Big Steve

There was a guy at Osh making really nice seats out of space age foam he wanted close to a $1000 dollars a seat. I smiled nicely and walked away as fast as I could. I will definatly be making my own. STeve

C Dub G The Edge man is right I just got back from Osh last night. There were RV airplanes everywhere. They covered at least 40 acres of ground. They are pretty and do lots of things well. They are easier to build than a canard. But the canards still beat them on the looking cool factor. Decide what you can afford and what you want to do and then go for it. I probably should have built a RV living in Idaho lots of grass strips and places to visit my plane will never see. I flew back in a Arrow 12-13 gallons an hour going about 130 knots. My Cozy when done will kick its butt and do it around 9-10 gallons an hour. Plus it will always fly like a canard and have the cool look factor. Go to Oshkosh next year and you will come home with favorites. STeve build on

How can you post when your camping at Oshkosh? Eat your hearts out. STeve I am home now and ready to build on

Sydmoe asks: I probably qualified to answer this question. They both take a long time to build. The Longeze is faster and easier to build than a Cozy IV. There are more things to build and it is a lot bigger so the lay-ups take longer. That is the fuselage I am talking about, the wings and center section are the same almost. The spar caps are a bit deeper so they take a little more time but this is very negligible. The Gu canard is a lot easier to build than the Ronce that the Cozy sports. I like the way Nat has changed some things on the Cozy verses the Longeze the motor mounts and the main gear mounts are better and easier to work on. He made the main gear bolts accessible. The Long is smaller and lighter so it is easier to move around by your self. I have to have help to roll the cozy tub. The Cozy has dual rudder pedals and dual controls this obviously takes longer to make. The Longeze has more room in it when you are sitting in it. One is a sports car the other is a station wagon they both go fast and look cool. I miss my Longeze but am sure I will love the Cozy.When the Cozy is done I am thinking of building another Longeze but who knows maybe I should build a taildragger so I could go to all the cool grass strips in the mountains here in Idaho. STeve build on

Steve: I thought I would send you a couple of pictures of how my gear tabs look on my plane. They are not perfectly even on each side due to getting the gear legs lined up properly. Steve build on

Pilotwannabe: Thankyou for the nice words about my web site. It is not a true web site but it does have all the pictures I have taken of the build. A lot of other builders have much nicer web sites that are much easier to navigate. This one worked for me because I dont read html and dont really have time to learn right now. I would recommend it to anyone that needs a web site with no time or doesnt know how to set up there own. I recommend when you start your build you do something to keep track of your hours and all the pictures you take. When I built my longeze there was no internet or web sites just regular cameras and picture albums I had to drive to someones house to see another canard now I just click buttons. They are still better in person though. Steve build on

ezelady said: The nose gear is a tube in a tube with a spring. Think GP-4 I thought that looked familiar I have a set of GP-4 plans I still think about building one someday. STeve

Steve Mine fit pretty darn tight without any shims. Just bushing against bushing. I got the feeling you missed some layups. STeve building on

Vaviator: You do not say where you live. I agree with Lynn. Find someone with Rutan Canard experience and have them check it out. Where do you find these kind of friends who give away airframes I need one for my next project??? STeve build on

How I got into canard aircraft???? Good question. Back in 1983 I had a cousin living with me he brought home a kit airplane magazine with a Longeze on it. I thought this was very cool. I had some extra money at the time and thought building one of these things and learning to fly would be a great challenge. At the time I lived in S. Calif. The first Saturday I had off I drove up to Mojave and got a ride in the original Longeze if I remember right Michael Dilly gave me that ride. I was hooked. It helped that as I drove up in the morning Dick Rutan was doing aerobatics over the field in his baby blue Longeze. I bought a set of plans and 5 years later I had a longeze all of my own. I took flying lessons about 6 months before I finished the plane and had a fresh pilots license to fly it with. Been hooked on them ever since. Life does get in the way and things happen while you build them. One of the reasons I dont have my old Long anymore is when I started the plane I had 2 kids when I finished I had 5 something had to go the plane lost. Now the kids are gone almost and my CozyIV is coming along nicely. STeve Build on Its and addiction.

It has been a while since my last update. I am working 4 10 hour days this summer so it gives me all of friday to work on the plane. I have finished my winglets and am slugging away on my wings. The picture shows the finished winglets I glassed them all together I will cut the bottoms off when I go to install them to the wings. Behind the winglets is my right wing which just got its top spar cap installed this morning. Behind the winglets under the table is my motor covered by a box. My shop is starting to get really tight. I cant wait to start doing the duck walk when I build my strakes. STeve build on

I am curious why would down draft cooling give you any more than updraft cooling?? My Longeze had armpit scoops just like the ones you have on the top. What is the difference?? Steve

I'll bet that lawnmower is a lot cheaper to own than the plane. Just not as much fun. Steve

I am installing quick disconnect pins in my nose hinge. Like the ones I use on my sail boat. You have to push a button and pull the pin out. They are kind of spendy but I think Marc is right about getting the door out of the way. I had a large nose door on my Longeze and it was screwed on. It took 12 screws so it was a pain to remove but when it was open it was out of the way and lots of room to work on master cylinders and other stuff in the nose. STeve build on

Edge: That is exactly how I am going to make my pipes for my plane. Steve

wildbird said: There is not a flying longeze on the planet that is boring. I miss mine everyday of my life. Plus I think you ment 0-235 Lyc. does not make a 253 that I am aware of. Remember when you get your Long done and start blowing past all the pokey Cessna's you will never think of your plane as boring. It is the greatest airplane ever designed in my opinion. Steve build on

Back to Larry's question about installing his after market site gauges. I have bought mine but I will not install them until I build my strakes I want to make sure they are located properly in the strakes. If you still have foam in-between your glass lay-ups you will have to cut it out and do a glass to glass layup in the proper location no big deal when you go to build your strakes cut through the outside skin where you want your site gauges and make yourself a glass to glass area to install the gauges. Steve build on

Kent said: Kent are you sure those are pop rivets?? They look like a probe of some sort and a vent or a drain to me??? Of course I could be wrong and I aggree they are ugly. STeve build on

When I build my next Longeze the one thing I plan on changing is putting and 0320 in it. My 0235 flew nice but a couple of times I could have really used some more power. Hope the flights go well. build on STeve

It still has not gotten warm enough in my shop to do epoxy work. So I still am burning wood in the stove to get it over 80. I do most of my building in the winter when it is to cold to do anything else. Insulate your building really well and fork over the money for what ever heat you are comfortable with. Start building and after lots of hours and money you will have a plane. STeve build on

Flying without pants seems like it would be very cold. I used to wear battery powered heated socks when I flew my Longeze for very long. I also wore pants they helped keep my legs warm. Steve build on

Kraig said: I feel your pain. I also have had to slow a little on the build due to finances. I bought a motor and promised I would spend no more money until it is payed for. Luckily I do have a lot of foam and fiberglass. I started working on my wings. Then I am going to build both winglets. I need to buy some spar tape for the wing so I will be stuck there for a while until the motor gets payed for. You can always find something cheap to do it just takes creativity. Building alot of the stuff for the interior of the fuselage is pretty cheap and it takes a lot of time. Make the seats and armrests. Turtle back jig is pretty cheap to make. If you do nothing it will take that much longer to get to the flying stage. STeve build on

For a new cozy construction I would definantly buy micro by the 5 lb. bag you probably will use 1 1/2 5 lb. bags to build it and 2 five lb. bags to finish it. To keep epoxy from driblling down the sides of the foam you just have to be more careful when you spread it. just sand it off. STeve build on

Phil: I am also working on my wings I have cut the foam cores for the right wing. Will start on the left pretty quick. STeve

to late already done