Lynn Erickson

If you are going to use 125 resin, stay away from the 229 hardener because it requires a post cure to get a complete cure. the 125/226 will room temperature cure. the 125/226 has a 3 hour gel time and you do not need any longer then that.

they are not heavy and the idea is to use dry micro and get the surface as true as you can with a course sand paper. meaning the surface is true but has 60 grit scratches and pinholes. use the high build to fill the scratches and pin holes leaving a smooth uniform layer of the primer. most of the new two part epoxy primers come in a high build and regular formula.

Its not hard to do on the relatively flat surfaces with a straight edge. I want to see that 18" straight used to do the compound curves, or better yet the inside curves. my point is that it is not necessary to go to 320G to get a true flat surface when using the high build primer, they recommend only go to 220G so there will be good tooth for it to adhere. sanding the surface down to 320, adding epoxy and then sanding it again before primmer is adding extra steps that are not needed. this all happens in one step with the high build primer

no. it is just not necessary with the new high build epoxy primers. the problem with the method is that the surface needs to be really true before you put on the raw epoxy. if it is not true and you will not know until you prime and then what do you do ? add more filler or try to sand through the coated filler and then coat it again. I developed a similar process long before Cory was born and it does work. used it on my canard and then did the rest of the plane with high build. the new stuff just cuts out the extra step and it sands a lot faster with no pinholes. the stuff is designed to go over molded carbon/epoxy parts and you can't have more pin holes than that.

first I said to sand to 60 grit not 40. 60 grit scratches are not very deep and will fill with one coat of high build. second high build primer does not weigh any more than micro And who said anything about leaving deep scratches in the surface. If you try to sand the micro to 320 you will have a very hard time keeping the surface true. the soft micro will sand away much faster then the hard glass and you will leave a wavy surface. sand the micro with the course paper until you start to see glass and stop. fill any low spots and repeat. when all the low spots are gone, apply high build and sand to 220. then prime and paint.

thats a waste of time to sand the filler more than 60 grit. The epoxy is to fill the pinholes and then use high build primer to fill everything else. actually the epoxy is also a waste of time the new epoxy high build primers are the way to go. fills the 36 grit and you end up with no pinholes. we did a Lancair IV with a carbon fuselage this way and did not have any pinholes

the 36 grit finish intended to avoid unnecessary fine sanding since the epoxy will fill the grooves anyway

Anything with that may blades will always get some of the blades very dirty. paint it black. why did you go to a four blade prop?

Yes, the water line on the templets take the wing twist or washout into account. when you level the water lines when fastening them on the foam blocks you are building the washout into the wing. if you want to see how much, lay the templets on top of each other with the water lines lined up and you will see the angle change. the more outboard, the more the leading edge is twisted down. as the angle of attack becomes higher the inboard section will stall first because it is at a higher angle of attack then the outboard section. this keeps the ailerons flying while the inboard section stalls, making the plane more stable and controllable during the approaching stall. not sure what a flat wing is but if you mean a straight trailing edge, yes there is still is the same amount of washout or maybe even a little more twist to the overall wing.

Yes, the extra plys take the shear load of the bolt. if there is space between the landing gear tab and the extra plys there will be a bending load on the bolt. not good

Looks a bit rough but many variezes did and flew fine. some of the building techniques in the olden days were not as refined as today. looks as if it did fly.before you panic and tear off a lot of glass you should have it looked at by someone who has built and flies one. it may not be all that bad, some time they just look bad because of the paint. We just completed a repair on a vari old Vari that was crashed landed for the second time back in april where the all the landing gear was torn out, the nose broken off and the canopy broken. it will fly again this weekend. any thing on these plans is fixable and will take a lot less time then starting from scratch. good luck on the project. and a smart trade by the way

What an Plane? did someone say Airplane? Does that guy really thinks he can build his own plane that flys? Now you are getting it. all you want to do is fly your plane. and you would think they would want to help. its their job. The FAA guys get paid one way or another. but the DAR takes your money so you can fly. Besides not everyone building an airplane can afford to own their own camera and take pictures of their project. you have to make choices when building, a used Brownie camera or a new Lightspeed Zulu one headset. That, any airplane guy will understand. I like, they got buried with my grandmother. no one would want you not to fly just because the pictures of the plane lay in piece with Granny. now that I think about it, maybe it was the camera thats buried with Granny.

first mistake you talked to the FAA. but you know that now. and those pictures that you had of the beginning of the build. you know the ones that got burned up in the fire. and the others that were looted from the house after the fire. with the receipts. the only way they know it was not owned by you is because someone told them. to bad you don't remember the name of your partner on this project. you know the one that you have known all your life and is now deceased. the same one that they would not know about unless someone tells them. so the local FAA knows about a vari eze that has no owner and some guy is trying to get it registered. I don't think they know about the new plane that someone and their wife build over 51% of called a eze vari. the one that they are trying to register in their wifes name with the help of an out of state DAR .

yes they do have bolts that are stronger in there own way. but try to buy only one of those bolts from Mc master. if you have to but ten to get one it won't be that cheap. and try to get bolts in 1/8" increments with the short threads that AN bolts have. and they don't tell you the grip length of the bolts and they don't have bolts that come in 1/8" grip length increments. without the correct grip length you will have threads in shear or a lot of thread sticking out of the end of the nut and thats not the way it is done in aircraft for structural reasons. do the bolts come with safety wire and cotter pin holes drilled in a bolt with the correct fine pitch thread, NO. yes you could drill the holes yourself but then you loose the ultra corrosion coating. there are not that many bolts in our plastic airplanes to make it worth going the cheap route, you might save $100 on a $ 60,000 aircraft and most of them hold on things I do not want to loose during a flight. but if you have a better and cheaper way then anyone has discovered in the last 100 years of aviation have at it.

many builders have had this problem. first try to rebalance by taping on some weight and see if it will work. the plans state how much is acceptable. do your ailerons have the 3/8" or 7/16" steel rod as a mass balance weight. the long ez plans used 3/8" rod and the cozy IV used 7/16" rod which is .6# heavier and they are the same size aileron. elevators can have extra weight added to the inboard balance arm. you can also move the weight forward on the arm making it longer with the same weight.

not sure what that is suppose to mean relative to these aircraft. we don't use grade 8 bolts in aircraft. if you mean aircraft bolts in the ACS or Wicks catalog are expensive, its because of the specs that these bolts are made to. much higher standards then the common grade 8 bolt. as for all the materials used in these aircraft you may find a substitute that seems suitable at first glance but if it is not you may not get a second glance. finding the plans spec materials at a better price is OK but you should be very careful that it is the same stuff and not just because a salesman said so.

We know you meant CHT. keep at Jerry I know you will get it sorted out.

not much that you could change on the engine itself. the parts that are removable only weigh about 5 lbs. total so even if you cut the weight of these in half you will only save 2.5 lbs. you could leave off the starter, alternator and vacuum pump. the best thing is to use the light weight starter, alternator and and no vacuum pump or magnetos and use electronics. you are worrying about the weight in the wrong place. the extra HP of the 320 more then makes up for the extra weight. This has been proven by the many planes that have converted to the 320s and they fly great. so much better it would be foolish to build a long ez any other way. resale value can be up to double. On a varieze it makes a rocket. the other thing that most do not know is that the center of gravity on a 320 is closer to the accessory case then it is in the 235. even though it is heavier the CG moves forward with the 320 installed.

Nope, been there and tried that. you need about 250 CFM and a squirrel gage puts out more pressure then the axial fans do. you need the pressure to overcome the pressure differential that is in the cockpit. air pressure in the front of the cockpit is higher then the back by 1" wc, so you need to overcome that pressure before you can move any air . heaters mounted in the nose work much better then the ones in the back because they don't have to overcome this pressure and the hot air naturally moves from the front to the back. axial fans put out about 1.5 " wc max. Squirrel cages put out 2.2 to 5" wc.

the Jabsco marine blowers work the best the computer fans do not put out enough pressure to over come the ducting loses. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/25694?&cid=chanintel&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=25694

the wings are the same dimension except the for the trailing edge. the berkut has a straight trailing edge and the long ez cowling will not fit.

this tape is used in the Berkut only and should not be used on any of the other types of canards. it is not a direct substitute if you are building to the plans.

the electric has many more advantages than Hydraulic or pneumatic. first it is the same weight as a pump. the gear can be used to raise and lower the nose with the pilot in the seat. the current E racer hydraulic nose gear can not lift the nose so it would require a redesign and a much bigger cylinder. the electric has a built in over center in that the ball screw will only move when you run the motor. hydraulic cylinder would be as big and weigh the same as the electric unit. the pneumatic would be even bigger and heavier. hydraulic and pneumatic requires complicated controls and valves plus it needs a back up method to keep it in overcenter if the main system fails. the electric requires you to install just one switch

how can there be that many unknowns? did it just fall from the sky and land on your lawn?

first, was it ever registered? did it ever fly. if so is it still registered? does it have N numbers. if not then it is still a project until it is finished so it can be registered to who ever finishes it and registers it. you are suppose to build 51 % of it yourself but it does not say how many helper you can have and what and when those helpers helped you.