Coffman Automatics

Steve, I"ll take any and all advice I can get, that would be great. My wife (Cheryl) worked at your post office for years, You may know her... Anyway I am about to cut into the fuselage/center section. The micro is bulged and the paint is cracked all around the outside of the aluminum plate on my lower right wing attachment area. I've been thinking about taking the engine off and making a rotisserie for it. I'm at the South end of Pleasanton KS next door to the Stars building. Stop by anytime. I'm always in the back of the shop on weekdays. Just walk in the back door and yell if you don't see

I now understand what you are saying Marc. There is no way to see the damage without surgery. I have experience with repair on corvettes, so I have an Idea of the amount of work needed, but still I would like to have your advice on the steps to take for the repair. It seems to me that the aluminum should go deeper into the wing and fuselage. Of course that would make everything heavier. Oh, Got the VM-1000 working. Had bad ground connection. Thanks Guys Doug

Here you can see the problem area. This is the under side of the right wing. Should the plates be removed and repaired? This is by far the worst joint. The rest are showing about a quarter inch crack in the paint from the edge of the aluminum. What would you recommend?

OK guys, First of all there is no corrosion. None. There may be some delamination between the right lower spar cap and the aluminum. Also on the top right side there are cracks in the fiberglass, but it seems stuck to the aluminum quite well. I'll get some pics for you. This thing will not fly until it is thoroughly inspected by qualified people that are canard friendly. I may need to remove the engine, canopy and build a rotisserie. The canopy hinges need to be replaced. The wings and canard are already off and in dry storage and the airplane is in the garage. I am now trying to sort the wiring. I have an old Vision VM-1000 and most of the wires are white For grounds and power to the DPU. Most certainly the battery chip is out of date. I would like to find some instruction and pictures of repair on the areas where the wings attach to the strakes. Thanks, Doug Coffman

Hey Marc, I have a canard that is right at 12 foot long. I was not aware that there were different lengths. The engine is an IO-235-EXP that is what it says on the tag. The engine alone will make it 50 LBS heavy. I have a scale just like the one Burt used on the video, but it is in a storage building and need to find time to go and get it. I want to learn all I can about these planes, and read all I can about them. Back in 1997 I believe, I went to an all canard fly-in at Butler MO I was fascinated. Thanks, Doug Coffman

Terry, Since you are experianced with the Varieze is there any chance that I could get some copies of some build plans that show the structure? Like the wing and firewall? I would be willing to pay for a complete set of plans for the varieze just to be able to competently inspect and maybe repair my own airplane N41EZ. I recently purchased the plane from the San Diego air and space museum. I am trying to get into aviation as my 16 year old son wants to start a military career in it. I have been a drag racer all my life and have built many winning cars. I hold a bachelors degree in engineering. Now I am ready to join the aviation community. Thanks, Douglas Coffman

Sorry guys I haven't got it weighed yet, but I did fire the engine up. It sounds great, I ran it for 5 minutes and it got warm enough to to Idle smoothly and had throttle response like it should. I would like to know more about the fuel injection system and can't seem to find any info on that. I seem to have a fuel valve just behind the stick. The strake tanks are plumbed together and the Passenger headrest/ firewall tank seems to be the RES tank looks to hold about 4 gallons. is this normal? Damn thing floods the throttle body with fuel that runs out the air cleaner when I try to start it now. My next task is to get the engine monitoring system working It has a vision VM-1000 display. doesn't seem to power up. I did find some info on that. Looks like a cheep walmart watch when it is working correctly. Wiring behind the gauge panel looks like a birds nest. Oh yeh this is cool I found the last flight of my N41EZ on radarbox .com. Looks like it was St. Paddy/s day 2021 when it was flown from Borrego Springs CA to El Cajon CA. Then I bought it just before St. Paddy's day 2024 and trailered it to Pleasanton KS from El Cajon.

OK guys, I made it home with the Varieze # N41EZ. It Fit on a U-Haul 6X12 trailer. Had to take the wheel pants off. I have a big box of log books and photos, but just now realized that the logs are all for the Glassair that was also for sale. We will now delicately Remove it from the trailer. The wings have big aluminum joints with locking taper Rings and through bolts. Very Easy to remove and install. I plan to weigh it today. How much should it weigh? Looks to have at least 5 gallons of old fuel in it. The Guys at the museum thought that with a days work I could have flown it home. I was told that 2 years ago it was flown to Gillespie field in El Cajon CA And has since set neglected outside in the sun and rain.

Just now bought a varieze from Ebay and would like to talk to an owner of one about what would be required to remove the wings and trailer it from San Diego to eastern kansas.