Vortilons

Wing Vortilons

Vortilon construction is detailed in the Roncz Canard plans since they are a mandatory addition to the wings if flying the Roncz Canard.  There was a well-known Cozy accident that resulted from a main wing stall due in large measure to the pilot/builder removing the Vortilons before a test flight.  Clearly these little guys are critical to safety of flight when incorporating a Roncz Canard into the configuration.

Now, as far as classification . . . although these are specified & mandated in the Roncz canard plans (canard = Chapter 10), they clearly go on the main wings (wings = Chapter 19).  So I’m adding them here as noteworthy item, albeit I’ll leave this page “chapter-less.”

18 October 2015 Since I had a little bit of pure epoxy left over from glassing the left canard swoosh tip, I grabbed the BID scrap box and a piece of plastic to make a 4-ply BID sheet, of which I would cut out a Vortilon or two.  I laid the 4 plies of BID into a pre-preg setup and poured all the epoxy into the layup.  After heating up the pre-preg with the heat gun it flowed well enough to wet out all the epoxy.  I then put another plate on top of it and weighed it down with my heavy tool bag (pic below).

Vortilon 4-BID layupWeighing down Vortilon 4-BID layup

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19 October 2015 — Since I had used some leftover epoxy yesterday to make a set of Vortilons, today I wrote it into the work plan to finish the set for both wings.  Here’s the 4-ply BID layup for two more sets of Vortilons.

#2 vortilon layup 6"x 8" 4-ply BID

And here are the initial two that I cut from the glass I laid up yesterday.  These are the largest of the 3 sets of Vortilons.

BL 80.0 Vortilons cut

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Recent Posts

Project Update

Hey Folks,

Well, it’s been a crazy summer… consistently super hot weather that has kept the internal workshop temps well into the mid-90’s to over 100° F, and that’s with fans on.  So I’ve been delving into some other homestead tasks while still trying to get a bit done here and there on the bird.  The hot weather has eased up slightly, so I’ve been spending another 1-2 hours a day more in the shop (before still needing a shower!).

The electrical system and instrument panel install is still virtually complete.  My Trio autopilot is installed and Garmin GNS-480 GPS Navigator and Bendix-King AV8OR handheld GPS back in hand from getting repaired. 

I still need to finalize the weight and balance on the ailerons before their final installation onto the wings.

Also on the upcoming to-do list is the final canopy install… and getting the rudder/brake pedals configured and installed, along with the brake lines, master cylinders and reservoirs plumbed. 

Slowly making progress . . .

  1. Chapter 21 – Fuel valve installed Leave a reply
  2. Chapter 21 – Fuel Valve Support Leave a reply
  3. Chapter 21 – Fuel Valve Install Leave a reply
  4. Chapter 21/22 – Fuel pump primed Leave a reply
  5. Chapter 21/22 – Fuel pump back in Leave a reply
  6. Chapter 22 – Autopilot is back! Leave a reply
  7. Chapter 19/21 – More ailerons & fuel… Leave a reply
  8. Chapter 19/21 – Gimme ailerons & fuel! Leave a reply
  9. Chapter 11 – Always sumpin’! Leave a reply