josebasu2

First of all thank you all for your replies. Thanks WTJohnson, I know about the spar mods you talked about. I've even seen some pictures somewhere on the net (http://michaeltdrew.com/photo.html). As I mentioned in my first post, I know that one of the biggest concerns that keeps people away from building a Varieze clone is the lack of availability of the controversial wing attach fittings. Nowadays it should be relatively easy, and within reasonable costs, to build the parts oneself, or to send it to a CNC water cutting facility. The main reason for not doing this, is that in the drawings there are not any measurements other than the width of the plate that goes into the fuselage side. Considering that the materials and their thickness are clearly indicated in the drawings (even the taper of the pins), it shouldn't be difficult for someone who owns the attachments in their pristine condition (not used nor attached to the plane) to take measurements and post them, or better to produce engineering drawings of the parts, so anyone could use them. If anyone has them but cannot use CAD programs you could post the measurements (hand draft), or just scan the parts themselves against some reference (engineering paper, transparent rule, etc. ) so those who know could produce CAD drawings for every one's use provided that the obvious accuracy checks demonstrate that the drawings are exact clones of the real ones. I've done some drafts myself in ACAD over the TERF drawings. Even though the only measurement used as reference has been the width of the plate, it's been very quick and easy to obtain the rest of the measurements. However; I've observed that there are some problems of symmetry in the TERF drawings themselves, probably due to distortion during the scanning process ???, that lead me to some guesstimations. Don't worry, I wont use these drawings whatsoever!!!!!. Anyway, I uploaded four screen captures (no measurements at all to avoid confusion) of the CAD drawings (drafts) I did to show you it can be done. It is a pity that the main reason for sending to the junkyard a wonderful design as the Varieze, is something as easy to solve as to find someone eager to post the required templates and the intentionally missing measurements of the wing attach fitting. Thanks again .

Thanks for your replay, but to me, the name of the game is 'homebuilding' rather than 'shopping'. This has to do with the 'educational' purpose of every drawing (no matter the plane) out there. I know I can buy, but I wanna build. Call me whatever, but I have more time than money. Building from scratch means that I can distribute expenses over time at my will, and above all it means learning. Anyway, I won't change my point: I wanna build my own Varieze clone, hopefully an Open-Varieze and fly it some day. Please, don't discourage people this way. Anyway I appreciate your replay and respect your opinion.

Hy there. First of all, thanks to all of you that are trying to keep alive Rutan's homebuilt canards. I recognize, and appreciate, the effort and sacrifice of using some building time for your own projects in order to provide the necessary documentation for the rest of us to build an Open-EZ. I bought the TERF CD from a fellow aeromodeler that had bought it just to get info for his scale projects (lucky me). I also downloaded the templates for the Open-EZ, but I'm in love with the Varieze. Please, don't try to persuade me about the convenience of building a LongEZ clone over a Varieze clone arguing that the LongEZ is an evolution of the VariEze. Actually, they are two different airplanes, and I like the Varieze better. In my case size matters, and I want it small so it can be towed regularly. I'm aware of the wing attach fittings not being produced any more, but that could be solved somehow. I've looked over some threats and I've seen that there may be some other people interested in a an Open-Varieze project, so if the templates are out there, why not scanning and posting them here? May be starting a new section dedicated to the Open-Varieze inside Designs & Modifications. Thanks every one! Hope this works!