Essais08

I'm REALLY relieved to hear this! I too am starting cold (have plans, getting tent-shop built, reading everything), with only 1/2 ground school from 25 years ago. It can be done?! Mark Beduhn described some concern by his EAA rep when he first tested his Cozy with 'only' 140 hours and no TT. I reckon my experience will be no better when the rocket is finished. The discussion here (early on) had me worried about even getting to fly the plane once it's made. Any advice for a preemy Big STeve?

This is a great thread!! Good advice and colorful illustrations from the best (make that 'most vocal') of the canardians. MO: Answer the guy's question, then compare to others' responses, maybe get into a fight, then beat-up his avatar. You gotta love it!

I read a description given by Bernard Siu in his build discussion, http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/bsiu/index.html, as follows: Epoxy Color Change (Nitrogen Contamination) Problem -- I decided to use MGS L285 epoxy system with H285F (Fast) and H287S (Slow) hardeners. I bought them from AS&S and transferred them into individual plastic containers inside the hot box (refer to hot box figure). The epoxy is light yellow in color while the hardeners are cool blue. About 2 days later, the H285F hardener turned reddish brown while the H287S hardener turned to the same color at the delivery nozzle. Since I could not find any discussion on this particular hardener, I posted the question to the Cozy builder’s Group as well as the Technical Support guru of MGS from Canada. It appears that the hardeners are sensitive to CO2, which will turn brown after short exposure to air. The plastic jugs I was using (above) were permeable enough for the CO2 to ‘sneak’ inside the bottles and contaminate the hardeners. Though MGS tech support from Canada feels if the epoxy and hardeners behave normally, they should be OK to use. Since I am new to this process, I certainly was not comfortable with it. Besides, they looked ugly. I decided to replace them with new ones. FWIW

Mike...somebody take the mike.... Too late to help you there! Chrissi is a charmer, though, isn't she? Probably Randi, too (It's all in the 'i', I suppose). My work -- field service engineer. Control systems, process systems, training. On the road about 60%, so I'm expecting a really long build time. Hope I can keep up with the rest of you...

New guy here. Plans are in the mail. Budgeting capital and cash flow. I'm sure you know the drill... I've compared the ACS prices for Section Kits vs. Chapter Kits, and there's about 10% savings ($1100) with Section Kits -- probably due to volume ordering, fewer cut charges, etc. Is the choice of buying Chapter Kits or Section Kits all about how much you can spend at a time? Are the ACS kits accurate? Anybody buy the Section Kits? Anybody total the costs for flying hardware that's not in the kits (Canopy $350-425, Engine $7000(!)-$34000, what else?)? Hicks' site was my favorite so far. Y'all sound like good people. I especially like the mantra: 'Must...build...airplane' 'Must...build...airplane' 'Must...build...airplane' 'Must...not...look...at...avionics' 'Must...not...look...at...avionics' Whatta hoot!