I couldn't it. Last night I went into the garage and actually started making my first airplane part.
The Cozy plans are done in chpaters with each chapter building up the previous work. Chapters 1-3 are setup and education. Chapter 4 is the first construction chapter and covered the making f the various fuselage bulkheads. This is where out story picks up...
The first piece you make is the front seatback. It's a simple 3/4" blue pvc foam panel. It's actually overdone but I think the designer did this to expose us newbie to several important construction techniques.
I didn't get very far but I did cut the foam to shape and sanded the first 45deg edge. Yup, that's it. It doesn't seem like much but it's a start. Long journey, first steps, yadda yadda.
I did learn from other builders that I need to tweak my epoxy pump a little more. It's a volumetric pump and it's set at 100:50 The MGS 285 epoxy I'm using is specified by weight. That ratio is 100 : 40 ± 2. When I did my last test run I calculated the weight ratio to be 100:43. So, I'm not within tolerance. I need to make a tiny adjustment to reduce the hardener output a snootch. Anal? You bet; I'm goign to be flying in this plane so I want to be as anal as possible without taking 100 years to complete.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
In the beginning...
Today I mark the official beginning of my homebuilding experience. No, I'm not building a house. I am building an airplane in my house. Actually, it's in my garage. This is not a model. It's a full-size, four seat, 200 horsepower airplane.
The airplane is a plans built composite canard pusher. That means I'm building it mostly from scratch, made out of fiberglass and epoxy, has a canard wing in the front and the engine/propellor in the back. The design is called the Cozy Mark 4. A man named Nat Puffer designed the plane based on Burt Rutan's design called the Long-Ez. Yes, Burt Rutan; the same guy who recently designed and built the first private spaceship. So, my deisgn has a really nice pedigree.
Why do I mark today as the start? Well, I've really been prepping to build this sucker for about two years. I've got the workshop all setup in the garage (Or Garage-Mahal as Jen likes to call it) and finally saved enough cash to buy the supplies and materials for the first 4 chapters of the construction.
The order arrived via UPS freight last night. I still have a tiny amount of prep to do and then I get started in earnest.
I already pumped my first batch of epoxy during lunch. I didn't build anything. I was setting the ratio and an epoxy dispensing pump I'll be using. Tonigh I'm going to begin with pieces parts.
The airplane is a plans built composite canard pusher. That means I'm building it mostly from scratch, made out of fiberglass and epoxy, has a canard wing in the front and the engine/propellor in the back. The design is called the Cozy Mark 4. A man named Nat Puffer designed the plane based on Burt Rutan's design called the Long-Ez. Yes, Burt Rutan; the same guy who recently designed and built the first private spaceship. So, my deisgn has a really nice pedigree.
Why do I mark today as the start? Well, I've really been prepping to build this sucker for about two years. I've got the workshop all setup in the garage (Or Garage-Mahal as Jen likes to call it) and finally saved enough cash to buy the supplies and materials for the first 4 chapters of the construction.
The order arrived via UPS freight last night. I still have a tiny amount of prep to do and then I get started in earnest.
I already pumped my first batch of epoxy during lunch. I didn't build anything. I was setting the ratio and an epoxy dispensing pump I'll be using. Tonigh I'm going to begin with pieces parts.
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