As I mentioned in my project update, I decided that I needed to flip the fuselage right side up to glass the top sides of the gear fairing.  I hadn’t planned on flipping the fuselage for quite a while, but plans change when one (read: ME) fails to account for issues such as the heat shields blocking access to the lower outboard gear leg thus preventing glassing the topside gear fairing if the wheels are mounted.  Sequencing is key in my opinion for optimizing the build schedule, but in this case there was no way around it: the fuselage was going to have to get flipped back upright.

No big deal of course.  I did re-wicker my build steps though to account for the fuselage being right side up.  The plan now is to glass the top of the gear fairings, then do a final check & possible tweak of the toe-in, and then mount the wheels/tires/axles/brakes/heat shield.  With the wheels in place, and the fuselage upright, I can then mount the wheel pants and be finished with all things gear related except for finalizing the brake line install.  As for the stainless steel brake line install, the new timeline works out fine since my stainless steel capable flaring tool won’t be here for another couple weeks.

So I started off today by trimming the TE of both the right & left gear fairings.

Once I got the gear fairing TE squared away, I needed to flip the fuselage.  I did about 10 minutes of head scratching before I finally remembered that I had designed the fuselage dolly so that it could match up height-wise with my portable fold out table.  I set the table as you can see below and it matched up great after I set a couple 2x4s with cardboard protectors in place to get the heights equal & matched.

I then very carefully & slowly tipped over the fuselage onto the foldout table using the gear legs as a lever.

Here’s a shot from the inside cockpit side… something I haven’t seen in while.

I then slid the fuselage sideways back onto the fuselage dolly.

And then flipped the fuselage right side up back onto the fold out table, and then once again slide it over onto the fuselage dolly.  Once I had it blocked correctly underneath, I then reattached the securing straps.

Another shot of the flipped fuselage from the aft end.

Clearly the bottom side of the gear is close to the ground, someplace that I don’t want to spend a lot of time messing around trying to layup glass.  Luckily my fuselage dolly elevates!

Interestingly, with the amount of weight that my fuselage is packing on, my drill couldn’t handle the torque of getting the dolly platform to raise.  Actually, I should say that my hand couldn’t handle the torque of the drill wanting to rip out of my hand.  So I grabbed a ratchet speed handle and raised the platform its first few inches manually before switching to the drill. [I guess this demonstrates the torque required on the nose gear that Jack discusses in his instructions: to have the gear up at least a foot before climbing in & having it raise passengers from the flat deck position.]

As you can see, I raised the platform its full height giving me (and thus my back!) a much better working height for glassing the top side of the gear fairings.

With the gear height at an acceptable working height, I then marked the right gear fairing a half inch (0.5″) forward of the TE.  This will allow for a good top fairing glass to lower fairing glass bond.

I used a razor knife to remove the foam, and then the Dremel Tool to remove the micro that had oozed out the aft end of the foam piece junctions.  I also cleaned the dead foam & micro off the freshly exposed TE lip.

Then came the not so fun step.  For some weird reason the “2-piece clamping method” that I used on the right side fairing didn’t work so well.  I could run my hand up & down the outer surface of the right fairing and depress the foam inwards towards the original gear.  Clearly there were a fair number of air gaps between the applied micro layer and the foam fairing pieces on the right side fairing.

With the size of the air pockets the practical solution was far beyond injecting epoxy or anything else under the foam pieces, I was going to have do a sort of rebuild on this fairing.

Enter X-30 Expanding Foam.  I know a lot of builders have used this foam for a variety of things, but I personally haven’t used it before.

After reading the directions I decided that I would heed the warning of so many builders before me that this stuff really does expand 30 times its initial volume.  With this in mind I marked equal pencil lines in 2 small cups less than an inch up for parts A & B of the X-30 foam.

I poured the part A & the part B X-30 foam in the separate small cups, and then as per instructions mixed them in the larger cup.

For those not familiar with the X-30 Expanding Foam, it has a 15-20 second mix time before its immediately poured and/or applied to the surface.  I didn’t set up any dams or anything since I applied it straight to the surface of the right gear fairing.

Here’s a wide angle shot of the right gear faring with the expanding pour foam applied to it.

While I let the expanding foam cure some I went to work on the TE of the left gear fairing.  As with the right gear fairing I trimmed the foam 0.5″ from the TE.

After finishing trimming the TE on the left side, I turned my sights back onto the right side gear fairing.  I started out using the Stanley Surfoam grater to trim the foam down (left pic) and then used my sanding board to finalize the foam sanding (right pic).

I then cut another 4 pieces of UNI off the roll.  This time around I added a half inch to make the width 11-1/2″ wide vs the underside 11″ wide.  I cut the UNI at a 30° angle across the entire roll.

I then mixed up some flox and applied it to the left top gear fairing foam & glass junctions at both the LE & TE.  I then micro’d the surface of foam gear fairing before laying up 2 plies of UNI oriented in opposite 30° angles.  I overlapped the 2 plies of UNI onto the bottom fairing glass by about 1.5″ the entire length of the LE.

A front shot of the glassed topside left gear fairing.

With the right gear fairing glassed I then sanded down the blue foam & cleaned up the micro on the left fairing with the Dremel tool.  Once the fairing surface was prepped, I micro’d the top left gear fairing.

I then laid up 2 plies of UNI at opposite 30° bias just as I did on the right side gear fairing.

After laying up the UNI on the fairing I ensured that it was trimmed on both sides.  I also peel plied the UNI overlap onto the lower fairing glass on each side.

Since I used MGS 335 with slow hardener, I have a few hours before I’ll razor cut the overhanging glass.  When the layup gets to that green point I’ll also apply dry micro to the depression along the TE.

Once I get the gear fairing cleaned up I’ll confirm the toe-in as I mentioned above.

I started out today actually spending some time finishing the blog post from yesterday.  Clearly I’ve been a little busy on the plane build so it can be a challenge sometimes getting a bunch of work done and then keeping the build log updated.

Due to the holidays and some work stuff I got a late start today.  As I mentioned in last night’s tome, I’m compiling another few orders for ACS, Stein, etc. and I’ve been doing a bit of digging to make sure those are complete as possible before I pull the trigger.

One item I worked on earlier was developing the order for my PC680 battery strap.  Since this will be custom made, I’m making sure that all the dimensions are absolutely correct.  I’ll probably pull the trigger on that order tomorrow or just after Christmas.

After dinner, I putted around looking for a piece of foam to act as a mounting pad for the battery buss and the relay that drive the E-Bus (Essential Bus) during an emergency if the main alternator fails.  The E-Bus will be driven by my 10 Amp back-up alternator, B&C’s SD-8, but if the main bus goes berserk, than a couple of switches need to be flipped to shut down & bypass the main buss & fire up the E-buss.  The relay that I’m mounting here is controlled by one of those switches.

I found a piece of 3/8″ scrap Divinycell with 1-ply of BID already laid up on it, and since I’m only laying up 1-ply of BID anyway, the other bit of cured BID is fine with me.  This is actually scrap from the big 3/8″ thick panel I did back in Germany that my side consoles & arm rests were cut from.  For this pad, I wanted 3/8″ thick vs 1/4″ thick foam so that the nutplates would have enough clearance.

Ahh, speaking of nutplates, here they are now!  All 6 of those suckers… that I just made up tonight.  Actually, I’m getting pretty good at cranking those guys out and can gin one up now in just a few minutes.

The 4 nutplates on the bottom of the bus & relay mounting pad are the K1000-08’s, and the 2 on the top are the K1000-06’s.

And here’s a shot of the front of the Battery Buss and Relay mounting pad.  You may be wondering why I’m even going with this mounting pad vs just mounting these to the back of Napster (aka F1-3 Bulkhead).  Well, I just didn’t care for the idea of putting 6 holes, albeit small, into a primary structural bulkhead.  So I opted for this solution to minimize holes in Napster.  (I’m sure once you see the holes for all the wires, you’ll ask, “Who is he kidding?!”  ha!)

As you can see, I also beveled the edges to provide a nice ramp for the BID.

I dug around in my scrap BID pile but couldn’t find anything big enough to cover this piece.  Pickings are getting sparse in the BID pile!  I had to head to my local Glass Cutting Table and cut me a fresh slice off the rack!

I then put the BID in its pre-layup home: plastic, since ALL layups are prepregged . . . aren’t they?!  haha!  I traced about a 1″ space from the edge of the mounting pad onto the prepreg plastic to ensure that there would be a decent sized overlap for the BID onto the surrounding glass once the pad is attached to Napster.

After filling the nutplates with plastic wrap to protect the threads and micro’ing them all into place with blue wing foam backers, I then proceeded to mount the pad.  In my new found love affair with 5-min glue, I actually left 3 small spots open on the back of this pad with no micro-paste in order to place dabs of 5-min glue.  I then pressed it onto the aft right side of Napster and held it in place for about 5 minutes.

I then cleaned up the edges, made sure the fillets were good and that the edge ramp foam was micro’d as well.  I then cut my prepregged ply of BID on the previous outline that I had drew and laid it up.  Here it is below with the outer piece of plastic still in place.

I should note that I realized a tactical error that I made just before I laid up the BID.  I looked at the pad, then grabbed my battery buss fuse block and held it in place where it would mount.  As I suspected, the access to the Fast-On tabs on the left side near the NG30 upright would be a little tight, albeit not anywheres impossible, to get the wires’ Fast-On connectors on & off… not that I’ll be doing that a lot once the electrogizmos are set.  But, just to add a little ease of access, I skooched the whole thing over to the right about 0.2″ and filled in the resulting gap with more thick micro.

I then pulled the prepreg plastic and proceeded to form the sides down into place.  I noted that for some reason at the upper right angled corner that the BID had split open and it wasn’t allowing me to coax it back to being somewhat normal.  With that corner being thin, I grabbed another piece of scrap BID and laid it up over the small corner split and pressed on.

After the BID was all wetted out and the lay down looked good, I peel plied the layup with one piece of peel ply cut at the corners so that it would lay down over the irregular surfaces.

One last note.  After I had pulled the mounting pad away from the NG30 upright almost a 1/4 of an inch, I noted after a bit of time laying up the glass that the darn thing must have moved some on me, mainly at the top, but it did move back towards the center a bit.

Oh, well.  No real harm . . . no foul.

I was also going to micro in the H100 foam in the center space between the BC1s for the front bulkhead, but as I was prepping to do so, my Spidey sense started tingling stating that I should wait until I clear up a few more variables surrounding the battery compartment components.  So, I waited.

Tomorrow I’m planning on putting the NG30 area back together after cleaning up the front battery buss layup and drilling all the Saran wrap out of the holes.  I also plan to get the spare tire figured out, the brake reservoirs and associated Click Bonds glassed in place, and the front nose foam cut and ready to glass into the battery compartment area between Napster and the F-7.75 bulkhead (which I’ve nicknamed “the Roundel”).

Funny, if you look at all the pics in this post you’d swear today was all about brakes, which I definitely hit some significant milestones with today.  In actuality, today was almost entirely spent on, you guessed it, the electrical system, but I’ll get into that in a minute.

I received my 3/16″ Statoflex 124 brake line hose assemblies today and they’re exactly what I wanted!

Here are a couple more shots.

If Bob Nuckolls is the King of Electrons, then I’d say Tony Bingelis was the King of Engines, and almost all things mechanically related to aircraft.  Now, just as I have on occasion angered the gods, mainly Burt, (as if he actually knows what I’m doing… ha!) by violating his edicts with a few mods here & there, so too did I violate one of Tony’s.  Tony states to always go with new hoses and not NOS (New Old Stock), but given the history of these hoses, the care in which they were stored (detailed), the price compared to new, and the fact that they were EXACTLY what I was looking for dimensions & fittings wise, I just couldn’t pass them up.

Below is a shot confirming that the new hoses work with the AN3 fittings I have on hand. Sweet!

Continuing on with the brake theme, I spent the latter part of the evening working on my brake lines in the forward NG30 nose area.  I cleaned up the inevitable flox globs that formed on the edge of my threads just over the blue tape to offer me a really good challenge of removing 1/2″ pieces of blue painting tape.  (Maybe this is how the angered airplane guru gods get me back, by making even the smallest tasks a total PITA . . . haha!)

I know that my brake line system may seem a bit robust, or entailed, for what it’s actually accomplishing, but I didn’t want to just go the EZ way out and throw in a couple of runs of Nylaflow and call it a day (I’ll do that for the rest of the nose brake lines!).  Remember, the components making up these lines are literally the smallest you can get in every category: 1/8″ aluminum tubing, -2 fittings and -2 Adel clamps.  We’re talking mere ounces, including the diminutive mini-bulkheads, in weight penalty… I’d seriously guesstimate maybe 2 ounces over using Nylaflow/Nylon brake tubings from the main brake line to the Parking Brake Valve (PBV).

Plus it was fun, I learned a lot, and the tubing reminds me of a German brewery . . . Ah, beer!

Here’s a shot from the other side.  The half loops in the line are simply that, a service “loop” in case I need to rework the brake line.  Since the majority of it is embedded, I wanted to leave enough exposed that I could whittle down in making new flares, etc, if need be.  The aluminum tubing is softer, and bends quite readily, so there was no torquing or strain on the line in making those seemingly tight bends.

As I’m sure you’ve noted, I placed the Parking Brake Valve near it’s final mounting location to check how it fit into the schema.  So far so good.

Now, onto how I really spent my time.

When I was brushing up on brake line fittings, tubing, flaring and the like in Tony Bengelis’ books, Firewall Forward, and Tony Bengelis on Engines, I noted that he noted that there seems to be a number of “insignificant” things (my paraphrasing) that we overlook in the build until we get to them.  Probably natural, and perhaps less costly in the long run since far less money is wasted on buying things based on future prognostications.

Tony was speaking mainly about hoses, and how builders tend not to give them care until they’re at the point in the build where they need them, and then they most likely have to get them constructed.  Time not building, and perhaps added costs in getting them shipped faster. IMO, there are quite a few areas in a Long-EZ build where this occurs, ESPECIALLY considering that Long-EZs are both plans built and continue to evolve in major sub-systems design due to the open source type metamorphosis that continues with this aircraft.  A few cases in point from the original plans:  Jack Wilhelmson EZNoseLift, Ken Miller’s forward rudder/brake pedals, Vance Atkinson fuel site gauges and pitch trim actuator system, Waiter’s roll trim system, Davenport’s extended nose, Stephen James “Wortmann” main gear fairing, Sam James’ construction of Gary Hertzler’s wheel pants, Todd Silver’s improved canopy design, the Cozy Girl’s torque tube offsets, Feather Light and Aerocad’s improved strake kits, to name a few,  And that doesn’t even take into account the RAF approved mods, all requiring another set of plans: Ronzc canard and HIgh speed rudders with hidden bullhorns.

My point in all this is that the Long-EZ is unique in that they’re an amazing number of variables that must be dealt within each build, and each variable requires time in research & decision-making to figure out.  I haven’t built an RV, or a Kitfox, or any other kit plane, but conventional wisdom dictates that following the instructions of “Bolt A to B, C to D, and step 15 is complete” is an entirely different construct than what Long-EZ builders contend with.  After reviewing my fellow builders’ websites, I can tell you that each plane is so amazingly unique, that they are all truly one-of-a-kind works of art!

I digress.

This all affected me today in a real way.  As I was trying to “simply” figure out what electrical components would reside in the nose battery compartment, and the configuration, placement, fitting of such components, I was of course referring back to my electrical diagrams.  I pulled out my lighting systems diagram.  It was old, outdated and not representative of the components I have on hand.  I updated it with my chicken scratchings.  Then I referred to my primary electrical system diagram, adding a ton more chicken scratchings and notes to the pre-existing myriad of handwritten notes.  And when I say myriad, I really mean A LOT!

If you’ll note the trend, I had had enough.  I was fed up with working off of old wiring diagrams.  How old?  My primary electrical system diagram was dated Jan 2014… almost 2 years old!  I had to remedy this.  I fired up my CAD program and spent a good 3-4 hours updating four electrical diagrams in my wire book.

In my mind, I think many could claim that clearly the wiring diagram is not an overly tangible thing right now in the build considering I haven’t even finished construction on many major parts of the aircraft.  What updating those diagrams did was give me better clarity for figuring out what was going where, and why.  Again, IMO, with so little space available for the amount of stuff I’m cramming into this bird, combined with the issues that plastic birds are prone to have with those nasty little electrons, not to mention RF monsters just waiting to get nasty in our headsets, I’m really trying to optimize my electrical system as best possible.

The last thought I had on this was when I had finally decided to mount the battery buss on the aft side of Napster vs. in the battery compartment.  After I checked the fit and mocked up the buss and the relay to see where they should go, I spent at least a half an hour figuring out the hardware to use to mount the damn things!  To me, this is the stuff Tony is talking about.  A half hour sorting through screws and bolts and washers just to figure out WHAT I NEED TO ORDER!   . . . amazing!  Again, this is not stuff that comes in that giant crate sitting in your driveway, pre-configured, pre-designed and just waiting for you to mount item A to pre-drilled panel B, with screw C, washers D & E, with nut F.

But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Good times!

Oh, btw, in case you were wondering what’s going on with the actual nose build,  I measured out my foam panel requirements for the battery compartment floors & sidewall pieces.  I should be starting on those within the next day or so.

(I also spent a good hour consolidating and organizing my electrical parts containers… also something LONG overdue!)

And hey, thanks for “listening” . . . sometimes ya just gotta ramble!

Rock on Brothers!