COZY1200

Rough River 2009

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:44:54 -0400

I had a blast at RR this year. What a change in my 3-year hiatus. The first three years went kind of like "oh you're Rick Maddy. There's Marc Zeitlin. Wow there's the StaggerEZ." Now, more than once when meeting someone the common response was “you're the guy that went to Australia!" Yep, that is me. It is like a big family reunion, only better. There is not that annoying cousin that nobody likes! Old Friends, new friends and lots of canard talk caused the day to go by way too fast. I am so looking forward to next year.

Amy & I started to fly down in a rented spamcan, but had to turn back to due to weather. Started out at 1500 ceiling, but soon drop down to 1,000 with around 7sm visibility. Ok, let’s see what's ahead. When that bright spot ahead of us turned into 500-foot ceilings and 1 mile, there was no decision to be made. It should have only been a 90-minute flight, but we turned around after 25 minutes. Our good mate Bruce was in from OZ so we were not going to miss this year. The plane was unloaded back into the car and off we go for the 5+ hour drive. It was so worth it.

Here are a few of the pics that I took this year. Nothing mind-blowing, but there are a couple good pictures in the group.

Side layup

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:25:49 -0400

Bottom protected by drop cloth.

Left Side Glass.

One of the best large layups yet.

Contour sides

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:56:02 -0400

Templates for sanding curve.

Marking cut lines.

Oops no more photos, but here's one after it's been glassed.

Be sure to see the video Sanding Curves to match a template.

Cutout for Canard

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:40:51 -0400

For some reason I looked forward to cutting these front supports off. I don't know why. Maybe because it signified that I am getting past those early steps of just getting the thing together and now it's more substantially assembled.

Kevin Dove

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:14:05 -0400

I was in Perth in February and had the opportunity to spend a few hours talking Canards with Kevin Dove. Kevin is probably about a year ahead of me in the build. It was neat to see what several of the next layups would look like. Almost all the builders that I've visited over the years have been well progressed in the build so this was certainly a nice change.

tis a good day by the numbers

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:04:37 -0400

Dave has developed as very wise set of priorities. I've adopted them myself.

Plane Priority number one...   Flying airplane
Plane Priority number two...   Building or Modifying said airplane
Plane Priority number three... Talking about building or flying said airplane

I met Dave at Morrabin at 10am to go flying. Saw Stuart and his Sonex, broach priority number three. Looked at his plane and discussed it's cross country abilities or lack there of, but makes up for in fun, sportiness, and acrobatics abilities.   Stuart is the big wig in the SAAA (Sports Aircraft Association of Australia), Dave & I were carefull not create an honorary priority number four... talking about the administration or politics of said plane group. He passed along a useful tip on cleaning Aluminium (for you Australians, notice how I seamlessly translated that from Aluminum). He suggested using Dawn dish soap to clean it before alodining; not Palmolive, only Dawn.

Then we went flying in said airplane thus meeting the very desirable priority number one. It was a little bumpy at 2,500 but smooth as glass at 4,500. Dave practiced intercepting VORs with reasonably good success. His best comment was, "it's just like my simulator". For some reason I think it should have been the other way around, but that would be overly picky. While Dave was flying I used my digital level to determine the flying attitude while flying straight and level. This will be used to properly level the airplane on the ground prior to installing his new wheel pants. I was amazed at how accurate the level was. At cruise the datum point (bottom of top longeron) was 2.4 degrees up. At lower speeds a plane will fly at higher angle of attack. At one point my level indicated 3.5 degrees but was slowly decreasing. I thought something was wrong, until the above dawned on me. Dave then confirmed that he was indeed increasing his speed. That’s Fascinating. Then we landed at Lethbridge for a short break and exercised priority number three with the local pilots and some others just flying through. Then on home to Moorabbin to where I promised Dave that I'd shout a cuppa.

Both coffee shops on the field were closed. Gee you'd wonder why some people want off work on a holiday. So on to the local McCafe for more number three. The conversation turned to Bruce who has been tingling to start building. We agreed on a plan to harass him until he gets up to speed, if for no other reason than he's an easy target. Three calls to Bruce with nothing but a talking monotone voice. Dave got on board and text him that "you're phone's ringing, answer it". A later attempt did reveal that he's at Lima Charlie Foxtrot. That's the extended version of LCF, which has even earlier abbreviated from LongEz Construction Facility. That sounds better than the real name of the shop: "Wooden Boat Centre”.

So off to the Wooden boat ce... correction.   So off to Lima Charlie Foxtrot I go to hopefully witness plane priority number two. No Joy. I find Bruce curled up in a corner in the fetal position sobbing into his micro exclaiming "WHAT DID I GET MYSELF FLOXED INTO!"   :) Bruce shows me the start of his plane clean up and organizing. We talked about his retracts. It’s a very cool modification. In one of his hundreds of plane purchases he picked up a couple rubber squeegees that don't appear to have been cleaned in years as they were nearly stiff with epoxy. I offer to take them home to my belt & disk sander for cleaning. After good chat later, I head home as my Cozy wife had started supper.

With my hopes of fulfilling priority number two on Bruce's plane smashed (only priority number three was accomplished) I vow to continue my pursuit. After my cozy supper, I head out for a quick one hour layup that I prepped for the night before. Wow that was close, couldn't let priority number two be abused or neglected. So with that layup curing, I let the rubber hit the road... or at least the sand paper. I spent about 15 minutes cleaning up Bruce's squeegees on the built sander. They cleaned up nicely looking as clean and flexible as new. They look even better than mine. Correction. Bruce, yours look reasonably good with a little epoxy here and there. Surprisingly, yours look like they have never touch a sander. Mine on the other hand look great, but recently cleaned up on a sander! :)

My day concludes with all plane priorities met.   A very plane day indeed.

Pete & Bruce

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:15:14 -0500

On the bottom layup, both Pete & Bruce helped me for their first time on my airplane. So they earned the right to sign my cozy.

Pete

Bruce, aka LifeSamSara

Glassing Bottom

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:59:17 -0500

I called in the Calvary again to help with this large layup. I got more help than I expected.

DaveB in the white shirt with his back turned to the camera owns LEZ VH-JZE.

Bruce on the far side facing the camera is starting a LEZ RG project.

That’s me hiding with the squeegee in my hand.

Mark (spodman the overgrown elf) is in the stripped shirt and is planning to build a cozy.

Ian & his friend film the day. Ian is trying to put together a TV show that follows experimental planes.

Not shown is Pete. Peter previously owned Dave’s LEZ.

Notice some of my wife’s handy work on the near bench. She loves when people come over as it gives her a chance to cook something new!

Another shot of Dave, Bruce, & Pete. Mark had to go do something irresponsible like go to work and keep us stupid pilots from flying into each other!

A couple of the reinforcement layups

Finish shot of the bottom, there was a few dry spots that needed filled. Hmm. I think I was working that area.

Installing MB Antenna

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:45:41 -0500

Before glassing I installed a Marker Beacon Antenna in the bottom. I'll put the rest of the antannas in the wings.

I used a router to cut a slot to place the coax. I decided to brind the coax out on the side wall just in front of the IP.

Then cut, chisel, dremel out room for the Ballans. Some people have commented that the Ballans are just thicker than the 3/8 foam. Hint: If you posiition the ballans just under where the Seat back touches the bottom you gain an extra 3/4" of the last-a-foam.

Coax and Copper ready for soldering.

Soldered.

Area filled with Micro.

Contour Bottom

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:08:49 -0500

Now for the famous Mold-less construction. This step literally took me months to complete. Not because it was challenging or time consuming, it was because I was traveling with work a week at a time. It's difficult to make progress when you're not home.

This first step is were so many mis-interpretted the plans, but was later clarified by Nat in the newsletter. There's only a couple examples on the web that is documented that's correct. Most just say not to do it their way. I do beleive my process was correct according to the update from the newletter.

I'll admit that I oversanded the the area and even sanded into the Electrical Channel. I filled the area with light micro and resanded it closwer to the desired shaped. Second time around was much better

Next is the bottom corners. I handcut these with a pullsaw. I found it gave me good control and was painless. As you stop and check your work often, I don't think there was any downside to not using an electric saw. The primary concern is not to cutt too deeply. Then using a handheld band sander I cleaned up the cuts. I premarked all the cutlines with a permanent marker.

I lost the photographs of sanding the curves. I had planned to use the community sanding jig, but since I'm in OZ, I made my own. Supper simply to make. I took a scrap piece of 4x4 and cut the shape out on the bandsaw. Then knocked off the corners with the belt sander.

image image

A word of caution, be careful with the edges of the sanding block. The natural tendency will result in divots on the bottom and side. This can be minimized if you put a little tape on the end of the curve on the sanding block. Add more tape as needed. The good news is that if any depression exist after fiberglassing, then it should be able to be filled while finishing. It's much easier to fill a depression rather than sand a high spot.

You'd think that with so much time spent on this step that I'd have more photos. Nope. Sorry.