Sculpting a Long Nose It seems that most builders have adopted the elongated nose. The original Long-EZ nose extended to -FS 7.0. My plane will have a nose that will terminate at the negative FS location of FS -19.0, a full 12 inch extension. This will allow me to move the battery forward of FS 0.0 and place the Hydraulic pump at the battery's prior location over NG-30. This arrangement will assist in balancing out the larger engine without adding any ballast to the nose. Another feature that my nose section will sport is a removable/retractable heated pitot tube. I have spoken with other builders on occasion who have installed to Berkut style pitot tube only to regret it due to the damage they have incurred when people either run into or step on the pitot tube while the plane is in traditional 'Grazing' position. After giving this some consideration, I came up with an easy method of removing the pitot tube and storing it inside the nose during such occasions. This along with other changes will be detailed in this section.

	Drafting the Design The nose on my aircraft is extended by an additional 12 inches. To facilitate the construction, I first drafted out 3 different views of the nose using AutoCAD. The first draft was a side view. I started with a CAD drawing by Tony Malfa which I found out on the EZ.Org website. His nose drawing was a bit linger than I desired but it was a good starting point. I shortened it up by about 5 inches which is where I wanted to be. Using this as a guideline, I drafted the overhead view terminating the nose in the same manner as the side profile. I printed these out on a plotter and used them to created full size templates which I cut from .25 inch MDF. The next drawing was the bulkhead at FS 22. I continued this over the top to represent the top skin of the nose as if the canard was not an issue. The next task was to create a drawing that would represent the bulkhead as it would appear in the event that I sliced the nose every so many inches. I did this by taking the vertical measurement at that location and calculating the scale or percentage that dimension represented when compared to FS 22. One could have just as easily used the horizontal measurement in the same manner. As I worked my way to the leading edge of the nose, I rendered new drawings based on the FS 22 bulkhead and scaled it to that position making them predictably smaller as I moved forward. My bulkhead locations were FS 16, FS 12, FS 8, FS 4, FS 0, -FS 4, -FS 8 and -FS 12. You'll see how I used these in a moment.
	Building the Blank I glued several segments of wing foam together to create a solid block of foam that I could then sculpt into the final nose shape. The initial cut was made using the two side profile templates. This was one of the rare instances where I did not need to enlist the help of another person to make my hotwire cuts. Once the cut was complete, I reattached the waste foam to it's original location using a combination of drywall screws and long deck screws. This will help support the top and bottom templates during that cut.
	Sectioning With the basic form blocked out, the next step was to round the corners in a symmetrical fashion. This is where all of those bulkhead templates come into play. The first step is to slice the nose block into layers. The first cut is a 6 inch slice that results in a segment that would represent FS 22 on one side and FS16 on the other. All other slices will be 4 inches in depth. After the slices have all been cut you will end up with a natural break at FS 0.0. At this point I used the FS 0.0 drawing and cut this bulkhead out of the .25 inch H-100 PVC foam. Be sure and accurately transfer the centerline from the drawing to the bulkhead.
	Initial Shaping The next step is to shape the exterior of the nose. I traced the FS 16 drawing onto the smaller face. You might have to play with it a little bit to get a good alignment. The important part is the corners so if the foam is a little wider or narrower than your drawing, just slide it side to side or up and down while maintaining alignment of your vertical line of the drawing. After tracing the drawing onto the foam, I bolted it to the FS 22 bulkhead. Using the fuselage as a guide, I was able to cut the foam with a saw resulting in a good trasition from the existing fuselage to the new nose section.
	After sanding to my final shape, I removed the foam block and returned to my work table. Using the 6 inch foam block as my base, I began shaping the other sections. I traced the bulkhead drawings to both sides of the foam and then rough cut them to the guidelines. One this was completed, I stacked it onto the previous block and blended the edges using 60 grit sandpaper. Each following section is added until I got to FS 0.0. I inserted the FS 0.0 bulkhead between the FS -4/FS 0.0 block to insure that the exterior blend would take this into account rather than end up in a situation where I was doing a ton of filling to make it look right. The rest of the process will progress in the same manner.
	Dimension the Core Thickness At this point I can get a pretty good Idea as to how the end product will look. While the prep time was a bit time consuming, it eliminated a lot of guess work which really helped move things along. I dismantled the stack of blocks and prepared to separate the exterior 1 inch from the rest of the core. To facilitate this, I constructed the equivalent of a large cheese slicer with a hotwire set to a depth of about 1.25 inches. The extra .25 inches will serve as a fudge factor and will end up being sanded out.
	Rebuilding the Core Again, moving from one segment to the next, I cut the exterior layer off and reassembled the nose as two separate sections. One would represent FS 22 through FS 0.0 and the other would consist of FS 0.0 through the tip of the nose. Each segment was glued together as they were stacked to create the final shape.
	Finished Core This is the finished nose rendering for my plane. The total time involved once the blocks were ready for cutting was a single day consisting of about 5 hours of effort. I used the term ‘effort’ because it could hardly be considered work.

	Hatch Prep Prior to glassing the exterior of the nose, I traced out the locations of the hatches. I covered the area with a piece of poly-film followed by a piece of peel ply. The outline of the hatch was traced onto the peel ply as a reference to be used later when trimming the cover to size. The exterior layup consisted of 3 plies of BID fiberglass.
	Hatch Covers After the hatch covers cured in place, they were removed. A piece of .25 foam was cut 1.125 inches smaller than the hatch cover on all sides. The foam was scored to get it to conform to the curve of the hatch cover. The back side was ‘buttered’ with micro and it was centered on the inside face if the hatch cover. After securing in place with a few strips of masking tape, I put it in a vacuum bag to make certain that no voids existed between the foam and the outer shell.
	After letting is cure overnight, I cleaned up any excess micro by using a putty knife and sandpaper. The exposed foam was covered with micro and two layers of BID fiberglass providing a glass-to-glass bond around the border.
	Gasket Trough While the hatch covers are curing, I turned my attention back to the nose shell. Using a router, I machined out a trough .75 inches deep and extending an inch inside of the boundary I had previously traced onto the foam. I microed the exposed trough foam and then installed two plies of BID using some of the fast epoxy. Using a tongue depressor, I kept working the glass tight into the corners until it began setting up and held this position on it’s own.
	Once the trough area had cured, I trimmed away the excess glass. I then cut out a triangular piece behind the outside edge of the trough making sure I had a good exposure of the backside of the glass to bond to. I used clear packing tape and masked off everything within the perimeter of the trough. This will make it easier to trim off the extra glass when it comes time. With this completed, I was now ready to glass the exterior of the nose shell.
	Exterior Skin For this step, I incorporated the help of a ‘Lazy Susan‘ (El Cheapo from Home Depot.) This allowed me to work my way around the shell in a constant direction as I added the BID to the exterior. I filled the triangular trough that I had just excavated, with flox and then added 3 plies of BID to the exterior. The entire assembly was then allowed to cure overnight while being covered by an electric blanket for heating purposes.

	Hatch Opening With the exterior of the nose glassed, cured and trimmed, I turned my attention to the inside. Using a combination of the Fein, knife and sandpaper, I cut out the hatch openings. All foam and micro was removed down to the glass on the inside face of the trough to facilitate a good glass-to-glass bond. Using a large sanding block, I flattened out the floor in the area where the rudder pedals mount. The pedals are different than what is spelled out in the plans. They are adjustable and available from Dale Martin. This is very similar in appearance to the rudder controls that are used on the planes featured in the Red Bull Airace series. Once the floor was in the proper profile, I continued to sand out the remaining surfaces of the interior until it presented a smooth appearance. Once the sanding was done, I 'hard-shelled' the interior with micro to prepare it for glassing while at the same time providing a level of protection for the delicate suface of the foam.
	Rudder Pedal Mounts I can’t do my layup just yet. I have one more item to address. I need to install the nutplates that the rudder pedals will bolt to. The pedals come with a very thin strip of phenolic material an inch wide. I had never heard of anyone using this material for nutplates so this was all new to me. I started by drilling a hole in the phenolic and bolting it to the base plate of the rudder pedal assembly. Using this as a guide, I drilled out every third hole and then added a nutplate at each location. This will provide a great variety of locations to which I can mount the pedals. In less than five minutes, I can adjust from a 6’ 6” pilot to a 5’4” pilot without ever detaching the rudder cable. It really is a nifty design and the workmanship is of a very high quality.
	Rudder Pedal Mounts (Flox in the Nutplates) Once the nutplates were completed, I masked them off and filled the interior with silicone sealant. This will protect the threads while I flox and glass these into position. With the threads sealed and protected, I pressed the nutplates into the floor of the nose, breaking through the hardshell where each protrusion was located. I removed them, floxxed the area and then weighed them in place.
	Interior Skin The next day I proceeded to install my glass interior. The nose shell has been glassed from FS 0.0 forward while this area was curing. I started out with a single ply of BID glass over the entire floor. This will add a level of reinforcement and strength in the area of the rudder pedal assembly. The edges of the exposed phenolic strips were filled with flox to provide a smooth transition point. The initial layup was followed by two more plies of BID glass and it was allowed to cure overnight.
	NG-30 While this was curing I moved on to the NG-30 assembly. This is the portion that will house the EZ-Nose Lift (nose gear actuator) and carry the loads of the gear.

	NG-30 - Layout and Hardpoints I made some slight changes to the NG-30 layout to ensure that it would accommodate the longer nose profile that I am installing. Beyond the obvious differences, I used .25 inches of phenolic for the reinforcement points called out in the plans (vs. multiple layers of BID material.) Each hard point was cut out using a hole-saw while the phenolic inserts were cut using a band saw. At each location, the phenolic material was bonded in place using flox. This step will streamline the glassing of these parts. The Idea of backing up and carving out the foam did not really appeal to me. This method produces a higher quality part in less time. I also added two hard points in the FS 0.0 bulkhead. This will be the termination point for the rudder cables.
	NG-6 - Pivot Reinforcement In addition to the hard point where the NG-6 pivot bolt is mounted, I took a page from the Aerocad plans and added another reinforcement of phenolic which also contained an aluminum insert. Of course this means that the pivot bolt needs to be .5 inches longer. The bolts that hold the NG-x plate in place need to be .25 inches longer.
	Attach the Nose Shell With the Nose Gear box assembled it is now time to attach the shell structure between FS 0.0 and FS 22. This actually turned out to be easier than I thought. I installed a clamp that held the shell to the bulkhead with one end of the clamp in the opening for the access panel. A dry fit looked good so I floxed it in place. I added some weight to the forward portion of the shell to help leverage it tight against the bulkhead. The next day it was looking pretty good so I did the logical thing …… I cut it up. There is no way that I can get a good fit of the NG-30 box without making some adjustments. The best solution was to cut out the hatch area and remove it for now. I was planning on this so no flox was applied to the areas that would be affected.
	Installing the EZ-NoseLift Mounting Plates I marked the bolt pattern locations onto one of the mounting plates. Both mounts are identical so I’ll drill them at the same time. After installing the plates and wrestling with the other components, I finally got everything installed and working. I still need to work out the wiring and connect the actuator to the PLC. At this time, I know that my limit switches are not adjusted properly. If there is a shortcoming of this system, it would have to be the wiring diagram. While it might make sense to the author, it does not seem very straight forward to me (at this time.)
	Nose Strut Cover With the actuator installed, I went to work on the nose strut cover. After talking with Jack Morrison (eRacer Extreme) I decided to follow his suggestion ad add a little width to the cover. Jack says that the additional width pretty much negates the need for the landing brake. While his cover is 7.5 inches wide, I’m going to be a little more conservative and make mine 5 inches wide. I made the outside skin out of carbon fiber. This area gets a lot of punishment from the airflow and the added stiffness will come in handy.
	With the actuator installed, I went to work on the nose strut cover. After talking with Jack Morrison (eRacer Extreme) I decided to follow his suggestion ad add a little width to the cover. Jack says that the additional width pretty much negates the need for the landing brake. While his cover is 7.5 inches wide, I’m going to be a little more conservative and make mine 5 inches wide. I made the outside skin out of carbon fiber. This area gets a lot of punishment from the airflow and the added stiffness will come in handy.
	Once the outside skin had cured, I cut it to the proper dimensions (leaving it a bit long.) I cut a piece of .75 foam 2.5 inches wide and, using micro and a vacuum bag, attached it to the outside skin. I also added the NG-5 plate to the inside of the skin after insulating it from the carbon fiber with a layer of fiberglass (both sides.) In addition to the ¼ inch foam, I also placed two foam ribs that will float just outside of the nose strut. The shape provided by this foam, when combined with the carbon fiber will result in a very stiff and strong cover plate.
	I applied the carbon fiber plies (3) to the inside of the cover and placed it in the vacuum bag. Once it had cured, it proved to be extremely strong. This was going to work out great.
	NG-2 When I fashioned the NG-2 plate, I made it out of .25 inch aluminum. Leaving it a bit wide, I was able to fit two die springs (.5” x 1.25”) and machine screws with tinnerman washers to keep the strut cover tight against the underside of the plane while still offering a little play in the travel range of the actuator/nose strut assembly.

	Nose Gear Doors I modeled the nose gear doors after the design on the Berkut for the hydraulic deployed nose gear. I fashioned a 1.5 inch leaf spring out of West 703 Carbon Fiber tape. The tapes were laid up using a scrap of 2 inch foam as a form. After the cure, I post cured in an oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I created two hard points on the leaf to facilitate the attachment to the inside of the wheel cover at one end and the music wire door actuator at the other end.
	I laid up four pieces of 716 UNI carbon fiber on a piece of MDF covered with plastic and peel ply to create a sheet of material large enough to cut out both doors. While this was curing, I cut out two foam stiffeners out of .25 inch foam. The outside edges were beveled at 45 degrees. I also routed two shallow depressions of about 1/16th of an inch, on each one to accommodate the Lazy Tong hinges I will be using. I chose this hinge design because it allows the doors to lift away from the frame as it opens. That feature allows me to have doors that will fit flush to the bottom of the fuselage. The standard piano hinge arrangement results in the hinge pin area projecting away from the rest of the fuselage in order to prevent binding.
	I added micro to the backside of the stiffeners and set in place on the skin. These are placed back into the vacuum bag to create a solid bond to the outside skin and remove any air bubbles. Once cured, the inside skin was applied and again, allowed to cure in the vacuum bag. Once the doors were cured, I cut them out leaving the inside edges a little long to allow the doors to overlap slightly. Once fitted, the doors will be cut to create a flush fit with no overlap.
	Installing the Lazy-Tong Hinges The next step was to flox the hinges into place on the doors while being careful to keep the hinges square to each other. At the same time, I installed connection point for the music wire. Some BID tapes were added to help secure the hinges in place.
	Music Wire Spring While the hinges cure, I shaped the music wire. The wire will extend out to apply pressure against the gear doors to keep them open. The spring will be attached to the leaf spring to maintain alignment while at the same time providing some tension and felx to absorb any miscalculation in the springs final dimensions.spring area is bent into the lower end where the spring connects to the door.
	Hinge Nutplates With the hinges bonded to the doors, I aligned the opposite side of the hinge on a piece of 1/16th inch phenolic to create my nutplate. This will be bonded and glassed to the inside of the wheel well. The floor of the fuselage is made up of thick PVC foam which will provide a good surface to bond to.
	I drilled two holes to start with and inserted an AN3 bolt in each one to maintain the proper alignment while I drilled the remaining holes. Once the holes were all drilled, I began attaching the k-1000 nutplates. Each nutplate was held in place with an AN3 bolt to maintain the proper alignment as the holes were drilled for the rivets that would hold them in place. Two additional holes are drilled into the phenolic to allow drywall screws to be inserted to help maintain the proper alignment while the assembly is bonded into position.
	After all of the nutplates were installed, the hinges were bolted to the assembly to verify that the proper alignment still exists. Once that was completed, the door assembly was trial fitted in place. The interior hinge that has been mounted to the phenolic was wedged in place with some small pieces of pine and the door was opened and closed a few times to insure that it would operate smoothly in this position. Once the final position is established, I pressed the nutplates firmly into position and screwed the assembly to the interior wall of the wheel well using the predrilled holes and the drywall screws
	At this point, I removed the entire assembly and unbolted the hinges. The phenolic was masked off and each bolt hole was cut out. Each bolt hole was filled with silicone sealant. Two of the bolt holes are left unsealed to allow the door to be attached to the assembly while it is being bonded into position.
	Once the holes are filled and dried, I bolted the door back into position and added some of the silicone sealant to the backside of the two retaining bolts. Once these areas were dry, I again trial fit my door into position using the drywall screws. The fit is good so I removed the doors and applied a generous fill of flox on the backside of the phenolic avoiding the nutplates in the process. The assembly was fitted into position for the last time and the two drywall screws were inserted to maintain the proper alignment. The pieces of pine were again, wedged into place to maintain pressure on the part while it cured. Again, the operation of the door was checked for any binding (last chance) and the assembly was left to cure overnight. The same procedure was followed for the opposite door.
	Once the assembly had cured, I removed the door and filled in the remaining two bolt holes with silicone sealant. After the silicone dried, I removed the masking tape that was protecting the phenolic and scuffed up the surface with some 60 grit sandpaper. Two plies of BID were installed over the phenolic and lapping over the outside corner of the wheel well opening as well as the interior edge of the shell which houses the interior wheel well. A bead of flox was installed to smooth out the transition where the shell and the floor of the fuselage meet.
	Once the glass had cured, I drilled just through the fiberglass down to the phenolic at each bolt hole location in succession. Using a drill bit held in my fingers, I proceeded to clean out each location and trial fit an AN3 bolt as I went. After attaching one door, I scribed the centerline of the fuselage onto the surface and cut the excess material off. After completing that step, I attached the opposite door and closed the trimmed door over it. I scribed a line onto the second door using the edge of the trimmed door as a guide and then cut the second door to size.
	I attached the music wire to the leaf spring and bolted the assembly in place. The music wire serves two functions: It holds the doors closed when the nose gear is retracted. It keeps the doors open while the gear is deployed.

	Heated Pitot Tube One of the things I have become aware of is the susceptibility to damage that exists to a pitot tube mounted in the nose. Fly-in attendees have been known to step on or kick the pitot while walking around the airplane. As a solution, I set out to make the pitot removable, at least to the extent that it is not so vulnerable to damage. To begin the heated pitot tube installation, I drilled a hole through the tip of nose using a 1 ¾ inch hole saw. This will allow for the phenolic insulation around the pitot tube. Using the same hole saw, I drilled out a piece of phenolic the same size. After creating the circle of phenolic, I drilled out the center to a diameter of 7/8ths of an inch. This would create an insulating donut around the tube.
	I floxed the insulating ‘donut’ to the end of a 12 inch piece of 7/8 inch aluminum tubing. The tubing has an inside diameter of .759 inches. This will allow my .75 inch pitot tube to slide in and out without creating a sloppy fit.
	In order to mount the tubing back onto the nose shell, I placed a piece of .75 inch tubing inside the larger tube to facilitate alignment while the flox cured. I placed a couple scraps of foam inside the nose shell as it rested (open end down) on a level surface. By adjusting the .75 inch tube, I was able to control both the alignment and depth of larger tube and it’s phenolic insulator.
	Once that segment had cured, I profiled phenolic material using the Fein equipped with a flush cut blade. The 7/8th inch tubing is allowed to project from the nose by about 11 inches. This will help me align the nose section onto the FS 0.0 bulkhead without destroying the alignment of the tube itself.
	While the assembly was curing, I cut out the retainer plate. It consists of an 1/8th inch piece of aluminum which has a hook shape (to catch the retaining bolt head, a 5/8th inch hole (for the pitot tube bushing) and a ¼ inch hole to allow the plunger pin to lock the pitot in place. I printed the template drawing on a piece of label stock and then used that for my pattern when cutting out the aluminum part. NOTE: on my first attempt to fit the pitot in place, I realized that I never left a place for the bolt head to clear. I had to go back and make that adjustment.
	After cutting out the retainer plate, I fitted it onto the pitot tube. I also cut off the end of the nose at about 2.5 inches from the end being careful to keep the cut parallel with the opening. I took a small section of .25 inch phenolic an drilled a .75 inch hole for the pitot tube to pass through. After inserting the pitot tube, I drilled a .25 inch hole through the plunger pin hole and inserted an AN4 bolt to assist in keeping everything in alignment. I then drilled another .25 inch hole for the retaining bolt to attach to. Afterward I opened up the plunger pin hole to .5 inch. The plunger pin will need to align close to the inside face to allow the pin to have enough travel to lock the pitot in place.
	The next step was to slide the pitot into the 7/8th inch tube with the phenolic in place. I then traced the outline of the front segment of the nose, onto the phenolic. Using that line as a reference, I cut .25 inch inside the line to get the final shape of the phenolic bulkhead.
	I attached a AN4 nutplate to a piece of 16 gauge aluminum using rivets an then proceeded to drill several holes to provide as much bonding area as possible prior to floxing to the backside of the phenolic bulkhead. A course threaded ½ inch thread nut is floxed into place in the location of the plunger pin. The AN4 nutplate is also floxed into place and a couple scraps of BID are added to help keep it all in place.
	Once this has cured, insert the plunger pin into the backside and thread it into it’s final location. Test the fit with the pitot tube and once satisfied, I backed it out several revolutions (keeping an accurate count of the revolutions) and added some epoxy to the threads before returning it to it prescribed alignment.
	Now it’s just a matter of floxing the bulkhead into the nose section permanently. I used a router and took out a hair more than the thickness of the phenolic and ran a bead of flox around the area. Using a piece of .75 inch tubing (inserted into the 7/8th inch tubing) as a guide, I set the bulkhead in place. Once the bulkhead cured, I can flox the two nose segments together, but before I do that, I wanted to add some additional support to the nose puck area as well as additional support for the battery. I extended the flow of the NG-30 segments so they could extend farther forward to dissipate the additional loads. Using the Fein, I cut out two slots in the floor on the forward nose section and fitted two panel of .25 inch foam (covered with two plies of BID fiberglass on both sides)left over from making the NG-30. I also added a forward bulkhead between the two. This created 5 of the six sides of my battery box. After floxing these in place, I ran two inch tapes on all the seams to insure a strong structure.
	With this segment complete, I prepared to flox the forward nose section to the FS 0.0 bulkhead. Using a pair of clamps, I secured the bulkhead to the FS 0.0 bulkhead after leveling the fuselage to insure a proper final alignment. The 7/8th inch tubing still projects from the nose and is used along with a digital level to insure that the pitch of the pitot is in sync with the pitch if the fuselage. Yaw was confirmed through the use of a laser pointer inserted inside the 7/8th inch tube. Once I was comfortable with the alignment, I removed my clamps and shims and then applied my flox. I clamped the nose in place, and inserted my shims as needed, confirmed the alignment again and let it cure. After removing the clamps, I put a final fill of flox on all internal seams and taped them with BID 2-ply tapes.

Forward Hatch Well I sort of goofed on the forward most hatch. I should have installed the hinge prior to floxing the nose in place. I did figure out a fix for this situation. I attached my hinges to the font hatch by cutting a slot for the hinges and then floxing them in place. I floxed and glassed two click bonds onto a scrap of spruce to act as my hinge point. I installed that onto the hinges to help keep everything in alignment while the flox on the hinges cured.

Once this had cured, I did a trial fit with my hinge pin installed. The hatch cover seemed to fit nicely so I was good-to-go. I mixed up a small batch of bondo and put several dabs of it on the side of the hinge pin assembly that would mate against the inside surface of the nose. After the bondo hardened, I carefully opened the hatch and measured back to the spruce hinge pin assembly. After adding 3/8ths of an inch to that measurement, I drilled two holes through the spruce that ere large enough for me to thread a couple pieces of music wire (piano hinge pin) all the way through. After removing the spruce hinge pin and cleaning up all of the bondo, I again loaded the mating surface but this time I used flox. With the hinge pin assembly still attached to the hatch, I threaded the music wire through the nose shell and through the spruce. This guaranteed the proper alignment of the hinge pin. I worked the spruce piece up the music wire guides until I had the hatch in the closed position, and let it cure. I check on this every few minutes until I felt that the assembly was not going to move and then pulled the music wire out before it could completely bond to the spruce.

	Hatch Seals The hatch gasket/seal material will not be installed until after the plane is painted however I can still fabricate them now.
	I measured the angle of each corner an then sectioned the gasket in such a way so as to get it to curve around the corner. To do this I divided the coefficient of each corner angle by 3 to arrive at the proper cut. For example: If the inside angle of a corner measured out at 80 degrees, then the coefficient would be 100 degrees. Three cuttings of 33 degrees each would get you there. I added about 1/8th of an inch to the inside surface of the middle segment to help ease the gasket around the corner.
	Locktite 444 is the adhesive used to glues the gasket pieces together to form one solid sealing surface. This is the same material used to fabricate o-rings from long lengths of cord stock