Chapter 13/18 - Nose and Canopy - Part 4

Wow, over a month since my last post, and I have done so much work.

I had promised to post an update after the interior canopy glass layups were completed, but I got a little carried away and nearly finished the canopy on the inside. I also worked a little on finnishing the canopy exterior with micro fillets. Here are some photos of my progress over the last month...

Here I have completed glassing the lower half of the nose after flipping the aircraft upside down. At this stage the task of rolling the airplane over with landing gear installed is just barely manageble by myself.

Here is a photo of the interior of the canopy, nearly finnished and ready for primer. I probably have a couple more micro applicatoins and final sanding. I was a little concerned after initial glassing that the pexiglass, fiberglass joint would be so ugly, however with a little masinking tape and micro, the final result will be quite nice.

Here area few shots of the canopy exterior after the first couple of micro applications to give a nice even transition from the fiberglass skin to the pexiglass. A couple more micro applications will make the transition really nice. I also will have some work to make a nice clean transition/joint where the canopy and fuselage meet.

Chapter 13/18 - Nose and Canopy - Part 3

The following photos do not quite describe the amount of work that I have done to the Long-EZ over the last couple off weeks. I will try here to sum up what has been happening with the project.

After shaping the nose, canard cover and canopy frame, I glassed the canopy, a task that again took way longer than the plans call for, and removed it for interior glassing. Pictured here is the inside of the canopy after initial shaping of the foam. The voids along the left and right side will be filled with many fl ox and bid layers to create hard points for the hinge and canopy latch attachment. Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the canopy fully glassed before I removed it for interior shaping. I will post an update as soon as the interior is glassed.

Here is the nose and canard cover glassed. The nose has only been glassed on the top two thirds. The remainder of the nose will be glassed after I glass in the elevator fairings, remove the canard and flip the fuselage over.

Here are a couple close ups of the elevator fairings. All of the different components appear to fit together pretty roughly, however I am confident that a little micro and patience will make this all look really nice.

Chapter 13/18 - Nose and Canopy - Part 2

Throught the last week I have been working on the nose and canopy frame.

Just this last weekend my brother came down from Seattle and helped begin the shaping of the nose. We also began work on the canopy frame and canard cover.

Here is the floor of the nose. If you look closely you can see the 2" foam block I have used to place the forward bulkhead a little further forward. I later bonded 4 2" foam blocks to the forward face of this bulkhead. This gave me a nose shape that is about 4" longer than stock. Not enought to place a battery forward for added weight and balance options but it does help give a nice smooth nose shape.

Here is another view of the nose with the sides installed and glassed. More clearly visible is the 2" (blue) block of foam between the sl30s and the forward bulkhead.

Another view

Here is the final shape of the nose....

...before my brother had his way with it. You can also see how I have began to shape the canopy frame and canard cover all at the same time to ensure a nice smooth transition.

Here are some more views, still a little work to do but a good start.

Chapter 17/Section IIL - Pitch trim and Throttle Quadrant

While awaiting the arrival of the canopy I sort of got sidetracked and began to work on more of the left front console. What follows included the completion of the pitch trim handle installation as well as the installation of the throttle quadrant. 

For a year or so now I have (when bored) thumbed through my Wicks and ACS catalogs and I always really liked the looks of the RV throttle quadrants. Unfortunately there is not a reversing option available. Reversing is of course necessary because the engine is in the rear. After some thought I realized it should be a simple matter to replace the aluminium bars with some extra long ones, thus providing the reversing function. I painted them black, however I may have them anodized to match the rest of the unit in the future.

I really don't know if selection of this quadrant was a good idea, it was sort of expensive, it took quite a bit of time to get it to fit right and installation at this time is not necessary, however I like the results. The quadrant provides a throttle and mixture controls. Carb heat (if necessary) will be controlled via a push pull knob mounted on the panel near the quadrant. In order to use this set up I will make the entire left console removable so access to trim and throttle cables will be accessible.

Here is the pitch trim handle installed.

Here is the throttle quadrant install on the left front console. Pictured are the extra long control bars to allow for reversing the action of the engine controls. Also an aluminium bracket that will eventually be bolted to EZ point fasteners.

Here is the console and throttle quadrant test fitted into the cockpit. Also visible is the friction lock and the friction lock cover. I will either bond the cover or screw it to the console.

Chapter 18 - Canopy - Part 1

Yesterday the canopy was delivered to the general store down the street. Shipping is a little cheaper sometimes for larger shipments if a comercial address can be supplied. The nice fellow who ows the general store agreed to recieve the canopy and as it happens I was driving by 5 minutes after it arrived and saw the large box sitting outside. I staped in on my roof rack and brought it home to the workshop.

After unpacking the canopy I was a little suprised to find that it was already roughly trimmed. The plans (written decades ago) indicate that the canopy should be trimmed from a rectangular base leaving about a 1/4" flange around. My canopy is just trimmed strait on the bottom and aft end.

After pondering this fact for a little bit I determinded it is trivial and actually has saved me some work. I did notice thought that the aft end of the canopy did need to be trimed to the proper length.

Here is the canopy as delivered.

Pitcured here you can see how I masked and marked the aft end of the canopy for trimming. I used a cutoff wheel in my dremel tool. That worked very good and only required a little sanding to finnish.

Here is the canopy after finishing

Chapter 19 - Pitch trim.

I am still awaiting canopy and other materials so, after looking through the plans for more misc. things to complete, I decided to fabricate the happy pitch trim handle yesterday.

I like the look of the aluminium and because the top portion (left in photo) of the part will be visible, I decided to clear coat the part instead of treating it with alumiprep and alodine.

Capter 24 - Covers Consoles and Fairings - Part 1

Time for a diversion....

I was just gearing up to shape the nose when it was suggested to me that I shape the canopy, canard cover and nose all at the same time. This sounded like a good idea and after looking at photos of the advisers aircraft I have decided to go ahead and order a canopy from Todd's Canopies.

In the meantime, while I wait for the canopy to arrive I decided to work a little on the pilots left side console.

Here is the two peices of .35" divinicell foam covered with 1 ply bid...

And here are the they are after trimming and assembled with a flox radius and 2" bid tape...

And finally 2 ply's bid fiberglass over the outside...

This was trimmed and here is the panel test fit into the cockpit. I will do no further work on this untill I have the throttle quadrant and eleveator trim mechinisms installed.