rickh

I recall I sent him a check snail mail (so, I'm a Luddite). Product arrived in about three weeks. I think he frequents the Yahoo! canard aviators newsgroup more than anything. Rick

LED's? LED position lights are fairly straightforward given today's tech. PC board, a few LED's, driver circuit. Low amps, long life, lite weight. Anti-collision lights (strobes) in LED's are another story. The can be done, but the total amp draw will be higher than flash tubes. And a bunch more $ Probably wrong answer, but it adds more fuel to your question Rick

Try this: http://www.atkinsonfuelgauges.com/ Rick

And on my epitaph it may say... I sent Byron a PM, or forum email, earlier. If it got caught in the CU spam filter, or my spam filter, or ??? I've a bunch of completed parts to drool/spit on, but don't know of any local projects in need of hands-on. We all know there's a lot of 'watching paint dry' time building these infernal things Finished my canard/elevators last month, need to upload pix/text to my website, and change ma sig. Rick

Suppose the brave could use a belt sander. me? Cluck cluck As I remember, the bottom cap dams need to be several pieces. The top dams are straight, but the finished cap area will have a slight curve (front to back) to blend in with the curve of the wing airfoil. And make sure you have plenty of spar tape on hand! Rick

With sandpaper? (sorry, couldn't resist) I use a 3"x11" piece of MDF for a sanding block a lot. One side is 60 grit, the other is 100 grit. Scotch 77 glues them on. If you can avoid sanding the spar caps at all.... It sands like granite. Set the dams up correctly, check them again. Attached pix is the end of one cap before the final wraps. Look close you can see some whitish dips where the bevel cut of the last tape ended (I peel-plied). You can also see where the sander (above) was used at the edges of the cap. Sands like granite. I recall Bernard Siu has a dialog about using a wing root template to gauge/adjust the height of his main spar as he was building it. http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/bsiu/index.html Rick

To a point, that's how I did my canard. The outboard forward cores were left as-is. I assumed the hot wire cut was the same thickness as the shear web, so I didn't Richard with it. The middle core got the spline sander routine, and it was fairly rough by neurosurgeon standards. Set the aft assembly and the outboard cores in the K jigs, stretch some 8 lb. fishing line between them. Sand the middle core so everything lines up. Micro, and insert the dowels. Any squeeze-out can be smoothed/radiused for a nice cap layup. Check the bottom for squeeze-out, I didn't have any. I also fine tuned this fillet (dry micro) before I started my spar cap layup. You may have some major voids near the canard attach tabs. Rick

Now that we *all* know you're building a defective plane... The seat belt brackets are held in by two relatively small washer-head AN screws, bearing on a piece of pine, and some flox... Me thinks you could even stair-step those reinforcing plys with no ill effects. Shoulder harness attach points are 'nother story in my book. Disclaimer: I'm not an engineer, but did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express dumpster last week. Rick

Like elevator torque tubes for the Cozy/Long/Open/... ? Rick

I haven't put my fuse tub on a CMM, but... If you tick/draw a centerline on all your bulkheads, make sure this tick is inline and centered during bulkhead install, very little (if any) sanding will be needed for symmetry. If they are off, fix during the strakes, canard, canopy, fuel sump, nose ... stage. Get the center lines aligned. Rick

One man's opinion The longerons need to be straight along the top, mostly for future chapters. As to how much foam is showing, it doesn't make much difference near the front, but does at the aft end. The front get's pretty well whacked off when you contour the sides. Aft needs to be flush. The bottom triangular longerons are located from the top longeron. The front half can be a tad shy of the foam, not so in the aft. If anything I would have run my aft foams 1/8" longer. I think Rick Maddy has a good sketch of what might happen at the aft foam. www.maddyhome.com/ I think I have a fair writeup on my site too. Rick

Well, I never heard of someone inserting the foam hardpoints *after* the canard was skinned. Not to imply you'll fall from the sky, but it's not to plans. Per the Wayne Hicks "Canard Sanding Sled" method, I contoured the canard bottom profile to about 90%. He's right that sanding around the hinges after the canard/elevators are completed would be a pain. Rick

No chit! I'm now meeting neighbors I never knew I had! Rick

Scrumptious compliment, many thanks Will do on the pix, after an extended post cure in my attic. Rick PS: anyone notice the bogus fender washers holding the spool piece on? Huh, anyone?

First off, I have a part that actually moves See attached pix. The canard is level for test purposes. I didn't put a level under the elevators at 0 degrees on the jig, I only have two hands. I think it can be inferred the NC12 bracket cants about 15 degrees though. At least for my canard/elevator unit Did I mention I now have a part that really really moves? Rick

After my first gin, I can see clearer now Yes, canted forward, as they'll sit in the plane. Brain fart on my part, sorry I think the important thing is to ensure all the .190' hinge pin holes are on the same centerline. Rick ps: My elevators came in at 24.5 oz, no sanding or filler yet.

Bejeesus yer fast! Hang on, cleaning up after floxing me elevators in the canard. Pix and text in a bit... But wait before you drill the offsets, they're not supposed to be vertical as in your pix. Rick OK, it looks like they're canted rearward 15 degrees. I base this on nothing in particular Attached pix should give you an idea, not like mine are the way they're supposed to be, or that they'll work (standard disclaimer). The elevators are held to the canard in the jigs, which sets them for 15 degrees 'down' . The offsets appear to be vertical in the pix. I set the spool piece such that the .190" hinge pin holes were at the bottom, and in alignment with the pin holes in the elevator inserts. I then wrapped a section of the torque tube with masking tape, then clamped a vice grip on it as a 'counter balance' (rest it on the table) so the torque tube didn't rotate as I was drilling the holes into the elevator spool piece. A couple of sandbags on the elevators as I drilled were part of the equation too. Rick

The 1" rolls from ACS/Wicks are nice, much easier that cutting from a full width roll (read: wish I had bought some) www.fiberglasssupply.com Google Econo-ply J Window sheer material (no cotton!, poly, Dacron, or Nylon only) I've gone through ~10 yards thus far, probably wasted more then if I'd used the rolls mentioned above. Rick

I made a sled to contour sand the bottom of the canard. I'm not sure if the WH Contour Sled idea is better than folding napkins or crushed ice, but it's up there. I'll have pix up on my website shortly. Rick

In my opinion yes, though some do. Anything that may transfer to a build surface... Aerosol silicone lube in the same area is a no-no also. So are micro balloons on the table when doing Lo-Vac. Rick

I think every Cozy/Long/Open builder is... the EZ drivers too While waiting, you could varnish your table top. I used several coats of water based urethane. Give it a light coat of wax (I don't) after, and epoxy dribbles will mostly pop off. Sand and revarnish periodically. Flat is good. Trace the bulkhead patterns onto velum. Saves hacking up your plans. Stock up on 'stuff'... paper towels, nitrile gloves. Respirator for organic fumes, particle mask(s) for dust (there's a lot of this). Don't go cheap, but one that fits nice. Buy a new filter for your shop vac, I found those pleated 'permanent' ones work fairly well. Get some plastic squeegees, 1" brushes too. Hack up some scrap lumber for stir sticks (or visit your Clinic for tongue depressors, or Popsicle sticks). 6oz plastic cups for mixing. Safeway/Sam's Roll or two of 4mil poly sheeting. Go over the plans again, repeat this regularly. Selection of sharpie markers. Clamps. If you don't have a selection, you will. Make up some small sand bags for weighting stuff down. 1qt zip-locks seem to work. When the package arrives, mark the ends of the foam as to what type it is. In time you'll be able to tell, but at the git go... Use kid gloves with the urethane, stare at it too long and it'll decompose. It's *real* soft. Rick

In their defense, it's a large order, lots of small parts. Santa needs to check the list twice, find optimal boxes, crate it, ... I've had good service from them (via web ordering only though) for onesies twosies. Patience Grasshoppa Rick

Might be too late... Neighbor and I just cut mine this evening. We started at the trailing edge, for both the top and bottom cuts. It was easier calling off the "1/2 way to the foam, on the foam, ..." routine when we could rest the wire on the templates before starting. I don't notice any wire lag at the leading edge, but haven't gently spline sanded yet either. I don't think it makes a diff if the top or bottom is cut first. I think cutting the 1" hole was the most difficult. You're changing pressure/torque/drag on the template as you complete the circle. They came out "ok", but it's real easy to get ahead/behind of the person on the other end of the saw. Per Wayne Hicks, in a different thread, I cut 1/4" - 3/8" of both foam 'flags' at the torque tube hole off with an X-acto knife before I 'pressed' the tubes in. The foam groaned a bit, and am fairly sure the sliver of foam on the bottom cracked ever so slightly at the tube, but it went in w/o a problem. Details at 10, Rick

I think you're nutz Your plane, what's the worst that'll happen? Two crossing plies of UNI on top/bottom, plus one span wise on top. Got insurance? Kids? Wife? Rick

A few things, could be minor depnding on your view. The aerosol foam may emit fumes when cut, maybe the wrong kind? How long will the aerosol foam last over the years? Will it make a difference? Will the aerosol foam hot wire cut the same as the extruded styro? From my dinking around, the latter may be the biggest issue. Especially if on a glancing/skewed cut. Rick