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Q-talk 53 - LETTERS

THE FOLLOWING BUILDER TIPS WERE TAKEN FROM THE DRAGONFLY NEWSLETTER


Fighting the Sag!

I was reading in the last issue of DBFN that Richard Werner of St. Louis was fighting some Mark I canard sag. We ran into a similar problem with the prototype when it was still a Mark I. After many years, it started to show quite a bit of sag (bow) in both sides of the canard. What we did to remove this bow was as follows: We painted the canard with a mix of black poster paint (available from art supply stores) with canned milk. We then slowly allowed the skin temperatures to come up to 165 degrees F. The epoxy just starts to soften at this point. We reverse loaded the canard to remove warpage. This is a very slow process and cannot be rushed. It did work for the prototype; we gained back 4" of prop clearance. Oh, why the black poster paint and canned milk? The black allowed us to use the sun for solar heating and that mixed with canned milk allowed us to just wash everything off when we were finished with the process.

Another way this could have been done is to build a heat tent. Frame up a simple wood frame and cover it with some type of plastic. You have seen people do something similar to make themselves a paint booth. You can heat this up with numerous type heaters, but caution should be used for proper ventilation (and temperature control).

The key to either one of these procedures is that it must be done very slowly. Nothing can be rushed. Don't get the temperature up to 200 to 250 degrees thinking you'll get done faster, wrong! You need to completely heat soak the canard all the way thru the entire canard. Bring it up to 165 degrees and hold it there. 165 degrees F must be considered the absolute top temperature any more than this could challenge the blue foam.

Rex Taylor


BUILDING A COWLING!

I found a little bit easier way to do a "from scratch" cowling. There are some basics that won't change, but I'll quickly go over. Wrap the engine with plastic. Attached blue foam to the engine so it can't move. Shape the blue foam to your desired shape (approx.). Now here is where you start gaining. You need to seal the foam and you need a hard surface that can still be sculptured. Mix up 7 parts of microballoons to 1 part of Gypsum (at your hardware store) and water. This should end up giving you a texture about like whipped butter. When this dries on the blue foam you'll have a hard surface that is incredibly easy to sand. You continue the process of sanding - adding - sanding - adding - sanding until you are satisfied with what you want. Next seal this surface with a lacquer sanding sealer (hardware store), apply a good coat of carnauba paste wav, apply a PVC (mold release). We shoot for a cowling thickness of 3/32's usually using 4 & 6 oz. bi-directional cloth to keep the weaves to a minimum.

I hope these couple of things help the troops.

Rex Taylor


Jim,

I'm building again. My wife and I have just moved into a new garage/shop area that just happens to have a house on top and I have just now been able to bring the project home from Florida.

The canard has been removed from the fuselage (working backwards stinks) because I missed the centerline by about 3/8". I have had a hard time establishing reference points on this plane. Hopefully, I will have it back on within a week and will be moving forwards again. I will send pictures when I have something worth looking at.

Sincerely,

Mark Greenwood, Hendersonville, TN

Ed. Note: You think your plane's gonna fly substantially better because of 3/8" inch? C'mon you're kiddin', right?


Hi Jim,

Sorry, I don't have any good Quickie related news to write about. Still trying to get the finishing touches completed on my plane in time for spring flying. I want to get it flying and shown around some of the fly-ins, then will probably sell it (giving in to the FAA medical headaches).

Vestal Fulp, Greensboro, NC


Dear Jim,

Please keep the newsletters coming! I really do enjoy them. You do a good job and I'm glad that you continue to do it.

We have been flying last fall and this winter and its working well. We are really counting on flying it to Oshkosh this year.

We have a bit of an oil leak to fix yet. It's not bad enough to stop us from flying, but when the weather warms up we will fix it. We have to pull the engine to get to it. We now have 25 hrs. since we got it flying again. The hydraulic valve lifters seem to be working fine. We would have had to adjust the tappets at least twice before the new hydraulic lifters and new cylinder heads.

Our loran seems to show that we are getting a constant 130 kts cruise. Not to bad for a 691 pound overweight 75 hp or less Quickie Two.

We have decided to land at every hard surfaced airport in South Dakota. So far I've only been to seven airports in South Dakota, but from here to Texas this Q2 has been to over thirty airports. So it has been around a bit. I just love to fly it. I don't think that some one that has never flown a Q2 could jump in one and have a very good time. But if you start out with taxi tests and then high speed taxi tests like you do before first flight, any competent pilot could handle a Q2.

Thanks again,

Jerry Kennedy, Sioux Falls, SD

Ed. Note: ... and Jerry did make it to Oshkosh.


Dear Jim,

Q200 N8242K flew over 100 hrs this year. Broke two props, one from a bird strike and one when the hinge bolt on the tail wheel broke and we ground looped while taxiing for takeoff. The pilot noticed something strange about the way it taxied but didn't get out to check until after the BIG SWERVE on take off. After over eight years service, the bolt stretched and failed. Now we all look at the tailwheel assembly REAL CLOSE on preflight. The rest is just routine replacement of brakes and tires because we have four owners and lots of landings. I'm retiring on 3/31 and I plan to visit every air show and fly-in I can, either in the Q200 or by car.

Sincerely yours,

Bill Benner, Missouri City, TX


Dear Jim,

Q-TALK is always good reading. Called Carl Dowdy to tell him I have complete plans for the Q-1, pilot manuals, templates and Quickie newsletters 1-25. Jim Casey in St. Paul has an Ellison carb on his Q-2. He tried it and kept it on. I'm making a list of things I have for Buzz Flye's project.

In October I was out with "Velvet" and landed at St. Cloud and all hell broke loose. I had a flat right tire and Velvet skidded to the right and went off the runway. Have to give her credit as she went between the runway lights and slid from left wheel to right until she stopped. You just gotta know that the prop was shortened one inch on each end. Going sideways is the only way, but then the axle was bent. The tube was 13 years old and had a radial crack on the side. Does this mean we have to change tubes every ten years? HMMM, No indication of a fold in the tube or a mark on the tire. I am taking the engine apart to check it. New bearings all around when I put it back together. I still have a complete Q2/Q-200 kit in stock, carbon spars, cowling, and spinner - a new Revmaster too.

Sincerely,

Marvin T. Getten, Plymouth, MN

(612) 473-5398


Dear Jim,

The following is an update on our Q2, N32DK (S.N. 2453). It has the Revmaster engine (Posa carburetor) with .060" shims under the cylinders to lower the compression ratio to 8.5:1 instead of 9.3:1. (The original heads cracked after 74 hours.) It cruises at a 135 mph indicated at 900 lbs and approximately 125 mph at 1100 gross wt. My partner (Harold Dirks) and I put on 53 hours in 1994. We have had to work on it less this past year than any since its first flight in 92.

Our first major cross-country was the 7.2 hr round trip to Ottawa, Kansas for the Q2/Dragonfly fly-in. It was a good trip, except the weather cut it a little bit short. That was about as far as we would want to go in the cozy little cockpit. We were slightly over gross wt. and only filled the seat tank 1/2 full. It was about 80? F and cooler temperatures would have made performance much better. Naturally our takeoff roll was long, maybe 3000 ft. Lift off was at approximately 85 mph. Climb rate was 400 fpm at 90 mph. Landing required more length; we used about 4000 of Ottawa's 4500 ft. We approach at 100 and try for 90 at flare. Two people and 80? temps make a big difference in sink and climb rate.

This letter is late because I wanted to include the data from the fuel soak testing I mentioned in Ottawa. However, I can't find the samples to compare the final data. In general I can say that the auto gas did affect the epoxy coupons. We knew Gasohol would be the worst; the epoxy coupons were sticky and flexible. Amoco Ultimate, which uses MBTE or Toluene for an octane booster was not as bad, but still showed some effect. These coupons were sticky, but not flexible. Avgas was of course the best. It had little or no weight gain and no stickiness or softening of the epoxy. The motivation for doing all this testing was the fact that we developed leakage inside the fuselage wall by the header tank a few months after starting to use auto gas. I never used gasohol, but did use Amoco Ultimate and other higher-octane brands. I never did use plain unleaded either, but am thinking the result may have been the same. We did not coat the inside fuselage surfaces of the header tank with additional epoxy or other sealants. This would probably have made a big difference. I have heard of several people who use auto gas in the Q2/Q200's without problems. However as Brian Martinez stated at Ottawa, auto gas has a much different chemistry than avgas and it will affect the epoxy. The soak testing seemed to bear this out. The weight gain and softening of the epoxy was slight, but over time it could have an effect. We have switched back to avgas and inlaid a fox "dam" in the fuselage wall under the header tank joint.

Charles Kuhlman, Marshalltown, IA


Jim,

I purchased a Quickie parts package last January 1994. Four different persons had owned it. Although the plans and newsletters were well read, no work had been done on the aircraft. It is now February 1994 and I'm into the finishing stage.

I've been flying a Dragonfly that I built four years ago so building the Quickie is going quite fast.

My Quickie is built with the bigger tire option. I've installed a 503 Rotax and because of the height with the larger tires I managed to drop the thrust line closer to the Onan. My cowling makes a straight transition from the front turtle deck. Looks a bit better and I can still run a fair sized prop.

A couple of things I did while building the Quickie to make life easier:

1) Mark and cut out the holes for your hinges and thimbles in the aluminum tubing for elevator and ailerons. Install the thimbles and rivet in place. Then you micro the tubing into the elevator and aileron. Proceed to glass. Come back later and cut out the proper area. If everything was measured properly, it's a lot easier.

2) Gas Tank. When making the tank, cut a hole in the Top front of the tank, egg shaped, about ten inches long. Make a glass-to-glass lip. Fit your tank into the fuselage, place flox on the top edges and glass in place. Reaching inside the tank through the hole, use your finger and do a flox finger wipe on the inside joint. Does a very nice job. Make a cover of 4 layers of eight ounce or something comparable. Once the lid is dried, use some flox and a couple layers of cloth to seal the opening. You shouldn't have any leaks, but if you do, cut the lid open and reseal everything.

3) Filling. I thin my epoxy with methyl hydrate or alcohol (doesn't eat the foam) before I add the micro, makes it much easier to sand and it doesn't have to be so dry when it's applied.

4) When I mated my wing, fuselage, and canard together I did it different. Take your canard with the level blocks mounted. Put it on a couple of boxes near the floor and jig it so the level blocks are perfect. Take a few sticks 1" square, cut to size and Bondo the sticks to the canard and the sticks to the cement floor. All the time checking level. Next, take the fuselage, place it, and flox and glass it in place using the waterline on the fuselage and triangulating from the canard tips to the tail wheel. Should be the same distance. Once this is set, mount the wing triangulating to the center point of the firewall, always checking level. Because the canard was attached firmly to the floor everything will be perfect.

I don't notice many hints in the newsletters. They've probably been thought out. But maybe there's others like me that are building fourteen year old airplanes.

The most time consuming part so far has been the cowling construction.

I hope to be finished this summer sometime. If I can be of any help to anyone in regards to Quickies or Dragonflys, don't hesitate to call. Also thanks to Robert Bounds for his assistance.

Take care,

Chris Walterson, Geraldton, Ontario, Canada

(807) 854-0524

Ed. Note: Hey! Some real honest - to - God Quickie building tips. Can you believe it? Thanks, Chris.


Dear Sir:

It is very difficult to believe that ten years have slipped into oblivion since I received my last issue of Quicktalk. For one reason or another, mostly procrastination, as well as a temporary waning of interest in my Q-2 project I did not renew my subscription.

When QAC ended its existence and I heard nothing further from you about my lapsed subscription I just assumed you were no longer publishing. However, after thirteen years of intermittent work you can see by the enclosed photo that I did complete my Q-2.



Joseph Morrison's Q2


It was signed off 5-17-95, by the FAA and I began to do my taxi tests. Several minor problems appeared which were resolved and all was going well. With each taxi test I would increase my speed until I felt comfortable with that particular speed. In the 40-50 mile per hour range directional control was easy to maintain and there was still no feeling of lightness or apparent approach to flight. On the early morning of August 16, 1995, I ran the tach up to 2000 RPM, still indicating less than 15 inches of manifold pressure (my Revmaster is turbocharged) and started down the Camarillo runway. To my unexpected utter and total amazement within minutes I was airborne and climbing at a substantial rate. For reasons I still don't understand I chopped the power with the stick still in the aft position. Fortunately, when I hit the ground I suffered no physical injury, but in that instant I broke my heart, destroyed my ego and sheared the spar of my left canard.

WHAT TO DO?

I just detest the idea of abandoning my bird after all of the years of toil that has gone into it. However as of this moment I simply haven't the heart to go through the whole process again of building another canard plus all of the work connected with the rebuilding. So I am now beginning a search for someone who has an LS-1 canard for sale or some component builder who would be willing to build one for me or as a last resort someone who has a pair of spars lying about which is for sale.

I just learned from my friend Nathan Rambo who was at the last Oshkosh Fly-In that the Quickie Builders Association is still in existence; hence this letter to you. If in fact you are still there I wish to subscribe to your newsletter once again and ask for whatever help you can provide in my search for some way to get my Q-2 into flying condition again.

Sincerely,

Joseph Morrison, Camarillo, CA

(805) 987-0188


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