h4h98

Im back, been away from the project for a little bit. Pesky job is getting in the way of having fun with the vari. A few updates, I receive my wing cones from the machine shop and they look great. Also placed my first order with Aircraft spruce. Never thought I get so excited to receive a box of assorrted A/N hardware and composite building materials. I am now an official member of my local EAA and my spirits have turned around about the build after meeting the other members. I just reminded myself this is a project and as long as I take it one step at time I'll finish it one day. As long as I'm here I like to see if anyone has spotted a nose retract gear or the whole thing, but my main concern for now is the gear. Mine has stripped teeth.

Who is Joe Person, Is he in the forum?Do you have contact info?

I'm courious about the 8 screws near the inboard part of the plate, looking at the plans it seems to me that these are srewed down in to a flox filled hole in the spar, is this right? thats all that these do, Also its unclear as to how the rest of the plate is attached the spar, I think it must have a longer piece of aluminium the goes farther back on the spar and is covered with more layers if glass to hold it down and srews serve to keep it from pulling out.

Neither I nor one of the QC people here at Scaled

As in "The Scaled Composites"? Wow now thats what a I call a valued opinion. Well I hate to see it come to this, but this plane may need more than I am prepaired to do. It might be easyer to start from scratch and do a long.

I know how folks feel about giving opinions based on pictures, however I would like to submit a few of the wing attach plates. I notice a bit of corrosion on the top plates and would like to get an idea if this is bad or not so bad and what I might do to make sure it does not get worse.

Tomorrow is the day, I'm going to get my plans and wing cones. Need to pick up some epoxy and fiber glass to make repairs. Is there a certain type of epoxy and glass I need or can I just get the 3m stuff from home depot for making repairs ie small holes on nose cone and wing tips ect? Also need to find some filler foam, any good sorces for that, I need to remake the arm rest since I cut them out to get to the control hardware.

I wouldnt want to do anything like that, but I'm still learning I've built probably 70 airplanes and this is the first that will have to be registerd. Seems 35% and 40% RC planes are easyer to get in the air than the 100%.

So basiclly I just fill out the 8130-12, submit it and if they ask any questions explain that I regret the fact the the movers seem to have lost the box that contained my photos and logs for project.:cool:I think I'm starting to understand the process. They would like to have them, but If I can't produce them due to circumstances out of my control all they have is my notarized statement and that will work.

Ok everyone, I went to visit the faa today to find out about registering my Varieze and was not happy with what I found out. As stated before I have an airplane that was abonded and no info came with the plane ie.. data plate, n number, paperwork, or plans. It has been determained that I have a rebuildable project by other Eaa members and builders. #1 one I need some sort of prof of ownership and apparently receipts for any building materials is not sufficient. #2 I need a builders logs and pictures and possibly video of the the bulid, now I have been recording what I have done to the plane and Its going to need quite a bit of work to get it done. But I was told that it wont qualify for the 51% rule in which I will be the ultimate builder and able to perform all work and maintenance myself. They told me that I have to be the one that built the fuse, wings ect. I told the FAA well if I did all of that, then I would be 100% builder. After all according to FAR 21.191(g) "Operating amateur-built aircraft. Operating an aircraft the major portion of which has been fabricated and assembled by persons who undertook the construction project solely for their own education or recreation."I am mearly another particapant in the build of this airplane and there for, I feel that with as much that is is left to do I deserve to be the reg. builder if I finish it. Some of the builder assist programs do not require as much participation as what I will have put in this plane when it is finally complete. So whats your take on the the subject? Am I missing some loop hole here?

Micro and contour if necessary, then prime/paint. Putting on more layers of fiberglass would be useless, on an overall basis, anyway.

This seems to be consistant with what other builders are telling me,I've one other person that has a long and a varieze under his belt that is going to come look at it. After that I'll go ahead and proceed. I thank all that are helping me with this project with your comments and advice. Its good to have so many people that are still interested in this bird and are willing to help.

Sounds like you will have to register yourself as the builder. If it was deregistered and you got it as a new project you will have to go thru the whole process. Finish building it and you can go thru all the steps to become the official 'builder'. FISDO and DAR can tell you more of what you need to know to make the FAA happy.

 

I was concerned about the comment in the first post about the epoxy being "Dried out" I'm assuming this to mean that there was probably a lot of cracking in the paint and micro layers. There were not many posts about that statement. If the epoxy and glass layers are cracking or delaminating, the structure will have to be completely replaced. One trick is to wet it down with water and you will actually be able to look into some of the layers of glass/epoxy. This won't work with spars and internal structures of course.

 

Good luck tracking any history and yess....... keep building!

Thank you for the input,your right there has not been much posted on the epoxy and it would good to discuss this topic some more. This whole process has been a learning experience for me, and I have learned what I thought was epoxy and fiberglass was actully the micro fill. With the exception of some UV exposuer that dried some of the fiberglass, the rest under the micro was actually in decent shape. So now that I have most all of the sanding done I am looking for input on if I should be considering laying on a thiner layer of bid over the airplane to replace what I sanded or just make the repairs and start with a fresh layer of micro on what I have uncovered. I only sanded about half way through one layer of existing bid fiberglass. Here is a close up of the fiber glass now.

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

If you return to the first post of this thread you learn that this plane was found abandoned,it was left behind by a former tenant at our local airport along with other misc. junk and was about to become trash.

If you set your tool post on a lathe at 5 degrees it will cut a 5 degree angle which becomes a 10 degree included angle when you measure the shaft. I dont know how to exsplain it any better. STeve

Your explination it clear, I should be fine now that I have met another varieze builder that is going to loan me his to duplicate.

New pic today pieced together

Per the VE drawings the wing attach pins have a 10 deg taper.

If the fittings came from Kan Brock (99% did) then thats what they will be.

4130 steel heat treated & cad plated.

If you are working on a VE then you should have a copy of the drawings.

All this stuff is in there.

Terry

Have not been able to get a set of plans yet but have some in the works. I wonder if the 10 deg is achieved from both sides because I only measured from one side and 5 deg is alot to be off.

The grade of steel is 4130. I copied the angle of an old pin with a dial guage. You could measure the top and bottom flange and the distance between them to get an angle. Remember you will be measuring the bottom of the taper on the top flange and the top of the taper on the bottom flange. Then you will need to check the contact with engineers blue dye. You must make full contact with both flanges at the same time with the pin. Recut and/or lap in to get it right. A wing has come off a varieze which didn't have accurate fitting pins and didn't use aviation grade bolts to hold them. Make the pins solid except for the one quarter inch hole for the bolt and the pins need to sit about one eighth inch above the flange. The bottom one is threaded for the bolt of course. A lock nut is also fitted there.

 

The origional pin is cup shaped and hardened. The above one has never been tested but according to my research should be satisfactory if made solid. No liability is accepted.

I used a simple swivel depth gauge and a protracter to get the angle of 5 degrees and a digiatal cal. to get the upper and lower measurements of .980 and .890 in.

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.

Good point, answers in order are unknown,unknown,unknown,and no.

Hey guys, I just attended an EAA meeting last night and learned a bit more about my plane, a topic came up that I had not thought much about untill now. My plane does not have a data plate and the history is unknown, It is rebuildable based on the opinion of some fellow canard builders, but how do I register an airplane that I have no info on.

If you are talking about the wing pins, you can't get them new. you can make solid ones out of the correct steel and lap them in to fit. Only need a lathe.

I do have access to a machine shop, does anyone know what type of steel they are and what diameter the top and bottom are supposed to be?

If not would it be advisable to just put a caliber on the top flange and botom flange and cut liner to that spec.

Does anyone know of any other avaition websites that I might find verieze stuff at? I need the cones for the main wings. I already know about barnstomers.com

H4,

 

Looks like a great project. Welcome to the backward flyers.

 

Looking at the way that you have your nosewheel retracted (part way), unless you have an electric nose retraction system, I would advise against putting any weight in the cockpit.

 

The crank type retraction mechanism puts a huge load, in the incomplete retraction or extension mode, on the teeth of a rather weakish gear. This gear is subject to stripping with load. When the nose gear is retracted, the gear has little load on it (in fact negative), when it is extended, there is an over-center mechanism which again takes the load off of that wimpy gear.

 

DISCLAIMER:::::::::

 

I am not a veri-EZ bulder/flyer (Aerocanard with electric nose builder) however I am somewhat familiar with the mechanism that the veri and the long use.-- Perhaps I am being overcautious, but reading all of the requests for new gears, or information on how to rotate the existing stripped gear, I felt that I had to write this.

That is correct in fack the gear that is in this one is already striped and will be getting replaced. It is resting on what few teeth are left.

Ok that seems to have worked,Not sure what was going on last night, maybe not enough sleep to operate lap top. Thanks for the help,I have just started this project and I am having a lot of fun working on it, Hope it turns out to be a usable airplane. I still have lots to learn and I hope by talking with some experienced builders I will get a good idea of progressing this project. Right now my imediete concern is let a seasoned builder look at it and give me there opinion. No point in building an unsafe airplane. Second I would like to find a set of plans, I have already downloaded the POH and found it very interesting. It seems sourcing parts is going to be a chalenge however not imposible. So far I do not see any reason the I should not be able to build this thing to completion given the skills I already have.

Think I got it figured out lets see here are the wings before and after sanding.http://www.canardzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3111&stc=1&d=1259430343

http://www.canardzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3110&stc=1&d=1259430759

Thanks for the reply, Yes I believe what was dry is the micro and I have not sanded through layers of fiber glass, there are some existing areas that will need some repair though.Are there any composite builders here in houston tx that would be able to view and give me an opinion. Im still not sure how to post a picture,tried to click manage attachments but nothing is happening.Maybe I can do better with photo bucket!

Hello all. I have recently aquired a varieze that was abandoned and left for dead. The over all apperance was very drab, but I decided to give it shot and see if this bird can fly again. The fiberglass is dried out and the previous micro was cracked and peeling. I have spent about 2 weeks sanding off all the dead material and geting down to a good solid surface. I would like to get some experienced advice about this project. Is it possible to revive old fiberglass and what should be my first concerns with respect of getting back to a workable surface. I would like to post some pictures but it appears this forum wants a url to post from, is it possible to post from my hard drive? thanks in advance for any help or assistance given.