Big Steve

The problem with using micro is that it cannot be hot wire cut. so if you need to cut in an area where you have put micro you have problems. I have odd sized foam and have to use the pour in place because I cant cut micro with a hot wire.

My longeze has a Gu canard and it flys great. Does have a pitch trim change in the rain. The Gu canard is a lot easier to make than the ronze canard. I would only make another one if you planned on flying in the rain or lived where it rains all the time. STeve build on

I have been cutting wing cores for the last couple of weeks. I have learned a couple of intersting things. It has been pointed out that urethane pour in place foam can be hot wire cut. This I have found to be true. The problem is that it cuts at a different rate than my wing foam. This is not a big deal but it did leave a ridge where I cut through it. I sanded it down. I have decided to glue all my foam pieces together using pour in place instead of micro. The reason for this is I am a cheapskate and used extra blocks of foam in cutting that made it different than the plans. I have foam joints where the torque tubes need to be cut out. Micro does not hot wire cut very well so I used pour foam. Just something to think about in the future when cutting your foam cores another reason to stick to the plans. If I would have stuck to the plans I wouldnt have a foam joint where I need to cut out the elevator hinge area. I did save about $300 in foam doing it that way. I bought a varize project and used its foam to make my wings. A stack of varieze foam to supposedly make 2 varieze wings makes one cozy wing barely. I still have to buy some foam to make my left wing. STeve build on

Time for another update. After building a spar for another builder I am back to working on my own plane again. I have started on the wings. I borrowed a really nice set of templates from a fellow builder. They were so nice I decided I needed my own set so I traced them up and cut them out. I cut my first core tonight. The bottom turned out really good the top well I am glad it can be repaired easily. I bought out a varieze project and the foam cores are probably 20 plus years old but they look great on the inside. They are larger than the cores that spruce now sells. I will have to buy a couple more cores from spruce to finish. The Varieze had smaller wings than a Cozy IV. I will post some pics when I get them all cut out and jigged up. Steve build on

Windwalker said Dont under estimate your time it will probably be over 3000 hours of work. I have 1300 hours in my bird and my airframe is only 75% done. I dont work slow either. STeve build on

If you want a lot of nothing you need to fly over the Mojave desert in Calif. It is the most nothing I have ever been over. STeve build on

congratulations!! I will never forget when I lined up my brand new Longeze for its and mine first flight. Pushing full throttle and accelerating to rotation speed then the mind boggling exsperience of flight. It is one my fondest memories. I cant wait to do the same thing in this Cozy I am presently building. STeve build on

Edge: good to see you back it has been awhile since your last post. All of these canards are too fast for lsa You cant make them go slow enough to qualify. When I get that old and decrepit I guess I will build a kit fox and fly it out of my pasture. That would really fire up a couple of neighbors. STeve build on

I have glassed a Longeze fuselage and a cozy fuselage the cozy was a lot easier than the Long. The Long took from 8:00 in the morning till Midnight one side was totally cured while doing the other side. The cozy you do in steps and it takes about 6 hours per step. I dont hardshell just get the foam right before you start,. Steve build on

lhendrick said: You just hit the nail on the head. I havent worked on my cozy for almost 2 months now mostly because of money. I bought a motor 0360 with straite mounts. I promised the wife I would not take on anymore debt until the motor is paid off. So my project sits while I earn money to pay the motor off. I still think I can get it done in 5 years if the economy does not totally tank in my area of the world. STeve build on

HSS: Stands for High speed steel. It is used in drill bits end mills and other cutting tools. It is not at good as Carbide but much better than the cheaper stuff china is selling. My official Fein Blade fell over a year ago and broke I just turned it a little and am still using the same blade after 2 years. I bought 2 blades on Ebay for about $80.00 so I still have one to go. The cheaper blades are probably cheaper steel that is case hardened and dont last very long. You do have to go through quite a few $6.00 blades to catch up to $80.00 STeve build on

I bought the same stuff the CG,s posted above it works good. I also bought some on ebay. It had lines in it made it really easy to cut straite. Some guys have bought poyester clothe at Wally World for a good price. You will have to shop around and find what you like the best. Steve build on

Come on guys arnt we getting a little anal here. You put your aircompressor outside here and it wont run again until spring maybe. Mist in the air contaminating surfaces???? I guess I am not a purist I try and stay clean but I use grease as a release wax to fill nutplates so flox does not fill them they all work and nothing falls off so what is the big deal??? STeve build on Oh yeah I stir my epoxy for exactly 2-minutes just like it says on the can. If you believe that I have swamp ground in Mojave for sale.

Concerning acs verses Wicks: I use them both, Wicks is cheaper on some stuff and Acs is cheaper on others I dont think anybody beats them for spar cap glass price because they are the ones making it. ACS usually ships the fastest. Wicks has way better service. I want them to both stay in business so I make sure they both get my business. STeve build on

Burt Rutan the designer of these little airplanes we build and fly says it is fine. So I am satisfied with what is presently used. STeve build on

Steve_Innova: said Acetone is for cleaning up tools after a layup. It does not get close to anything used in building a flying airplane in my shop. After all the sanding and prep work who the heck has any grease on there fingers? build on STeve

I am pretty sure all of the Varieze design had the GU canard. The cozy girls only make parts for the Ronce canard none of those parts are interchangeable. Take the old parts out and copy them. I could probably make you a set if you get desperate since you have the plans. STeve build on

Joe: I rough up all my peel ply before I glass over it. I usually do it just before glassing so it is nice and freshly scratched up. Steve build on

When I built my First airplane a Longeze 20 some years ago. I thought I would be really snarky to have armpit scoops at that time only a couple of planes had them. They looked cool but I spent my 40 hour test period trying to get my little 0235 to cool properly. I am very glad I had a Lycomming because after I figured out the cooling all I had to do was fly baby fly. Talk to Buly about car motors in airplanes he got tired of his car motor because he was always tinkering now he has a lycomming and he flys baby flys. STeve build on

When you move your gear back you put more weight on the nose wheel. This is why it does not tip over. It also makes your canard lift more weight thus to get that extra lift you have to go faster. The bigger the motor you have the more thrust you can develope thus speed increases. Bigger motors weigh more so what I am getting at is everything on these planes is a compromise to make them work the way Burt thought they should. Go ahead and put a car motor in your plane and spend your time tinkering instead of flying. I like to fly I tinker enough at work. STeve build on

I do know one thing. Here it is If you move your gear back you will increase your rotation spead. Which in my small mind lengthens take off roll. The tipping thing is a hastle but I want to rotate if you know what I mean. STeve build on

Man would it be nice to go to the beach and get a tan right now. It is 2 degrees outside right now. I am tired of being cold Steve build on

This must be an MGS epoxy thing. I use eze 84 and a heat gun on everything I build. I have never ran out of time to do a layup except on My nose Chapt.13(I did the nose and the canopy at the same time. big mistake) and that is because it took 12 hours on a warm day to do. I just brush the epoxy on the glass run the heat gun over it then go back with the heat gun while squeezing I have never had it go hard on me. Of course my brown parts are not as pretty as those blue parts. STeve build on

It looks like some lucky bidder got a killer deal on ebay. I think if all the fabricated stuff checks out this could save someone several thousand dollars and a lot of time. STeve build on http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320333684765&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=

Since our little airplanes have no support from the designers there will probably not be anymore appoved epoxies so unless you want to really be an exsperimentor you build with the approved epoxies. I bet any good epoxy system would do the job but remeber who's life you are testing it on. STeve build on