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Cozy Mark IV : Time and Expenses

Chapter 13: Nose and Nose Gear

In this chapter you will build a nose gear box which contains the nose gear strut and worm gear retraction assembly.  The box consists mainly of two glass/foam/glass side panels with built-in hardpoints for mounting the nose gear hardware. 

 

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# Desc Date Cost Time (hours) Details
1. Jack Wilhelmsen EZ-Noselift and MKNG6A. 5/2/06 1,833.00   Sent in the order for the EZ-Noselift and related parts.  Expect 3 week lead time.
2. NG-1L nose strut from FeatherLite 8/29/06 106.00   Ordered the nose gear strut from FeatherLite.  $91 + $15 shipping.
  Chapter kit from Spruce 12/19/2006 864.16    
3. MKAA castering nosewheel assembly & other parts 4/23/07 451.00   Ordered the nose fork & some other small things from Jack W.
4. Step 1: reinforcing NG-1L 4/29/07   2 Checked fit & dimensions of NG-1L.  Cut down from 27-1/4" to 25-3/4".  Sanded dull.  Cut out glass & peel ply.  Applied glass to both sides.  Left 2nd side to cure overnight.
5. NG-30s 5/5/2007   3 Cut out NG-30's.  Located peel ply over NG6A pivot, applied 2 plies BID, peel ply & wax paper.  Turned over, micro'd, and put 4 plies BID.  Knife-trimmed.  When it was completely cured I carefully trimmed the edges, put them together inside-surface to inside-surface, and made them match perfectly using a dremel and a sanding block.  Cut the holes using a drill press.
6. NG-30s 5/6/2007   5 Made the 1/4" birch doublers with the 1/4" aluminum inserts.   Made the 1/8" aluminum doubler.  Removed foam from NG-30's for the mounting brackets.  Because I'm not installing the worm drive (I'm using the Wilhelmsen EZ-Noselift), I did not cut the bottom mounting holes, and I cut the top three holes on both sides.  Floxed the 1/4" birch doublers in place.  Cut out, wet out and applied 15-ply BID pads in the 1.2" depressions (hardpoints for mounting brackets), then applied 4 plies BID overall.  Floxed the aluminum doubler over the birch doubler and added another 2 plies BID over these.  Knife-trimmed.
7. NG-30s 5/7/2007   1 Trimmed the edges around the NG-30s, aligned the pieces carefully and sanded.  Drilled all the holes as instructed, separated the pieces and drew an outline of the area to be removed from the inside sides for NG6A.
8. NG-30s 5/8/2007   1 Drilled out the glass and foam on the inside surfaces over the MKNG6-A doublers, removed the peel ply, and applied 2 plies BID over the area.  Peel plied, covered with some blocks, and left it to cure.  Floxed NG1-L to MKNG-6, and cut out NG-5.
9. NG-30s 5/10/07   1 Removed NG1-L from NG-30s, drilled 4 3/16" holes through MKNG6 & NG1-L.  Checked alignment w/ NG-5, dead on.  Drilled 1 pilot hole through NG-5, and screwed it to NG1-L.  Drilled remaining holes through NG-5 and attached it to NG1-L with flox & bolts.
10. NG-30s 5/11/07   2 Floxed NG3 and NG4 to NG1-L at 6.79".  This is following the instructions included with the Wilhelmsen actuator, rather than the location called out in the plans.  Cut out F0, applied micro, and 1 ply BID. Floxed to NG-30s, used nails to steady it, and used 2-ply BID tape as called for.  Cut out NG-5, micro & 2-plies BID, microd and nailed to NG-30s.
11. NG-30s 5/19/07   2 Floxed NG-30 assembly to F-22. 2 plies BID tape all around.  Micro and 1 ply BID on the fore face of F0, and micro and 2 plies BID (@ 45-deg) on aft face on F5.
12. Nose floor 5/19/2007   6 Cut out nose floor, both sides.  Sanded depression in both sides.  Micro'd in place.  Cut NG-31 and NG-32, glassed one side of each with 2-plies BID.
13. Nose 5/20/07   4 2 plies BID on 2nd side of NG-31 and NG-32.  Cut foam for transition to floor aft of F22.  Attached with 5ME and finished the shape. Cut BID for nose floor (2 plies each side), micro'd and layups of 2 plies BID on nose floor.  Trimmed NG-31 & 32.  Added 1 ply BID fore of F-22.  Added peel ply to the sides of the nose floor.  Installed NG-31 & 32 with flox.  I carefully located the fuselage centerline and drew a centerline on F0, to use for positioning these bulkheads.  Insured correct position with plumb bob and level.
14. Nose wheel 5/19/07 84.49   Strange, not only is the nose wheel not included in the chapter kit that Spruce sells, they don't even carry the part at all.  This is NWA-1230, the 4" nose wheel.  When I couldn't find it among my materials I went back to check the parts list.  So I ordered it from Wicks.  Maybe the reason Spruce's prices are lower is that they're leaving things out that Wicks is not?  Anyway, it's on its way.
15 Nose 5/25   2 Applied BID tapes to NG31 & NG32.  Floxed NG15 and support foot to NG-1L.  I don't have the AN-525 machine head screws for this!  I have also been told not to use the machine head screws, I should get AN-4 bolts instead.  Will order.
16. Nose gear 5/26/07   8 Flipped fuselage over, traced cut-out for nose gear to retract into fuselage.  Like many others I will be adding gear doors, so I'll need to figure out how to build this in.  After checking many websites and posting to the list, I will make 1/4" birch plywood inserts with 4 aluminum inserts.  I'll need to figure out what hardware to order for this as well.  I cut out the floor of the fuselage for the nose wheel, trimmed the cutout in F22 to allow the gear to retract further inside the fuselage.  Cut out the birch inserts for the gear doors. 
17. Nose gear 5/27/07   5 Cut 2" foam to fit the cutout in the floor of the fuselage for the gear doors.  3-plies BID on outside.
18. Nose gear 5/29/07   2 Cut 45-deg bevel on birch inserts, floxed into bottom of fuselage.  1 ply BID over the birch with flox corners.  Sanding foam for gear doors to allow the nose wheel to retract past the doors.
19. Nose gear 5/30/07 16.95 1 2 plies BID inside gear doors.  Also bought some 55W halogen lights from Advance Auto Parts to install in the nose.  Probably the cheapest electrical thing I'll put in the plane!
20. Nose gear 5/31/07   2 Cut gear doors into 2 pieces.  1 ply BID with flox corners over the middle section.  Also added 2 plies BID reinforcement on the aft side of F0, where the halogen lights will be installed.
21. Nose 6/1/07   .5 Installed halogen lights in nose (will wire up later, when I figure out how to route the wires and hook it into my electrical system.
22. Nose 6/2/07   12 - Expanded rudder pedal pivot extension holes through NG-30s to 3/4" for the Olemann pedals.

- Positioned nose gear retract, marked holes on mounting brackets, drilled to 1/4", installed retract.  To do this I attached the nose retract to the NG-3/NG-4 bracket on the nose strut, held the retract motor in place and manually extended it until the nose gear was at exactly F16.  I then marked the mounting brackets, and manually retracted the gear to its fully retracted position and verified 2" clearance to the fore of F22, and confirmed the holes I marked in the bracket. 

- Added a countersink to NG-4, so the threads would extend enough on the other side to get the nut and washer on.

- Cut foam for nose sides (A,B,C), foam shaping.  I cut a template for the contour based on the shape of the nose floor, from a spare (scrap) piece of wood lying around.  Glassed the sides, installed.
23. Nose 6/3/07   8 - Opened canard lift tab holes in F22 to 5/8" with the spot facing tool.  Trimmed nose sides to make room for the canard.  (You'd think the templates would give you the shape for this; it's not like it's an unknown shape!!  Of course I cut too much foam away and had to add some back in, what a pain!)  Installed CNL bushings in these holes with flox.  Attached canard for cure.

- Moving ahead to step 6 while the flox for the CNL bushings is curing.  Cut pivot blocks for rudder pedals and floxed in place.  Made 2 nutplates.  Trial fit rudder pedals and marked location in pivot blocks.  Drilled 3/8" holes through pivot blocks.  Sanded a bit to get the nutplates flush with the pivot blocks, then 5ME them in place.  When it was dry, removed the bolts and filled the holes with vaseline.  Sanded everything, radiused the edges, smoothed things over with dry micro, wet micro over the foam, and 4 plies BID over the pivot blocks.
24. Wheel well 9/22/07   4 Shaped foam for wheel well, glassed.
25. Master cylinders 10/13/07 345.03 8 - Cut birch plywood inserts to attach brackets to, for the install of the 10-54 cylinders (the cylinders are the expense for this entry).  Routed out holes in the nose floor for the birch inserts.  Made brackets from 3/4" square alum. tubing.  Drilled holes through brackets and birch for the attach, then drilled a slightly larger hole on the back of the insert, to hold the nuts in place.  Floxed the inserts into the floor of the nose, then covered with 2-ply BID overlapping about 1" square.  Bolted brackets to inserts, and put another ply of BID over brackets.  When cured, attached the 10-54 master cylinders to the brackets, which completes the assembly for the master cylinders.  Whew!

- Cut out a 2" x 4" hole on each side of the nose wheel well for the windows.  Cut Plexiglas (3" x 5") for the windows, and 5ME'd the windows over the holes (on the inside of the well).  Added 1-ply BID overlapping Plexiglas 1/2" and the inside of the well 1/2".
26. Nose well 10/14/07 14.72 6 - Removed the nose gear doors, will return to this later.

- Cut hole in the strut cover to make room for the retract piston.  When I was satisfied of the clearance, floxed the strut cover in place.

- Installed the nose wheel well in place with 1-ply BID all around.  Cut a foam wedge to re-direct the heat duct air, covered with 1-ply BID, and installed in place.

- Cut the 1/4" aluminum tubing for the pitot tube, and then decided to order the parts for the removable pitot tube.
27. Pitot 10/20/07   8 Installed the removable pitot tube, routed the pitot line, installed the static line.  Cut out foam for the nose, plus the top of the nose.  Got everything ready for the shaping of the nose.
28. Nose 10/21/07   6 Shaped the bottom nose.
29. Nose 10/27/07   4 Sanded, cleaned, and taped plastic over the bottom (top) half of the nose.  Dry micro to fill in the gaps, wet micro over the foam, then 2 plies BID.  1 extra ply BID over the nose strut.  Peel ply the sides.
30. Nose & nose doors 10/28/07   9.5 Rolled the plane over, removed top piece of foam.  Installed master cylinder reservoirs.  Made a template for the shaping of the nose; also retrieved the side contouring template from when we made the fuselage sides.  Shaped nose.  Created a 1" depression over F-0 and the side seams for taping, plus a .2" depression .8" wide for the canard cover.  Rolled plane over again and cut the nose strut free, and removed it from the plane.  Drilled the 3/16" hole through NG-3 (but I don't seem to have the machine head screw for this, will have to order it).  Added 1-ply BID on NG-1A overlapping the glass from the nose bottom. 

Nose door: Measured out the shape for the nose door on a piece of paper, cut out 3 plies BID, added box sealing tape over top of the nose.  Wet out the glass and installed it on the nose.  Then I decided to do the same for the front nose door.  Cut a piece similarly to the aft door, 8" x 5" x 6", and wet out and installed another 3-ply BID.
31. Nose doors 10/30/07   1 1" wide 3-ply BID around the edges of both doors, and back on the nose to cure.
32. Nose & doors 11/3/07   4
  • Sanded NG-1L (cleaning up after the 1-ply BID tape inside of the bottom skin)
  • Drilled static port holes (3 1/16" holes into the aluminum tube)
  • Cut doors to shape (trimming after inside edge tape layups)
  • Sanded the foam under the doors so the doors can lay flush
  • Dry micro to fill gaps, wet micro over foam on top of nose
  • 2 ply BID over nose
  • Covers in place to assure a good fit after cure (saran wrap for easy release)
33. Nose & doors 11/4/07   6.5
  • Cut out openings for nose doors, leaving .8" flange
  • Cut off top
  • Sanded and shaped inside of top (bevel to flange, flox corners)
  • 2 plies BID w/ flox corners over aft edge of opening
  • Put the top back in place, and confirmed fit with canard (had to trim off about 1/2" from aft edge to allow install/removal of canard without interference)
  • Removed canard & top again
  • Floxed corners, wet micro over inside of nose top, and 1 ply BID overall, 2 plies extra over flanges
  • Installed top back on nose with lots of flox, 1-ply BID tape all around insides
  • BID tape on outside
34. Torsional support 11/21/07   2.5 Installing nutplates to hold nose door in place, and installed the torsional support from F-22 to the nose top.
35. Nose gear motor wiring 1/8/07   2 Did all the wiring for the nose gear motor, after getting guidance from someone who knows how to read electrical diagrams (thanks, Dad!).  Wired the system up (including 10a breaker), attached it to a 12v battery, and...nothing!  *sigh*  Will need to go over everything again and see what I did wrong.

Still to do:

  • Install the nose bumper
  • Install the nutplates and screws on the nose doors
    • Bottom of aft nose door (2)
    • Fore nose door (4)
  • Add brace for torsional rigidity fore of F22
  • Figure out how to glass the inside of the front of the nose and install the Plexiglas windows for the lights
  • Finish the install of the gear doors and figure out how to actuate them.
  • Wiring for the nose gear motor

Chapter total: Time 120, Cost $3,715.35

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