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 Guys,

The perimeter baffle seals are pretty much complete at this point, minus 2 small respective segments near the exhaust pipes.  That being said, I’m moving forward with constructing the Melvill-style exhaust pipe brackets, which the final two segments of baffle seals will attach to (immediately below the exhaust pipes)… then I can declare official victory over the baffle seals!

James rewelded the left outboard exhaust pipe today, so I’m pressing forward in getting the exhaust pipe brackets made and installed before trimming all the exhaust pipes to final length.

  1. Chapter 23 – Bracket plasma cutting Leave a reply
  2. Chapter 23 – Exhaust bracket mockups Leave a reply
  3. Chapter 23 – Exhaust pipe re-welded Leave a reply
  4. Chapter 23 – Exhaust pipe bracket start Leave a reply
  5. Chapter 23 – Aft bottom baffle seals in Leave a reply
  6. Chapter 23 – Right baffle seals installed Leave a reply
  7. Chapter 23 – Right exhaust pipe tab Leave a reply
  8. Chapter 23 – Left baffle seals installed Leave a reply
  9. Chapter 23 – Left aft baffle seals Leave a reply