Aug 2007 Update
The sad thing is, my airplane is sitting in Minnesota, and I have been in Texas (mostly) since April. I guess it is good, we bought a house in TX in July, so there is some permanence to the Texas situation. I am finding some things are a little cheaper in Texas, but hangar rent isn't one. I don't really have time for my airplane right now, job and kids pretty much use up all my free time.

There is just a lot that can and should be added here, but I don't have all the time I want, so I am not doing a good job of keeping up with things.

Aug 2006 Update
I've been able to fly a little bit, I have around 30 hours now. The above pictures were taken with my phone, cropped and scaled, so the quality is a little poor. The pics were taken the same day, I was really enjoying the flight, up 7500', cruising at 135kts indicated.

Most of my flights I try to collect some data relating to the aircraft actual performance. I am using the "Performance of Light Aircraft" by John Lowry as the best reference, but also relying on FAA AC90-89A. The performance book pretty much outlines how to predict the performance of the aircraft based on some simple tests. Getting an acurate Vx and Vbg are pretty much the toughest numbers to get, not that they are at all hard, but it takes many steady climbs and glides. Then when I got good at collecting this data, I sort of messed up, and realized the V speeds I collected were all done gear up. It is probably good to have both gear up and gear down numbers.

I've done stall testing at 101.5in aft, and 1600lbs. And lots of testing at middle of the envelope weights. I still have some foreward testing to do, and some other tweaks I'd like to deal with. It seems one cylinder is always 25degrees hotter than the other 3. Nothing dangerous, or really a problem, but it makes me nervous. I've also ordered a new CHT gauge, and will move the thremocouple around to be sure that is the issue.

I've scared my self, and aborted one takeoff. Canard aircraft don't fly like a 172. The elevator doesn't offer much feedback until it is ready to fly. I tried taking off on a short runway, on a hot day, with no wind, and got to the rotation point, and it wasn't ready to fly. I let it go until I was really uncomfortable, it still didn't seem ready to fly, so I jammed on the brakes. I had plenty of room to turn off at the end of the runway, it ended up being a non-event, but it got my attention.

I am hoping by the end of September, I'll be done with phase I testing. weather is going to be the biggest obstical for the month.

Apr 2006 Pictures
Not much to say, just fun pictures. Having a short mechanic helps when working underneath the cowling. Then I was out flying one friday evening, mostly relaxing, shooting out the window. I got this shot.

I think I have the CHTs on the way down. I can keep them around 400, even flying fast, and climbing. A couple more tweaks and I should be there. The trim is a little wimpy yet. A couple issues still. The CHTs hit 500 on cylinders 3 and 4 during climb from a touch and gos. ATC keeps getting excited about the transponder not responding (Ident works fine, it won't respond tho).

Mar 2006 Update
She flies! Trust me, I have witnesses. First flight March 18, a little scarey. The trim was off, if I relaxed, the plane wanted to head down. Trim didn't seem too effective, so I didn't want to mess with it. I made one lap around the airport, then landed. When I got on the ground, I played with the trim, and it worked, but it was slow. The transponder wasn't working either.

The second flight I started with more trim. This time the plane flew great! I got it to fly hands off. No roll tendency, just flew. I let the plane get ahead of me, and got up to 140kts on downwind. Throttled back, and flew about 4 laps at 120 kts. It was almost boring, well, not really, but nothing bad was going on, so I watched the instruments, and flew the airplane. Lots of help, so I owe a buncha people a huge thanks. I'll get some more pictures, and I have a movie too!

Aug 2005 Update
Looks nearly finished. Lots of little things to do. I got one mag that is giving me fits. The wing bolts in the plans are too short, so I needed to replace them, most of the front wiring is there, but needing to be tied down. Things like the remote for the ELT, and hobbs meter need finishing. The canard needed all the washers put in.

Everytime I look, I fins something that should have been done better. Filling or sanding, but then I remember that the finish is just primer. Maybe someday I'll have a nice finish.

The kids are still around, so I really only get 2-6 hours a week working on it.

July 2005
Lots of changes, not too bad for ony a couple house a week. Matt my son painted it. He shook his head a lot, used to paint cars for a living, and me with my amateur body work. He said he coulda fixed some of it, but I said I didn't have time :-o. Anyhow, he said white will hide a lot of it.

He had a technique, I recommend. He called it wet on wet, paint the primer on, then before anything sets up, paint the color. You have a thick bunch of wet paint that will float over the imperfections better. If I would have had smaller imperfections they would have been invisible. We painted the wings in one afternoon, and the fuselage in another. Man it takes a lot longer than I thought. I think the wings took about 4 plus hours, and the fuselage took at least that long. We used a primer gun, basic big tipped gravity feed gun, no fancy HVLP or anything.

I've got it mostly together, no pictures tho. I still have a zillion little things to do, and a couple things that I might just do to make me a little more safe.

April 2005 Update
That didn't last long, the kids have been back with us since February. I've managed a couple hours a week building, and am pretty happy with things. I figure a little more sanding, and I'll paint it, hopefully the weather will get better, and it'll be all grey in early May.

No new pictures.

February 2005 Update
The kids are back with their mom, mostly, sometimes. I should start having some time to get building again. I am trying to get some other projects finished up, and then I'll be back at the plane full time. Over Christmas, I did get a few hours, and installed an alternator. I feel much better about that installation, it is much lighter, and can use cheaper regulators, plus it ought to be more reliable!

I have one goal this year:

• Fly this

December 2004 Update
Its looking good, at least I think. The annual picture time Oct 2004.

Huh? well, in August, I was saying I'd be flying by now. I would be, except a sudden change in life occured. Funny how life just happens. Over the last 7 years I have had 3 different jobs, and three cars, and my own kids have grown up. We now have two super kids, a 3 year old and a 1 year old . We were offered an opportunity to "temporarily" keep these two for a while. We are foster parents. It is a lotta fun, but darn they take a lotta time! Yea, well I learned there is no such thing as a free lunch a long time ago :-). There are lots of good stories about these two, and I'll share some, just ask me sometime. (it is sort of like being grandparents, you spoil 'em, and bear the consequenses).

The silly airplane does run . Any I have most of the plane primed and ready. No, I don't have those pictures, I started with smooth prime, and then put some PPG epoxy primer over that. If I woulda sanded the filler better, the smooth prime would not have been nessesary. What the heck, it is a homebuilt, and I am a new builder, so more fill was necessary, and the stuff sands pretty easily. I focusted on a lotta small stuff, the reality, you get it as straight as long as possible, and no one will notice the little chips and dings. Shoot, I was accused of being anal! and I only made things worse.

I have gone from going to the airport to work on the plane 5 days a week, maybe 20 hours, to once a week if I am lucky, and 2 hours at a time. So figuring 20 hours, and maybe two months to finish, at two hours a week, I am looking at 20 months, or so. Well, who knows, maybe the kids will go back to their mom before the 20 months, or the 3 year old will learn to sand, and we'll get some time together out at the airport. (joking).

June 2004 Update
Come to find out, people acutally read this page, who knew. I started an engine page, but I am not keeping that updated, really. Anyway, here is things as it is fathers day. It is an Ed Sterba prop. It was a little frustrating, waiting for it. I think it is worth it, it looks great. Pretty much everything is there to start, I think the Generator needs help, I still can't grok that sucker. I thought I knew electronics, and maybe this is just too old. I am thinking of getting a dope three terminal regulator, and say to heck with it. Otherwise, to get an internally regulated alternator is only $250, and then it'll be done.

I put in the vacuum system, this was a huge check off. I'll wait until I have the engine running, so be sure the the vacuum system sucks. Once that is set, Time to move on, and get to sanding, and finishing for real.

Mar 2004 Update I've been busy, trying to wrap things up. Lots of time spent working, not much documenting, sorry. Anyway, here is a picture I took this afternoon. The baffles are basically there, the plumbing is still happening, and hopefully, the wiring will be done about the same time. Jan 2004 Update Okey well, I didn't get to buying an engine in 2003, but I only missed if by a couple weeks. I picked this one up from Wentworth, they seemed to go through engines pretty quick, like sell 'em waay quick. I went in with a list of engines from their website, and basically, there were all gone!

One thing I did last fall, I wrote an article about what I do for a living. I am kinda proud of is, so if you are really bored, you should read it. It is related to this whole thing, since it is air traffic type stuff: linux in airtraffic control. It finally was published in January. Goals for 2004:

• Get a motor mounted
• Get the rest of the contouring done
• Finish wiring
• Fly this sucker!

I have strobes, and wingtip lights. Scavenging these has been an adventure. I bought some of the basic red/green lights on e-bay figuring I could adapt, plus add the strobes, and some kind of white tail light. The more I messed with this the more frustrated I became. Eventually I found Cheif Aircraft had the Whelen wingtip red/green strobe tail light assemblied for $150 each. Enough fooling around, that is what I bought. Then on e-bay, there were the police power supplies from Whelen available. I bought the smaller CSP660 powersupply since it seemed to have the proper Joules, and didn't draw anymore current than the Commet Flash that the aircraft supplies used (6AMPS). This supply does the Commet flash as well as 8 other patterns.

I am learning on the fill/sand routine. It takes about 4-6 sessions of fill/sand to get everything. The first time fill the whole part, sand, the second time fill all the stuff missed the first time (30-80% of the area), sand, the third time, all the little stuff (20-30% of the area). The last two or three things are all the pinholes, open weave, oh my, how'd I miss that stuff. Once you hit it with a coat or two of smooth prime, you get to see all the little mistakes. Another time or two of the fill/sand and it is pretty much ready.

I put the winglets on . They turned out pretty well. In the archives, there is talk about kinks and stuff, I really didn't know what folks were talking about until I got there. It is next to impossible to get the top and bottom winglets to line up perfect, get 'em good on the outside, and don't worry about the inside.

Goals for 2003:

• Get a motor, and mount it
• Get the rest of the contouring done
• Get the plane wired

Oct 2002 Update:Lots has happened or nothing has, depending on how observant you are. I didn't get as far as I had hoped, but then I leared a bunch about finishing, got a new driveway and kept my happiness (this is still a hobby).

The bottom of the fuselage is mostly contoured, and primed, the top is pretty well contoured, with lots of fitddley bits left (around canopy, that will take a while!). The driveway needed repair, and the front steps, so we did the whole thing at once, in concrete. Looks great.

I started the wiring, but then decided to paint the interior before I got too far, so I took it all out. It wasn't that big of a deal anyway. So the interior is mostly painted, and I think it looks great! At Oshkosh this year, we got some leather to make the cushions out of. Maybe a winter project.

June 2002 update:I put the plane away every winter, too cold to work on things. Looking at my log book, I get most of my work done May 15-September 15, with a little before and after, when the weather cooperates.

Getting Farther along, I painted the interior. In some of the pictures you can see wiring, and canopy latches, and throttle controls, and well, things were going together on the interior. I needed to strip all them out. Now I have a really clean place to paint.  I left a few things for later (firewall, etc), but I think it looks really good.

I have a couple more instruments, a AI and a Turn coordinator, from ebay. I set myself a limit, assuming anything I got from there would be a core only. The turn coordinator, was $45, so even if I replace it with the Navaid Device, I shouldn't be out anything. I am sorta nervous about a $45 turn coordinator, but even if it didn't work, it might be something to play with. Take it apart, and see what failure modes there are.

Jpegs are funny, that paint is zolatone, basic blue, looks gray in the photos. It does look good. The thing I noticed most, was the whole things was multicolored, yellow foam, blue foam, random thicknesses of glass making stuff more or less green. Once painted, it was all one color, making it look more uniform. Everyone who says good stuff about Zolatone is right. That stuff works like magic.

I wanted the interior mostly painted before I got carried away with the rest of the interior systems. Putting in wiring and controls and everything was sure to get painted if I painted after installing it all. Doing it this way, I was able to strip all the wiring, and most of the controls and I was able to paint without worrying about them.

YIKES, when I pulled things apart, the fuel line from the valve to the firewall had a burst!
Looking at the very far right of the image (arrow), you can see a split. This must have happened over the winter. Last fall I had put water in the right strake to find the leak, then to drain the tank, I just flipped the fuel valve on right, and went about my business. I waited a week with the fuel valve open, and all the vents open before making the repair. I never really made sure the water was fully purged from everything. Over the winter, the the water must have accumulated in the low spot. and when frozen, it expanded. Now I gotta ask about drains, since this will always be a low spot, the fuel line has to go over the landing gear box.

I put the instrument panel together one weekend. I left the fiberglass panel in, like Nat recommends. Many people are opting to go with an aluminium panel, I like the glass one, since if I drill a hole in the wrong place, a little flox and epoxy, and no one will ever know. (Look at the left two holes, you may be able to tell I moved them 1/4in). All the lines and markings were from my initial layout with 1/2inch instrument spacing. I found out that 1/4inch is recomended, and went with that. (I also bought this "Panel Quick" tool from Aircraft Spruce, it is supposed to help you drill the holes in the right place. It doesn't work don't waste your money).

Early this spring, while it was still cool, I built a circuit breaker panel. I know Bob Nuchols recommends using fuses. I think that is fine, for people who don't like to tinker. I sorta am building this as a platform to play with avionics, so I want options. If I have the CB panel, I can add a fuse panel.

There was an e-mail that Nat sent out notifying builders that the spar should be glassed to the longeron, not the foam that may be left on the longeron. Oooops, I remember being confused by the wording in the plans regarding this. Something about taper 25inches back. Taper what, and how much. Well now Nat has published clarifications, starting in chapter 5, 7 and 14, wow!. Looking on other peoples web sites, it was obvious that some people had made the same mistake, while others haddn't. There was a note about the information was preliminary, and that more information would be published in the newsletter. Remembering my time constraints, and that area is right where I want to be working, I needed to do something, I couldn't wait.

I decided to attempt a repair. My hopes were, don't damage the spar, don't put a leak in the fuel tank, don't make things worse than they are. I got some small cutters for my Fein Sander (a wonderful tool, I couldn't do what I am doing without it, or it would REALLY suck), and carefully cut around the fuel vent lines, and got the the wood. I was totally surprised to see the gap between the wood and the spar. I thought I buttered up the spar really well and it would have been full. Nope!, good thing I did this.

I didn't dig into the spar, nor make any fuel leaks, and I think I made everything better and stronger (and a little heavier, since some of the motor mount reinforcement had to be redone, and I could get all the old one removed, oh well). I think I am OK for now.

Goals for 2002:

• Get a motor, and mount it - missed
• Get most of the contouring done - fuselage close
• Get the interior painted - done
• Do most of the main wiring - started and quit

Next thing I really need is a motor. I looked into doing some stuff in the back (firewall, cowling), but everything pretty much says I need the motor now. I need it to insure the cowling is centered.

July 2001 update:I made the pictures here smaller, so the pages will download quicker (thanks al). I used to try to do all this in Windozzze, but that was hopeless. I now do all this in Linux, and I get what I want without all the "help" Microsoft provides :-p

I started on the strakes in May. One would figure I'd be done by now. Well almost.  They are done, but not covered, I figured flipping the plane once would be enough, get both strakes done, flip it, cover the bottom, flip it, cover the top.

I also did some additional work inside the strakes. I built the Jim Weir capacitance sensors that he advocated in the Kitplanes magazine about a year ago. Will I use them? I hope to, at least for panel meter. I still want to put in the Vance Atkinson fuel site gauges, but need to order them. 

I woulda used the digital camera, but it is full of pictures, and my wife doesn't want to delete them, in case she might loose a picture. The scanner is getting tired I guess?
Everyone else was doing it, so I thought I would.  Here is my cozy as it looked sometime during October 2000.  The big parts are built, needing finishing. Everything still comes apart (there were two bolts holding the right wing on, The left wing needs some work). The winglets aren't attatched, this keeps the wings more portable. I need a picture of the cart I built for the wings, I think it is kinda clever, really handy at least.

Someday, I'll be looking at this thinking to myself ...hmmm, I think that was Omaha, at 200mph, I should be in denver by noon... Really I sit there making airplane noises, and wiggling the controls, when I should be building. I really look forward to flying this plane.  Building has been a dream, fairly easy, a real test of my patients at times though (usually weather issues, I can't build big things, out in the cold garage). People ask me what I'll do when I finish this, I say I'll build something else :-).  Actually I hope I get to fly a bunch too.

I am building inside my two car garage.  When everything is about ready to fly, I'll move this out to the airport. For now the two car garage is adequate with clever storage ideas. Here is the inside of the garage, when I was building onf of the wings.  The wings are about 12ft long, with about a 4ft chord. It would have been dificult to work on both at the same time, so I built 'em one at a time.

I have continued building, the airplane has wheels, I have a turtleback, and some of the insides are progressing well.

Fall 1999

07/13/00

I got a digital camera for my birthday, and have been working on things since. Tonight I didn't work on things. Suddenly my wife is excited about finishing it. Maybe she is starting to hate driving as much as I do :-).  Anyway, these are some recent photos, as you can see there are wheels, a canopy, and the turtle back is on.

 

08/9/00

More progress, in the above photo, the front is raw foam, and the windows are still covered in plastic. I had spraylat on the windows for protection now, and the hinges, and lift strut is there for the top.
Panel with my fancy Beech eyeball vent. I work a few miles from Wentworth aircraft, and stopped by there one lunch time. I didn't like the suggested plastic eyeball vents, and thought I could do better. Wentworth is an aircraft recycler (like an autoparts recycler, a bone yard :-), and normally people call them looking for specific parts. My building a homebuilt, I don't fit the normal customer, so I needed to work with 'em a little. Harry was in a good mood that day, and we found a pair of these, which he sold me pretty cheap.

As of today, this is what the airframe looks like. You can see the strut holdin up the canopy, and the access door, and the NACA scoop for the air inlet that feeds the eyeball vent.

Mail Me

Nats Page (he designed this thing)
Marc's page (he started this whole Cozy web thing)

The Rangers Flying Club (probably the cheapest way to fly in Minnesota, keeps me current anyway).