I started with a 42 inch 2 * 4 bolted to each of the outboard wing attach points. Next I cut an elipse about 42 * 24 out of scrap 3/4 ply. I cut this in half and screwed one half to each 2 * 4 on the inboard side so the flat part butted against the spar. Now I cut 2 more pieces of 2 * 4 about 38 inches in length, cut holes to accomodate the bolts and screwed this flat against the first 2 * 4. A third 2 * 4 about 34 inches long was added on top of this. The result was two very sturdy wheels which held the plane up off the turtle back while inverted and took the weight of the plane easily while she went over the top. We did the flip with five people. Carrying it in and out of the patio and over the hot tub was the hard part. The actual flip could probably could have been done with four, or even three. If there had been something high up to attach a suport rope to, then two people could have flipped the Cozy without difficulty.
Cozy builders Todd & Bulent, and spam can driver, Dan, turned up as promised. Dan brought his friend John - a Marine, no less. Five people (plus Char to run around moving trestles) was just enough. One less and it would have been a strain. With five it was easy. Thanks, Guys. We carried the plane sideways over the hot tub and off the patio. This was the hard part. The wheels worked perfectly as she went up and over. One thing I hadn't thought about - the nose wheel well was full of water from all the wet sanding. As she went over, much of this water landed on Todd (our own friendly canopy guy). To his credit, he never complained or lost his grip. It's strange seeing the plane upright again after all this time upside down. Somehow it looks a lot smaller. My next impression was that there's a lot of work to do to get the top finished like the bottom. The first job is to build the upper cowling.
It only took a few days to get the ailerons, rudders and canard ready for final paint. The winglets took a while because they're so difficult to get at. Jeff Russell told me once that he does his by upending the wings and doing the winglets from the balcony 12 feet above. I don't have a balcony.
I reprimed the control surfaces, and was about ready for final paint when I got caught by one of Char's inspections. "This doesnt look right" she said, pointing at the round part of the elevator. I hadn't bothered filling the weave in these areas because they're hidden after assembly. I tried "I didnt micro this area because it has to be light", but it didnt fly. She shamed me into finishing off these areas even though it involved a lot of "two finger sanding". While I was at it, I also finished the hidden areas on the ailerons. If I hadn't, she would have spotted this too. The extra work added a couple of days, but I'll probably feel good about it once my fingers get better.
One other thing I changed was the rivets on one of the rudders. When I did the micro months ago I'd tried to hide the rivets. The result was a row of ugly looking bumps. I drilled out the old rivets and put in new ones. I also ordered new screws for all the control surfaces because the old ones had been damaged from all the times I'd installed and removed the parts. Once painted the control surfaces will go on and stay on.
I developed a slightly new technique during the gloss painting. First I tried painting Top Gloss right out of the can. It didnt flow well, so I added a little water. Maybe 1/4 cup to a pint of paint. It flowed better, not well enough. I added more water three times till I got it just right. After a minute or two of painting the gun seemed to clog up a bit and the flow wasnt there. I emptied the gun into the mixing bowl, dipped it in the pool, sprayed pure water for a few seconds, then refilled it with paint and carried on. Much better. I did this a dozen times while painting the control surfaces and canard. I used up a pint of Top Gloss painting the undersurfaces of the rudders, ailerons, elevators and canard. Another pint did 5 coats on the tops and I had some left, so I did the outside of one winglet as well. I'm definately getting the hang of this Top Gloss. The canard looks beautiful just as it is. With a little color sanding and polishing I think its going to have a finish I'll be proud of, even at 1 foot. I stored all the control surfaces and the canard in the living room to let the paint cure for a couple of weeks while I get on with the wings, strakes and upper fuselage. Wow. In a few weeks I finally get to apply the Cozy IV transfer I bought from Nat 2 years ago.
A couple of weeks later I brought the canard out and started color sanding and polishing. I was still on medium cut compound when Char did here first inspection. I got a "pretty good" which translates to "I'm not impressed". A few hours later when I'd done all the stages and polished the canard and canard cover with wax I got a "very nice". Hmmm. Just as I thought... I wouldn't be embarrassed to pull up at a fly-in with a finish of this quality. It's probably a 4 footer, but I can do better with a little more effort. I'm going to have to color sand the canard again. Another thing which is a slight problem is that my second batch of gloss paintwork is whiter than my first batch. I got my first can of Top Gloss from another builder who didnt like the system. The parts I painted with this can have a slight yellow tinge when compared with the newly painted items. I will probably have to put another coat of paint on the canopy and removable fuselage top. No big deal. Another coat will probably bring the quality up a notch.
Once the cowling was done (in Dec 2001) I removed the wings and prepared them for final gloss.
I had a couple of edges to straighten, and the cowl lip needed it's 1 BID reinforcement on the
underside. Other than this minor work the wings were pretty much ready for gloss paint.
The other remaining paintwork was the tops of the strakes and the turtleback. I'd been
preparing these as I went along, so they only took a day or two to get ready.
A few days later, I decided that the underside needed a bit more work. I added a skim on micro here and there and worked on the lower winglets quite a bit. At this point it was time to fit the lights.. Next I decided to mask the primer and do the Zolotone in the aileron and rudder pockets and wing roots.
New Year 2002 found me polishing up the canopy. I sat it in our papasan and examined it carefully.
There were a few minor scratches, and some small epoxy blobs on the acrylic which I scratched off with my fingernail.
I worked my way through the Micro-mesh stages, one level per day, starting at 1500 grit. The canopy had
its final gloss paint, but hadnt been color sanded, so I used the micro-mesh on the paint too. This way
there was no problem with running the sand paper along the edge between the acrylic and the paint -
I just sanded both with each grit level, all the way down (or up) to 6000 grit and the abrasive paint.
Each day during the holidays I attacked it with another stage. I spent about an hour on each grit, then
left it for another day. I ended up with a perfect (to my standards) finish on both the paint and the
canopy glass.
The foam backed cloth I'd applied over a year ago looked fairly tacky, so I decided to scrape it off and
Zolotone the inside of the canopy. If only I could think of a way of doing the edges around the windows
I'd much prefer a cloth interior.