CHAPTER 3.1 - ACADEMIA
Chapter 3.1 covers all the reading I must do to begin to get a handle on what must be done first, how to best prepare for different phases of the project, and read through the newsletters from Nat and Co-Z Development. There are mandatory changes published in the newsletters from time to time, so my first job was to include those corrections in my plans.

You might think that a stack of papers that show you how to build an entire airplane would be thicker than a set of encyclopedias, but here I am reading through Section I (of two) of the plans. It might look pretty sparse, but there is an enormous amount of information on each page to be read and understood before you can proceed.

One of the first things I did was to start a binder that will serve as the Build Log for the project. I'll use this as a bin for newsletters, purchase lists and receipts, and a chapter-by-chapter listing of any tips, hints and photos that I can find from other builders websites. There are alot of clever people who've already finished their planes, so I'll use the binder to hold some of my forebear's tricks and advice and make sure I'm not re-inventing the wheel (or the Cozy as the case may be) if I decide to try to find an easier way to do some things.

The picture on the front is of Eric Westland's Cozy N325PD which I consider to be an excellent example to strive for. Thanks Eric for the inspiration!

CHAPTER 3.2 - RESEARCH
Part of working through Chapter 3 is also going out and looking at Cozy aircraft, visiting with past and present builders and getting a feeling overall for how these aircraft are built and the extra bit of effort that goes into being successful and getting it done in a reasonable amount of time.

This chapter also documents some of my efforts to get out "in the field" and see completed aircraft, on-going projects, and meet with fellow members of the Cozy IV community.

Growing up in WI, I've got great shots of a variety of Cozys at OSH over the years.

Also, on Feb. 15 2004 I was privileged to meet with Eric Westland, N325PD. Thanks again Eric for all your helpful information and access to your beautiful aircraft!

Shortly before I left Portland for my current job, I visited Ryan Amendala and got to see how his project was coming along. Ryan was very helpful and informative, and let me try on his Cozy for size to see what sort of alterations I'll need to be able to move the rudder pedal positions and raise the canopy to incorporate my lanky frame.

Another of several photos of my visit to Ryan Amandala's Cozy project.

The picture on the left shows that my feet are quite abit forward of the front bulkhead, meaning that they will be in front of the rudder pedal position per the current plans.

Another of several photos of my visit to Ryan Amandala's Cozy project.

The picture on the left shows that my shoulders are about even or slightly above the upper edge of the seatback bulkhead, meaning that I'll need very little in way of seat cushioning or I'll have to raise the canopy and turtleback slightly and perhaps the headrest structure as well.

Another of several photos of my visit to Ryan Amandala's Cozy project.

The picture on the left shows Ryan in the same position for comparison. Thanks again Ryan for all the help!

OSH 2001 - One of the Cozys that competed in that year's Air Race.

Another Cozy at OSH, a Mk. III I believe. By seeing several airplanes side by side like this you can get a feel for how the individual builder's sense of styling comes through in certain areas, most notably the nose shape. Personally, I find the Cozy to be most attractive with a more rounded nose.

Here's my dad with N23CZ, also at OSH2001.

One of my favorite Cozy's that I've seen in person, N871F. The rounded nose and the nice transition into the engine cowling are features I'll try hard to emulate on my bird when the time comes.

These shots are from my visit with Eric Westland at his hangar north of Seattle. Here Eric is giving the tour with my girlfriend Luciana looking on.

The excellent craftsmanship of N325PD is definitely something I find inspirational. The time spent and attention-to-detail are evident no matter where you happen to look at the airplane.

Well, here's the big test -- just how would I fit my 6'-6" frame in a plans-standard Cozy? Well, in some ways it was better than expected, and in some ways abit worse. Either way, the Cozy will never be considered roomy. It's named a Cozy for a reason, I suppose. Since I'm used to squeezing into cars and well, pretty much anywhere else I sit, I didn't think it was too bad.

Ouch! Okay, it was abit snug around the legs, but Eric's plane actually has the seatback bulkhead moved forward 1" from the plans. I believe that once I go back 1" from the plans, highten the canopy some and fiddle with a thin upholstery for me, I can get the panel opening to cross closer to my knees instead of my thighs. Lots of options here, so I'm not too worried at this point.

A shot of the left seat's rudder/brake pedals. I'll most likely be installing a hang-down system that I'm seeing many other builders do. Either way, I'm not sure I'll be able to wear shoes....Nat Puffer probably hadn't planned on ever wearing size 14s when he designed it.

My gal Luciana trying out the back seats. She's 5'8", so she fit pretty well, although the headroom was less than I expected. With the turtleback up an inch it'll be better.

Tons of legroom in the back.

Checking the arm room. I can reach just about anywhere I need to in the cockpit.

CHAPTER 3.3 - TRIAL PARTS
As per the Cozy plans, there are several test pieces that can be made to build confidence and establish a "baseline" of workmanship that will be need to be attained repeatedly for the remainder of the composite construction on the project.

The first thing to do to prepare for the trial layups is to get the shop in some sort of order and get everything I needed gathered and prepared. You can see here on the left that I'm using my two car garage as a shop, and I've slapped together a few work tables to lay up on. Also, I made a basic fiberglass rack from an old unwanted desk and hung it off the side of the garage wall.

Even though I haven't had as much time to build as I've liked for the last several years, I have been steadily acquiring tools of various sorts to assist with the Cozy build.

The picture on the left shows my first usage of the handy Dritz electric scissors I picked up a few years ago at Oshkosh. Overall, they work splendidly for cutting the glass but the quality of the parts is lacking somewhat, and the AC adaptor basically arrived in the package broken causing the parts to come apart when you remove the adaptor and put in the battery again.

The first trial part is a simple 6 ply 10" x 16" BID plate to get used to working with the materials and to gauge how efficient your layup technique is. Once the part is trimmed, you weigh the plate and that should tell you if you're leaving the laminate abit dry or abit too wet and heavy.

Here's a shot of the final plate completed and curing. I put one ply of peel ply on just to try it out, and used a heavier sheet of plastic sheeting on top to squeegee out as much excess resin as I could. It looks pretty good, but I have a feeling that it will turn out a bit heavy.

Here's the completed part. I trimmed the part using a formica/laminate blade on my jigsaw.

The weight came in at 294.4 grams, which is 10.4 oz. The range given by the plans is 10.5 to 12.5, with 11 being the goal, so maybe that's not too bad. I did have a couple very small voids in the plate, so I'll have to be a little more careful next time. I think adding more light in my garage would really help make sure I get good layups.

CHAPTER 3.4 - THE SIMULATOR
Since I'm at the upper limits of height for the typical Cozy pilot, I decided that it would probably be smart to make a simulator of sorts to sit in and double check all the dimensions of things before I commit to making all the bulkheads. The following text and pictures will cover my efforts to make a simple cockpit simulator in my garage.

Awhile back, since I wasn't in the best place to start actually building, I spent some time reading through the first three chapters and made a partial fuselage in SolidWorks, a 3D CAD program. I'll use some of the data and information for my simulator. Here is a screenshot of the three bulkheads I will build out of plywood and jig onto a baseplate.

Here is the first bulkhead I made, the instrument panel.

I made it from 3/8" plywood and put in all of the cutouts for everything except for the upper corners, where the longerons pass thru and tie into the fuselage sides. Since I haven't decided how I want to simulate the sides, I'll probably cut those out later.

CHAPTER DIARY

So far so good on reviewing the plans. I've been researching the Cozy and how it's put together on and off for several years, so I consider most of what I'm reading as a sort of review. The toughest part right now is listing out all of the modifications and improvements that I want to make to the plane and figuring out where I need to change the plans accordingly to make sure I don't get too far along in the building before I've made those changes. Luckily, most of the mods I want to make are now considered commonplace and are approved by Nat Puffer and Co-Z, so overall it shouldn't be too tough.

Well, overall I was very encouraged by what I found during my visit with Eric. The Cozy will first and foremost be a transportation device, so I'm very willing to trade a Cadillac interior for speed and simplicity. The seats were very comfortable as is, and so with the mods I've mentioned I should fit fine.

6/30/07 -- The first test layup went okay --- here are the lessons learned so far:

During layup, I really tried to put the emphasis on stippling with a brush as the plans recommend -- seems to work quite well.

DEFINITELY use plastic sheeting and squeegee as much as you can -- I found that squeegee-ing without the plastic is difficult to not disrupt the topmost ply and add more air to the whole laminate.

MGS285 with the fast hardener is pretty great stuff, but it doesn't take hardly any quantity at all to almost cause exotherm. Even with just 50 grams or so in a cup I'd start to see steam or vapor on occasion. Yikes!

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