A Bruce Hughes

It is more convenient IMHO to put the headphone and mic jacks behind your left (or right) shoulder so the wires are not always in the way. Bruce Hughes

O ! You said "pre-buy". I should have said nothing. Contact Marc Z for an inspection; he can fly down there. It will cost but you need to be sure it is not a dog or dangerous. I was shocked on what he found on my Longeze. Anyway, the CSA is a good group and the directory is worth the $30 and they have 4 newsletters in color.

Look in your directory from the CSA. Are you not a member? JOIN ! Best $30 you will ever spend.

Hi Jeff I would like to put the pictures on but I have no idea how to do that. I have the pictures in my computer but will not have much help until April when my son or another guy can show me how. The framework is really pretty simple: 2x2s for any vertical board, 1x2s for the other boards. Then sheets of 4'x8' insulation from the Aviation section at Home Depot. That makes a strong, light box. The whole thing is bolted together with 1/4" bolts (3/16 bolts are generally too short). Better to use one size of bolts even though that is overkill to avoid switching drill bits from time to time; that just wastes time. I did have to use smaller screws for the hinges (door and 2 halves of the front surface). Some horizontal 1x2 boards sit on top and directly underneath the strakes. The strakes are curved and the board are not curved; I did not bother trimming for an exact fit. Some fuzzy fiberglass pieces can be pushed into the empty space and/or the rigid 4'x8' foam pieces can be trimmed on curves to fit. BTW I have a Toyota Prius so the foam has to be trimmed to fit inside. This results in 6'x39" pieces of foam when you drive to the hangar. Then you have some scrap you probably never use. The door has to be held in shape (90 degree corners) with an adjustable rod. Watch out for threaded parts made of aluminum as the female threads immediately strip (why does Home Depot carry those?)(made in China, of course). Use steel parts for anything threaded. There are a few diagonal pieces just to make it structurally strong. There are 2 short 1x2 boards that are padded with rubber sheets and sit on top of the strakes. Those sit very close to the 2 fuel caps and sit at an angle so the boards are actually running along the top surfaces of the 2 strakes (but not far as those are short boards). The top of the box is made of two 6'6" x 39" pieces of insulation which makes more than 6'. I just put one 1x2 board on each piece to make it lighter. Very small screws holds the piece above the propeller in place. Gravity holds the other one in place. It overlaps in the front a little. The front above the engine/strakes is in 2 pieces on small hinges so the entire front can swing out to allow access. The front below the strakes just fits very well against the strakes and rear of the airframe. I have a NACA duct which is just filled with a couple of scrap pieces of insulation and fuzzy fiberglass. Good luck. I will send the pictures in April. Don't think you need them. Bruce

The winter newsletter on page 19 contains a short discussion of a problem that I encountered in finishing a Longeze. It should have been clear. Maybe an edit made it confusing. I used Aeropoxy on Maui where the temperature is pretty constant and high. So no problem until the project was shipped to my wife's hangar 25 miles from Olympia. I had to build a workshop in one corner of the hanger large enough to fit the project into. I could heat it electrically so no problem. BUT testing time came around and I MOVED IT TO A HANGAR AT Olympia Regional Airport. It was ready to fly and did for 45 hours......................... The problem came when I wanted to make a change on the turtleback using Aeropoxy. The hangar at Olympia is not heated and cannot be heated more than five degrees above the outside temperature. That means that there is NO time, even in July or August when the hangar is warm enough to set the Aeropoxy. So I built a box which is 6'x6'x6', with a door for access, Two pictures show the partially complete box. Currently the box is ready but I am on Maui. In April I will finish the job. When in use, a heater will blow horizontally at the bottom, a fan will roll that air to vertical to make a circular rolling motion to the warm air. The heater is thermostatically controlled and I have an indoor/outdoor temperature sensor to confirm the temp. I think that will work. The top and front of the box can be removed in seconds for access to the front. There is room on each side of the propellor for a folding chair for access in the back. The box sits entirely on the concrete floor, with a few ounces of force on top of each strake at the point where the fuel caps are. I have many pictures of the box in construction and completed, if you are interested. The point is that most of the U.S. is way too cold to use Aeropoxy without a box, a quilt or something.

Grant County airport at Moses Lake Washington has five runways. The longest is 13,500' (14L/32R) and the shortest (14R/32L) is 2936'. The entire airport is 7.3 square miles. It was a training base for the Army Air Corp in WWII Use is mainly general aviation.

Hi Curt Thank you for the offer. I will be out of state until April and possibly longer. I will email to you when I am in WA state and will have to buy another X-plane, I guess (it must be 12 hears old by now). Bruce

About 10 years ago I bought X-plane and a control stick. I never could get it to download. I was just too busy finishing the Longeze to mess with it.

Thanks to all of you for this information. I frequently use PayPal to donate small amounts to worthy organizations. Those, of course, are not scams. I have bought several things on ebay and have not been stung, yet. But I believe that I will stop using PayPal completely. I have 2 cards. Those are DEBIT cards, not credit cards. I think they work well. Bruce Hughes

Century Spring Co. carries almost any size you want. McMaster-Carr carries a wide variety of MANY things we can use. My IP is a sheet of epoxy/glass (they carry black). www.mcmaster.com I once ordered a key/lock for the IP for safety from theft. When it got to me, I realized that I could not use it without hours of work. I called, said that it was not quite right and I would return it. They just said to keep it and they would not charge for it. They returned the charge to my debit card. That also happened on a less expensive item (click-bond). Best company I know of. Bruce Hughes

To 2high2fast (whoever you are) (note that this is 6 years old but may be OK): Eze Covers Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 https://sites.google.com/site/ezaircraftcovers/ Email to: <canardcovers@yahoo.com>

Kent: The fairly large oil cooler has always been fairly close to the left main spar (just enough room for the aileron control between them). No holes in the main spar, of course. Air passes downward through the cooler and out the underside of the lower cowl. -8 hydraulic ducting. I have never had any problem with oil temp or CHT. I do need to smooth out the air flow from the NACA duct to get a more even CHT from #1 to #4. It just takes time that I do not have.

Kent and Jeff Yesterday I realized that I was falling asleep when I finished (2) so there is more: First mistake: I have a very heavy Catto 3 blade prop on a 6" prop extention. THAT makes things difficult. Should have a 2 blade. Eventually I will sell that prop. 3. Several years ago I knew that many builders had trouble with the CG and were extending the nose. At that time I cut off the nose and extended it just over 15 inches. The space available was filled by a heavy battery angled slightly to fit. A U-shaped SS part under the nose serves as a tiedown and adds weight. That was not enough so I put many tools (in sturdy bags) that I might potentially use plus other items like a container of DOT5 (A friend almost lost his Longeze due to a melted brake line), a nose wheel, tubes for the mains, owners manual, can of oil, empty plastic bottle to fill with water if I used the oil, etc. That made the CG close. Then put 4 1/2 pounds of lead shot in a tiny chamber at the very front and sealed the chamber with 1 layer of glass. Almost there. Put about 10 rolls of dimes/quarters in available space between the lead chamber and the battery. THAT did it. Then a buddy showed up to fly it. He is a lot heavier than I am so I took all of the tools out. With great hope it was flown. Don't tell the FAA but I might have been a passenger to go for lunch. Anyway some experimentation showed that I could not get into the back seat because the RAF location for the step is in the wrong place. Bought a Wilhelmson electric nose gear (with nose off the ground, I can easily get in the back). Took more stuff out of the nose compartment and have a testable CG Longeze. Buddy flew it. It is now a legal airplane. Am discarding my crappy cowling to put on a lighter upper cowl that became available. Will make a female mold and new lower cowl if I live that long (I am pretty old). I am short so a removable backrest moves me forward a bit and helps the CG. I have to weigh it empty and with me and the backrest in it and recalculate the CG. Maybe I can get rid of the 4+ lb of lead. May you have clear skies and tailwinds.

Jeff, I do not recommend any of the following but what I did and problems that resulted: 1. The heavy alternator was removed and a much smaller alternator from B & C was installed on the usual pad for the old type vacuum pump (that nobody uses now). That seemed a good idea for 2 reasons as the B & C unit is MUCH lighter and the heavy alternator was much farther from the desired CG. Problem: the B & C unit is too long for Longezes (i.e. the firewall is too close to the engine. So much of the upper part of the firewall was rebuilt with plywood and SS sheet. I suspect that I could have used thinner SS but it is strong. The process was VERY time-consuming. I got rid of the fanbelt, 2 heavy brackets, heavy bolts, washers, nuts, and some wire. 2. Replaced a very old E.I. with a Plasma II from Klaus S. I think there is a weight saving there. Anyway the Plasma II box is behind the passenger's head so is protected from the heat of the engine and it is closer to the CG.

I have been doing the PealPly wrong. At least anyone that reads this discussion will know that using peal ply is a good idea. Keep a supply on hand and DO NOT think you can use Dacron from the local clothing store. Bruce

Always remember that there are times/places where you may later add more glass/epoxy. You need to plan ahead and put pealply anywhere that may later get another layer of glass or some flox. When the epoxy has hardened, you immediately rip off the pealply. That (1) avoids the necessity of sanding a hard surface later (2) gives a pretty smooth surface without runs of liquid epoxy (3) may help lighten the whole project a little. BEWARE: pealply on a surface is nearly invisible so be SURE to have 1/2" of overhang of the pealply on each side to remind you that the pealply is there. The FIRST thing that you do when you arrive at the work area on the next day is to rip off any pelply on surfaces. The pealply may rip when you are removing it. Be sure that you get ALL of the pealply on the surface. Using pealply is dangerous if ANY is left where it should not be.

I also have to reshape the wheel pants as they are kinda short. My tires are NOT thin from side to side so it will be some work.. The 2 parts are inner and outer, not front and back like Marc's picture.

Kent, thank you VERY much for your reply. That method sounds very good. I will be out of state for 4 months so am trying to plan ahead. If I use that method, I will treat the steel with chromate. In the past I have used a lot of nut plates in various places. -------------------------- Marc, thank you VERY much. I suspect that I will use that method. I will have about 4 other jobs to do first. Time ran out before finishing them. Bruce

I shipped the project from S CA to Maui where I have a home. The strakes were half done so I read the manual, then finished the strakes, instruments, wiring, and put West System everywhere. I got enough done in a few years to get an inspection done by the Honolulu FSDO. Passed that. A test pilot from another island looked and told me to do more on a couple of things. Did that. Suddenly got a divorce. Delay for 2 years. Moved the project to western Washington state. Repaired a little storm damage. Replaced an 0235 with an O320. Lot of work to get a decent Cg without more weight. Finished and found 2 test pilots. I could not have flown it. They flew the test flights for 45 hours. Legal airplane, now. I am improving it with several items such as an electric speed brake, better instruments, Nick Ugolini's fuel probes for both tanks, and getting lighter cowling. I go back to Maui for 4 months in the winter. 10 days from now.

My longeze has finished flight testing. Now I want to improve it. The most obvious way is to put the wheel pants on. I have a pair that should be trimmed. I think I can do that. I bought the pair of axle nuts long ago. Now I need to see how to support the other side. I will appreciate any diagrams and a description. Those must be in an archive but I am new to this group and do not know how to search. The picture is poor; I can take better ones; I was not prepared. Thank you for any comments. Bruce Hughes

I have used many from the Cozzzy girls. I told them how to improve them but they declined. When I use one, I first grind the bonding surface with a Dremel to rough it up, then notch it so the bonding surface has a shape between round and square or other odd shape. If that is not done, it will later rotate is you tighten the nut too much or have to loosen it. McMaster has good ones.

I sent some info earlier to you. Also contact David Russell at 270-684-5887. He is the state rep for Kentucky.