Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/113663
ERacer; it is a couple of inches longer than the one for the standard Cozy III and gives me a small positive angle of attack during the takeoff run. I used the stock main gear strut for the standard Cozy III but did not trim the length, and I used additional buildups to support a 2,000-pound airplane. The main wheels and brakes are heavy-duty Cleveland parts that Nat later recommended for the Cozy III." Often the most laborious aspect of building any airplane is getting the surface prepped for painting, and then the painting itself. "I used a modified Cory Bird technique for finishing," Dennis said. "His technique was to do the finish contouring per Rutan, then apply five coats of epoxy one at a time, each one cured to the tacky stage and squeegeed into all of the pinholes and grooves. After the final coat cured, he sanded to a very smooth surface and then painted. I did the same thing but wet-sanded the final surface to 320 grit before applying primer and doing the final contouring. From that point on, I followed the advice of Mike Huff, a highly skilled professional painter, who recommended the paint products and did the spraying for me. "We primed the airplane with several coats of PPG K38, as required, and sanded it. The base coat was PPG Deltron 2000 DBC, and we covered that with PPG D890 clear. He did two coats, then color-sanded with 1500 grit followed by 2000 wet sandpaper. After the wet sanding, Mike buffed out the final finish with two grades of buffing compound." When it came time to fly the airplane for the first time, Dennis had to make the same decision every homebuilder makes: Do I fly it myself or get someone else to do the testing? "Against the advice of just about everybody I know," Dennis said, "I did the first flights because I didn't want to put a friend at risk. Instead, I progressed through a series of 'baby steps,' beginning with attending the EAA SportAir Workshop 'Test Flying Your Project,' and studying the FAA Advisory Circular Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook." Dennis's approach to doing the test flying himself could easily be used as a template for others who are considering doing the same thing. "I had not flown very much during the final few years of building, so I worked with a flight instructor to regain proficiency in both low-wing and high-wing airplanes," he said. "We practiced some of the techniques that I would use during both taxi and flight testing. Following that, Ken Cameron helped greatly by allowing me to do a few touch-and-goes with him in his Cozy III. My EAA technical counselor and flight advisor, Dennis Butler with his Cozy IIIP and the Gold Lindy for the grand champion plans-built award at EAA Oshkosh AirVenture 2012. Photography courtesy Dennis Butler EAA Experimenter 17