Today was all about the landing brake.  I got all my tools and the Section VI plans together and deployed to the workshop, where I started in on some serious foam-work.

The first task out of the gate was drilling a 45° channel for the landing brake hard point, a piece of 1/4″ Finnish Birch (same stuff as the firewall), to be embedded.  This hard point, or LB23, is where the 3 bolts that attach the fuselage-side landing brake hinge will be mounted.  Quite a number of builders put 4 bolts in—why I’m not sure since I haven’t read anything stating that 3 bolts are not doing the job—so believe or not I listened to Burt and didn’t change the number of bolts (just how they were mounted!  HA!)

The channel is made by simply using a drill with a 1/4″ bit to “router” out the foam.  Not the most elegant of ways to get the channel made, but effective (and per plans… just saying!). I also used my perm-grit tools to clean up the channel and then shop-vac’d the bits of foam out.

Since the landing brake sits just to the rear of the front pilot’s seat, the 45° at which the channel is cut puts the landing brake hard point right over the hump that runs down the middle of the GIB’s Left & Right foot “trays” (depressions).  Thus, the shape of LB23 could no longer stay in its initial rectangular shape (due the depressions) and required some major modifications.  LB23 had to be “dog-eared” on each side and the top and bottom edges had to be beveled at 45° so it would fit.

After LB23 was snuggly emplaced into its channel, I started the process of removing foam out of the entire landing brake area to create the depression needed for the brake “flap” (or door) to sit flush with the fuselage when it’s in the stowed (up) position.

I started off using the Dremel tool, but it was taking way too long with its small bit so I quickly switched to the plunge router…. which of course went a lot quicker!  Like butta!!

After I had made a rough depression by ‘masterfully’ extracting foam from the bottom of the fuselage, I sanded it with an orbital sander.  I then used a sanding block to knock down & curve the sides so it all flowed some what smoothly together.

I finished up by marking the bolt locations in LB23 (the 3 crosshairs on the wood piece).

Today I started out by setting up the vacuum pump outside the house and running a hose down into the downstairs work shop.  I tried my hand at a patented Cozy Girrrls lo-vac layup on a 3/8″ thick, 32″ x 48″ piece of foam.  Since a fair amount of the panels coming out of this foam was going to be for the armrest consoles, I tried some lighter weight cloth on top of about half of the BID ply I was laying up.

I finished up Chapter 7 (technically Chapter 6… but who’s counting??) by cutting out the nose gear well.  I started by cutting a non-symmetrical shape from the inside, since I could see the actual shape outline and then grabbed the original fiberglass nose gear hole cutout from when I Dremelled it out earlier (that was after I mounted the fuselage bottom to the sides).  After I cut the weird-shaped nose gear hole through the bottom of the fuselage, I set the cutout fiberglass piece back into place and taped it.  Once it was securely in place and back in its original spot, I traced the shape of the newly cut hole.

Once I had traced the outline of the hole, I removed the fiberglass cutout piece and moved it to the outside of fuselage to transfer the shape of the landing gear hole.  Once I transferred the nose gear hole outline, I simply grabbed the jig saw and cut out the front nose gear hole.

If the nose gear hole looks a little non-symmetrical and uneven, it’s because it is.  Since the plans have you cut it to shape based off the nose gear cover (NB), which is a purchased part, there’s not much you can do since it comes that way!  However, once the nose gear cover was set into place the lopsidedness of the hole was fairly obscured.  And once gear wheel doors are built and set in place, the irregular hole will be virtually invisible.

Section VI – Landing Brake

After I got the nose gear hole cut out and test-fitted the nose gear cover, I started to work on the landing brake.  If you remember, well before I skinned the fuselage I covered what would become the landing brake area with duct tape.  Now with the fuselage glassed, I took the Dremel and carefully cut the outline of the landing brake and removed the fiberglass brake outline and duct tape.

Finally, I got the CSA “Wortmann Gear Fairing” information from my buddy Marco, which I then incorporated into my gear planning.

Today I started a massive multi-hour campaign to clean up “peel-ply snot” from the areas left from pulling up peel ply.  Peel ply is great, but the raw carnage it leaves behind is something I think we plastic airplane builders forget over time.  Anyway, with a fairly string-free fuselage I proceeded to prep for laying up the two sets of 3-ply 3″ UNI “tapes” (cut UNI cloth) along the top of each of the upper longerons.

Before I could layup the UNI tape sets, I had to take care of few air bubbles that insidiously crept into my fuselage glassing layup, mainly over the upper conduit areas.  I used a hand drill to make a couple of holes in the glass and syringed in some epoxy.  They weren’t that large, maybe .2″ to .4″ at the most (oblong, not round) here and there, but since they were right under my UNI reinforcement tapes, I wanted as much strength as possible.

After removing the offending air pockets with injected epoxy, I started prepping for my 3″ UNI reinforcement tapes layup.  I set-up my portable table and got a length of scrap particle board to use as a base for my squeegeeing activities.  I then grabbed my 3″ UNI tape prep-preg set-ups and went to town.

Remember, since I’m removing a little bit more fuselage side material for a longer strake opening on each side, I added 2″ to each end (4″ total) of the 3 UNI tapes for final lengths of 54″, 52″ and 50″.   I wet out one set of the UNI pre-preg and laid it up on the Right longeron.  Once I had the Right-side longeron layup good & peel-plied, I moved on to the Left longeron.

 Chapter 7 – Fuselage Exterior is complete!!!

the glassing continued on well into the evening . . .

The outside of the seatbelt brackets, under glass, came out very nicely.  I’m very happy with my decision to install them first and glass afterwards, and keep from drilling holes through my freshly glassed fuselage skin! Continue reading →

And so begins the final chapter in the saga of glassing the fuselage … or should I say the final step . . . of the chapter!

I pulled an all-nighter to glass the fuselage.  The first the few hours were of course all about prepping EVERYTHING to get ready to actually start glassing.

I cut two sets of 3″ UNI strips at 50″, 52″ & 50″ and set them up “pre-preg”.

I cut 2 pieces UNI for the third ply on fuselage & wrapped/rolled in brown paper.

I cut a UNI roll at 30° on the end and took it out the garage.

Continue reading →

Today I finalized the fuselage preparation for glassing the exterior skin of the fuselage.

While I was double-checking everything I realized that at some point I had been a little aggressive in my sanding & cutting of the foam at the back edge of the fuselage where it butts up to the firewall, on the Left side of fuselage.  This past overzealousness created a small gap that needed to be filled, so I made up a foam wedge that was 0.2″ wide from front to aft, around 0.4″ deep (depth of foam in that location), and approximately 6.2″ in length from top to bottom.  I then micro’d this foam wedge into place to cure.

Continue reading →

Greetings Dear Readers!

The good news is that I have much to report. The bad news is that I only have one pic to share . . .

Today I organized and cleaned the garage in preparation for skinning the fuselage exterior. I sanded down the lower stringers and then vacuumed the entire fuselage.  I then finished taping the lower aft section of the fuselage and the main landing gear brackets in the “hell hole” area near the firewall.

I pre-deployed glassing supplies out to the garage.  I also added another 45° brace on the fuselage glassing spit.

I marked the top longerons for the layout of the staggered 3-ply layup of 3″ UNI “tape” (NOT actual UNI tape, this is just plies of UNI cut into 3″ strips).  Because I will be employing the Steve Volovsek/Ken Miller “Elbow Room Mod,” which enlarges the strake openings in the side of the fuselage further aft, I decided to add 4″ to each top tape so the resulting lengths are 56″, 54″, 52″ for each side (all obviously 4″ longer than plans).

Finally, I’ve been researching the final fiberglass finishing techniques and systems for the last few weeks.  I think I’ll go with West, but because of some reservations of a couple of actual builders that I’ve been discussing this with (who used other systems), I’m going to test it out first.  I picked some up from a boating supply store here in Germany for my tests.

Not much to report today.

I rechecked the spit structure and made a few slight modifications.  I added another 45° brace to the rear spit upright.  Then I taped up the firewall in preparation for glassing the fuselage.

Tonight was all about finalizing the fuselage glassing spit design and getting it built.

I beefed up the spit with bigger pieces of wood and mounted the spinning part of the disc directly to the clamped mount in the front.  I added more screws & longer screws to make it more stable.  Finally, to really add some oomph to its lateral stability, I added some 45° angle braces.

Side note:  As you can see, underneath the rear of the fuselage there’s some water that I vacuumed up with the shop vac.  I’ve been plagued by a leak in the corner downspout of the garage.  The actual PVC pipe is too short, so I get to take my pick where I want the water to come in …. the top or the bottom.  Luckily it hasn’t damage anything.  It’s just an annoying time buster to deal with a work shop that has a large puddle of water in it.  And yes, my landlord knows and is slow to do anything about it.

Today was a prep day to knock out some of the myriad of nit-noy things that need to be completed before the fuselage can be skinned.

So, before I turned the fuselage back upright I rechecked the embedded brake lines.  I specifically wanted to make sure the foam/glass conduit exit points were good—they look fine and positioned correctly.

I measured out and designed the side fuselage openings that allow access into the strakes (wing root area).  Specifically, access to the pilot & GIB’s baggage area.  Guilty of some more slight modifications, I reshaped the oval front of the GIB’s opening to one that is slightly more ‘triangular’ (maybe a better description than C-5 nose-ish?!) and follows the curve of the embedded rudder cable conduit.  I’ll also most likely extend the pilot’s strake opening to the instrument panel… somewhat of a Cozy Girrrl’s strakes mod for a Long-EZ.

Next, I cut off the front top corners of the fuselage to create a “shelf” for the canard to sit in and be positioned correctly to mount to the F22 (front) bulkhead.  The aft vertical line of this square area that gets cut out is drawn straight down from the front edge of the F28 bulkhead (the narrow one across the top of the fuselage).  The plans call for a more invasive cut into the fuselage, but of course I’m deviating slightly by just making a simple square cutout without any of the jut-outs in the corner that the plans would have me make.

After the “lightening” of the fuselage above…ha!  I did a little bit of housecleaning by sanding down a bunch of the heavier micro & flox rich areas on the fuselage.  I also sanded down the longeron tops in prep for glassing (wood grain should be sanded so the epoxy grips it better).

My last effort of the day was designing and constructing a fuselage “spit” so I can spin the fuselage in quick-fashion as I glass it.  I got the front half of the spit completed with some good initial ops testing.

Lastly, with the fuselage upright I had the opportunity to take a good look (and some pics) at the seatbelt mounts on the inside of the fuselage. . . let me say: “those dogs will hunt!”