the finances arnt that great so I will be building this over the long term as the money comes. Keeps my better half happy that way. I really enjoy all your comments hopehttp://www.canardzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=492&stc=1&d=1159847516fully over the next few years I will get to meet some of you to put faces to all the names. Steve

John wrote: With all the talk about fuel prices, engine costs, and now even material costs, what weight would you give to someone considering building a Long-EZ vs. a Cozy to save on both building cost and cost of ownership? You obviously have built a Long-EZ and are now building a Cozy (and are sharing in this 'shoestring' topic); any concern over how much a Cozy will cost to own and operate? Since I moved to Idaho I make a lot less money than I did in Ca. I still dont regret the move It was really good for my teenage sons. I probably would have built another longeze but the plans were no longer available and my origanals went with the plane when I sold it. Then I thought the cozy would be perfect to teach my boys to fly in. Plus my wife did not like the tandem seating. I flew most of the time by myself or with some friend from work. I built the Longeze for about $20,000 dollars I scrounged everything. I did buy the typical stuff you could not make. At the time I did not have a machine shop so I bought all the Brock stuff. I bought used stuff from other builders My motor was an 0-235 c1c out of a Grumman Yankee. I found it in an FBO in corona sitting on a tire. payed $2,500 for it. It had 1950 hours on it. I redid the cylinders for about 1,000 so I have that in the motor. My radio I bought from Mike Mellville when He upgraded his Longeze. I bought a used prop from a guy in Santa Monica who was upgrading to an 0320 It was a little to much prop so I cut the tips off and it worked good for all the time I flew the plane. I hand propped it to save weight and money. My panel was the basic vfr but boy did it fly sweet. I scared myself several times trying to teach myself airobatics. I bought the brakes from a wrecking yard by the La airport. Now that there is the internet I will buy a lot of stuff for my cozy on line. I figure that it will cost me about $40,000 to build this plane unless I can come up with a sweet deal on a 0360. I tried to upload a pic. of my old plane but I am not doing to well. http://www.canardzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=492&stc=1&d=1159847516 Hopefully this will work. STeve

I built my long on a string and it worked great. The cozy is getting paid for with over time which means less building time but I gotta pay for it somehow. Having my own machine shop helps. The problem is when I built the long I lived in S.Ca. and aircraft spruce was kind of on the way home. So I would go there after work on Fridays never had to pay shipping. I lived close to Chino airport so there were lots of planes to go look at. Now that I live in Idaho No planes what so ever till you get down by Salt Lake and I have to pay for shipping for everything. I have family in S. Calif I have been thinking it might be cheaper to get a huge order going and drive down and get it. But with diesel running $3.50 a gallon I dont know if I would save any money doing that. STeve:D