Tipping towards the tulips

Back in Novemberish of last year I got sucked into the winter garden sale of the local Home Depot and purchased a bag of half-off tulip bulbs. I've always thought of growing tulips as something that only seasoned gardening veterans can accomplish. To toy with the idea of growing them in my own yard was foolish, but Home Depot tricked me into thinking I could accomplish this by their orange glitz and large cardboard displays.

Filled with optimism, I brought the bulbs home and figured I'd give it a shot. Finding an area to plant them was no problem - we have plenty of empty flower beds waiting for life. Armed with potting soil and a hand trowel, I dug out clay wells and filled them with nutrient rich soil and the bulbs.

In February I noticed little green leaves peeking underneath the bark bedding filler. I hardly believed those were tulips! I was sure my green thumb neighbor sneaked down and planted something that would actually grow in our barren soil.

But he didn't. They were really tulips.

So I've been watching their progression with eager eyes.

Right now, there's just the one early bloomer on its short stalk.

And I'm ok with that.

I don't mind short tulips.

Nose Gear Box Walls

The plan of attack for the walls of the nose gear box was similar to the floor: CNC the urethane foam to a rough shape,

cut the blocks to fit on the fuselage,

and epoxy in place.

Of course, this is all easier said than done. For the walls we opted to glass the parts while they were unattached. We were hoping to avoid any slump on the vertical surface.

These pieces were a little odd to glass with that bump out near the bottom, but we were able to apply 2 plies of BID without too much trouble.

After the BID went on, some peel ply was applied around the perimeter where other parts will be bonded.

After the walls cured, they were bonded onto the floor with a thick layer of micro (tiny glass balloons and resin).

A fillet of micro was applied to the seams and two layers of glass tapes covered that. Peel ply was used on the areas that will be bonded to later.

I'm pretty sure we literally butted heads several times during this lay-up. It was a tight space!

Once everything cured, Ced put the canard on and carved away foam to allow a snug fit.

(Quick summary: Foam was carved to shape and bonded into place. Note the diagram below for positions.)

Almost there!

Bribe and Punishment

Thursday, Ced brought me a delicious iced coffee out of the blue. It was completely unexpected and really sweet. So, naturally, I was suspicious.

The rest of the day was spent pondering what could possibly possess him to do such a thing. I found out later that night - tapes!

There is a structural box on the nose of the Cozy that needed flox fillets and tiny tapes. My hands were better suited for the job, so Ced was just buttering me up earlier in the day so I'd be more willing to attempt laying down the tiny tapes.*

It was certainly a challenge, but it worked out.

As I was inspecting the tapes for bubbles, it occurred to me I hadn't helped with the Cozy too much over the weekend.

This tiny box with tiny fillets and tiny tapes was my punishment for letting Ced run solo!

I suppose it wasn't really that bad of a punishment. It's always good to be challenged.


*Ced really didn't bribe me into working on the Cozy, but it's funnier told that way.

Nose Gear Box Floor

As a refresher, the NG-30 structure was bonded onto the front of the Cozy fuselage as the first step to building the Nose Gear Box. The NG-30 panels are what house the nose gear retract unit (the mechanism that moves the nose gear up and down). Outside of this unit, rudder pedals, brake reservoirs, and other mechanical goodness will reside. Also, since the pedals will be around this area, the pilot's and front passenger's heels will need to rest on something. 

It was time to carve out the floor using 2 in. thick urethane foam. Instead of laboring with a hacksaw and hope, Ced plugged the desired dimensions into his CNC to roughly carve the urethane foam to shape. Hey, if we have the tool we might as well utilize it.

From here, Ced cut the excess foam off and handed them over to me with instructions to carve away until the fit was snug. The floor needed to be level with the F-22 bulkhead (the panel the NG-30 unit was bonded to), fit 1.1 inches up from the bottom of the F-0 bulkhead (the oval panel at the forward end of the NG-30 unit), and follow the contour of the NG-30's (note the doubler profile). I found this part extremely frustrating, but it eventually came out.

With right and left floors carved to fit, they were sanded to smooth out the CNC ridges. We then bonded them into place with micro (glass balloons and resin).

Notice the floors are oversized. This allows plenty of material to carve when creating the contour of the nose.

To create a smooth transition from the nose gear box floors to the fuselage floor, we opted to pack a thick mixture of micro in the joggle (the little step down behind the F-22 bulkhead).

Once the floors were cured, it was time to micro and glass them. We taped off the perimeter to help show us where to prep and glass.

 

The foam was coated in micro and 2 plies of BID were laid down over the entire area marked off with green tape.

A few strips of peel ply were placed in the areas where more bonding will happen and the parts were allowed to cure.

(Quick summary: Foam was carved to shape and bonded into place. Note the diagram below for positions.)