I've previously insulated, rewired, and put in 8 fluorescent lights into the garage. I still want to do a couple more things. I want to upgrade the power service going to the garage and run natural gas out there for a furnace. We'll probably do those a little later in the summer.

But today I finally got around to getting coax and two CAT5 cable trench out there. The coax will be for TV and the CAT5 is for phone and computer.

I did it all by hand. I laid the three cables on the ground and then took a landscapers shovel and drove it straight into the ground to split it open. I didn't actually dig anything. Then by hand I was able to open the slit up a little more and push the cables down into it. It all took about 3 hours for the 75 feet. They make machines to do it, but remember I'm cheep.

It's finally here!!!!

1300 miles and 20 hours of driving. Did I mention we never got better than 15mpg? Probably driving 80mph didn't help the gas mileage.

I purchased the tub from Blake Mantel threw ebay. He really is just a heck of a nice guy. He was kind enough to offer to meet us a couple hours closer. That probably saved us 300 miles and 6 hours. He met us at a McDonalds in Port Jervis, NY. I think he mentioned it was the coldest day of the year!!!

I haven't had a chance to inspect everything yet, but I'll be working on that soon. Here's is what he's done so far.

All bulk heads are done.
Sides are done.
Fuselage assembly is started.
F-22, IP, & front seatbacks are floxed in place.
Heating duct (Center Keel) has been built
Seatback brace has been glassed one side
Included was the foam to build the bottom,


Extras included:
Pump (45:100 ratio)
Plans SN 008
Cozy Owner Manual.
small bag of flox & micro ballons

The pump has sat for several years completely full of epoxy. As you can see in the picture, I almost have it disassembled. Most of the parts are soaking in Acetone, but will probably require MEK. I'm still working on trying to get one cylinder out of the pump. It's almost seized up. I can just barely move it with a pair of channel locks. Do you think I should try to get it out first or go ahead and start soaking it.

I paid $561 for everything from Blake and it cost us just under $300 to pick it up. Most of that was gas.

I'm hoping to get at least the shipping charges back when I sell the plans. That would get me the Tub & a Pump for about $500. I feel that's a pretty good deal.

That was by far the biggest motivation behind buying the tub. I could really care less how much of a head start it gives me. It seemed like a good deal.




As a side note, Blake said he was very happy with what learned from building the fuselage. He finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't for him. One reason is that he's a big guy (see pic). He recently drove to Florida and picked up hurricane damaged C182. He's going to restore it. I wish him the best of luck. I really like the C182; they have a totally different mission than what I'm looking for.

My search for MGS epoxy continues. I received two messages today. The MGS distributor listed on the MGS website, the one that Spodman offered, called and left a message on my mobile phone. She said IronBark Composites is their local to distributor and to contact them for assistance.

Ironbark Composites is the other supplier that I called on Friday. I had emailed him and asked about pricing for 335. He returned with pricing for 235. Unfortunately this is not one of the approved epoxies. In a follow-up email, I realized that the only approved epoxy that he offers is 285. That somewhat explains why I've heard MGS is so expense in OZ, it's the better of the two. I was hoping to use 335, but looks like I'll have to make do with with the more expensive 285. I hope to have pricing tomorrow. That will have a big impact on costs. It looks like he sells epoxy by weight, not volume.

I also received a very nice response from Kevin Dove in Perth. He said he'd purchased 30 liters (8 gallons) for $1,400(AUS). That's roughly $150USD per gallon. Fortunately it's only be a couple hours drive to pick it up. So I hope to only buy a few gallons at a time. Kevin other comment was that suppliers are terribly expensive in OZ. He said he just bought some bolts locally from FBO. They cost him $2.50 each, whereas spruce has them for $.40. OUCH
Foam was about the same. As you can see from his website, he found it was cheapest to buy all the supplies from the US in one shot. http://home.people.net.au/~dovek

Ironically enough, he suggested that I contact Chris Byrne in Sydney for help as well. I met Chris about a year ago, saw his plane in primer, and had a nice enjoyable supper with him & his wife.

It's been a couple years since Kevin did his pricing and the exchange rate has drastically changed in Australia's favor. So I'll probably spend this week calling the contact he has on his website to confirm pricing, although it sounds like I'll be buying most of the supplies from the states.

Any Australian builders out there, I'd appreciate your help in locating suppliers.

Depending on the progress this week on locating suppliers, I may be ready to call Spruce/Wicks place an order by the first of next week. My thought on the shipment is to order most of the supplies for CH4-9 minus the gear. I've even consider trying to add in CH13 which would be a completed tub with nose, but haven't completed decided on it.

I would think this should fit on a single shipping pallet. Standard pallets are 48"x40" & less than 60" tall. Without epoxy, I would think it would fit. Anyone else agree? Anyone have any idea on what ch4-ch9 would weigh?

I wanted to ballpark shipping costs, I found this freight forwarder:
http://www.wtxglobal.com

I though out what I hope to be some high numbers: 40"wx48"Lx60"H 300lb
Estimated costs of $575 and ETA of 44 days. This wouldn't include local GST and probably not delivery, but it gives a start. I'm hoping ASS will arrange shipping and even accept deliveries from other vendors for things they don't carry. I'm hoping they will arrange the sea freight as well.

By trying to get everything on one skid, I will probably need to buy the wood locally. With this thread from a while back, I don't see sourcing spruce locally to be a problem. It may cost more, but I can't image trying to ship a 100" piece of spruce around the world. http://canardcommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2145

Another random thoughts.
I has really hoping to buy the wider 50" BID from Thayercraft. Unfortunately it it looks like they are out until November. I not sure if Spruce would even allow me to add on a fiberglass shipment on from a competitor. The bid is 50" wide, it'll make less joints, but also may not fit on standard pallet.

Anyone else have any contact for possible sources of supplies in Australia?


...The prebuild continues....

Today i received pricing for MGS 285. Pricing is high, but not completely un-affordable. It's sold by the kilogram, but I've converted it to gallons for easy comparisons. There is also quantity discounts

Price per Gallon
Resin (0.2 gallon) $228 AUD $187 USD
Resin (1.0 gallon) $182 AUD $150 USD
Resin (5.5 gallon) $150 AUD $123 USD
The next discount is not until 50 gallons.

The 2008 spruce catalog lists resin at $125.


Fast Price per Quart
Hardener(1 quart) $45 AUD $37 USD
Hardener(5 quart) $39 AUD $32 USD
Hardener(19 quart) $28 Aud $23 USD


Spruce is currently selling at $30. Slow is a few dollars more per kilo.

So overall it will be more expensive than if I used 285, but it is doable.


Also I tracked down a place today that stocks high quality spruce for boats. I'll stop by on Saturday to check pricing and may go ahead and buy some.

I emailed a local foam supplier that does carry Divinycell. I hope to have pricing tomorrow. We'll see if they are any cheaper than shipping. If they a lot more expensive than spruce, I'll probably give up on sourcing any foam locally.

There are several boat builders in the area. Tomorrow I'll see if I can track down Peel-ply, I think they use it in boat building as well.

There also another place listed on Kevin website for Fiberglass. I'll try to call them tomorrow as well..


...the pre-build continues...

I called a company called Fiber Glass International. They're about 10 miles from me.

They said they had peel-ply. It's 1.5 meters wide and costs $3 aud per Meter. She said they have only one grade: Fine. She said they bring in a more course grade for one customer on request.

QUESTION: If it's peel-ply and used in the fiberglass industry, do I need to be concerned about using it?

This seems like a good deal. I think this is the stuff spruce sells at $3.25 USD
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/peelply.php
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/dacronfabric.php

Tomorrow, I'll be on the road all day so, it'll be Friday before I can make more calls.

...the Prebuild continues...

I talked to this place earlier in the week and said they had some in stock, but more was do in next month.

http://www.mathewstimber.com.au/

It was quite enjoyable to see all the different selection of rough cut wood. All the typical wood I hear about in the states were marked US. There was a lot of native Australia and NZ wood in stock.

Their were two pieces of very straight, very clean spruce in stock that were 3 meters long. They were basically 2x8s (50mmx200mm) and twice as much thickness as needed. I think I could cut all the pieces needed from a 1x8. Now for the kicker, it costs $108 AUD per meter! That's roughly $265 USD for a 10 foot 2x8. Where-as all the precut parts from spruce would be approx $135.

The good news is that I can get the spruce locally. The bad news is it's gonna costs twice as much as aircraft spruce. I'll make a couple more calls around town to see if I can find a better price, but now I don't have to worry about shipping it around the world.

Anyone around Victoria interested in splitting the cost with me? I think I may be able to get two sets out of one board.


I received a response from Fibreglass & Resin Sales saying that they could get Divinycell. Below are the prices she quoted.
(3) sheets 3/4" x 24" x 48" H45 PVC 1 x 2.98m² sheet 20mm thick x $231.88 Divinycell
(6) sheets 3/8" x 32" x 48* H45 PVC 1 x 2.98m² sheet 10mm thick x $138.28 Divinycell
(1) sheet 1/4" x 36" x 39" H100 PVC. 1 x 2m² sheet 6mm thick x $120.24 Divinycell

I think that rules out buying foam locally!

So it looks like I've coming to the conclusion that I'll probably buy epoxy, wood, & peel-ply. Everything else I'll buy from the states.

Ordered Chapters 4 to 9!!!!!!

Because of the size, I did not order any of the spruce longerons. I've found a local source, but it's twice as much.

I'll also be buying MGS locally because spruce can't ship it internationally. I was hoping to use 235 because it's cheaper, but it's not available. So I'll be using 335. It will cost a little more than the 335 from spruce.

Also I left the Landing Gear and associated equipment off. I didn't see the reason to ship a heavy gear and misc stuff over here and then ship it home. It can wait till we move home.

The total came to about $2,000 with a couple tools. I'm waiting on shipping costs and times. But hey, I'm a little closer!!

I'm not sure who, maybe John Slade, started their project by taking a photo of the delivery man of the very first order to arrive. Many have followed and it has sort of become a tradition.

Today I picked up 25kG of MGS 235 (about 5-6 gallons) from the distributor on the other side of the city. This is the first official part that will become part of the plane. It was just under $1500AUD. At this current exchange rate that $1350! ouch.

The owner was gone, but one of the kids in the store working on some surfboards helped me load the stuff in the car. So I told him it was somewhat of a tradition to take a picture with the deliveryman with the first shipment. He was like "WHAT?????" "You what me to do what?" I told him I just wanted a picture of him holding the epoxy. He agreed.

So this is the the kid in the surfboard shop delivering to me my shipment of MGS!!!!!!!

THE PRE-BUILD OFFICIALLY ENDS...


Oh yea, Spruce shipped my order earlier this week.

The practice layup turned out nice, but slightly light at 9.5 oz. No air bubbles present. The top layer is ever so slightly dry and rough. A little bit more epoxy probably would have solved the problem. Live and learn. The dark spots are of no concern, there was a couple pinholes in the plastic. Epoxy soaked threw to the table. A non-Issue because the top had already been waxed.

The confidence layup went well and didn't take much time at all. A few days of curing and I'll be showing off to the neighbors. (and of course receiving strange looks).