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RTW Route East #12 rev1

Date:  04-08-2025
Number of Hours:  0
Manual Reference:  no ref

My route for this first Round the World flight keeps changing as the world situation does. I’m also getting great information from three ferry pilots in particular and internet searches on fuel availability, airport charges and places with ‘customs’ or ‘ports of entry’ for international flights. This update has valuable suggestions from ‘Ross E’. Thanks!!

Here’s a flat earth overview. Each ‘kink’ is a single flight, 21 in all.

If the earth is round after all, the lines don’t look too straight.  This view shows the ICAO airport names that I’m currently planning on.

That does look all over the place!  Here are some rough numbers (that I will be adjusting later) based on a conservative 170kts and 35lts per hour and nominal winds which will change. I do hope to get much better numbers which I will know after more flight testing.

Flights

YMMB YSNF
Moorabbin to Norfolk Island  1,303nm, 7hrs 30mts, 339lts,

YSNF NSTU
Norfolk Island to Pago Pago, American Samoa. 1,320nm, 10hrs 8mts, 254lts

NSTU PLCH
Samoa to Kiribati, Christmas Island 1,265nm, 7hrs 34mts, 312lts

PLCH PHKO
Kiribati to Hawaii, 1,063nm, 7hrs 51mts, 199lts

PHKO KHWD
Hawaii to Haywood Executive, California, 2,069nm, 11hrs 47mts, 483lts

KHWD KSAF
California to Santa Fe, New Mexico, 938nm, 5hrs 39mts, 206lts

KSAF KMKL
New Mexico to Tennessee, 857nm, 4hrs 51mts, 206lts

KMKL KMRH
Tennessee to North Carolina, 607nm, 3hrs 23mts, 148lts

KMRH TXKF
North Carolina to Bermuda, 618nm, 4hrs 10mts, 110lts

TXKF  LPAZ
Bermuda to Santa Maria, Azores, 2,039nm, 11hrs 13mts, 398lts

LPAZ LEST
Azores to Santiagio, Spain, 849nm, 6hrs 4mts, 248lts

LEST LMML
Spain to Malta, 1,225nm, 6hrs, 25mts, 248lts

LMML HEGN
Malta to Hurghada, Egypt, 1,332, 7hrs 48mts, 324lts

HEGN OMAL
Egypt to UAE, 1,193nm, 6hrs 41mts, 243lts

OMAL VANPI
UAE to Nagur, India, 1,313nm, 7hrs, 58mts, 364lts

VANPI VCBI
India to Colombo, Sri Lanka, 833nm, 4hrs, 45mts, 174lts

VCBI WMKL
Sri Lanka to Malaysia 1,186nm 7hrs, 255L

WMKL YPXM  Christmas Island (Australia), 1,064nm, 6hrs, 36mts 255lts

YPXM YPPD
Christmas Island to Port Hedland (Aust. Mainland), 955nm, 6hrs, 218lts

YPPD YNUB
Port Hedland, WA to Nullarbor Roadhouse, SA, 936nm, 5hrs 22mts, 196lts

YNUB YMMB
Nullarbor to Moorabbin, VIC 820nm, 4hrs 31mts, 193lts

21 Flights of about 26,000nm (48,000km) and about 5,400lts of fuel

 

 

 

 

First Flight

Date:  03-24-2025
Number of Hours:  0
Manual Reference:  

First flight of my scratch built Long-EZ, VH-XEZ, happened on the 24th of March 2025. 13 years 3 months and 23 days to be exact after starting. My log shows 17,044 hours of work. This is not counting meal breaks, sleeping, time thinking about it or running around doing plane related things. This is just time working on the build in the workshop.

I’m not proud, or ashamed of this enormous number of hours. I started with very high standards and almost no skills. I’d never done fiberglass work, I couldn’t understand the plans and I’d never done anything like this before. I’m not an engineer in any form or have particular skills in the workshop. I did guitar setup work and basic repairs for a long time so at least I had some manual skills. Measuring anything was pretty much something new as I used to do everything more by feel than ‘science’. I had a lot to learn.

The big time soak was that I already had a ‘plans built’ Long-EZ I’d done a few minor things to it but I wanted something a bit different this time.  A few months after starting, my brief changed from the idea of a light weight, high performance Long-EZ to a round the world, very high performance extended flight vehicle.

This meant…..modifications. NO modification goes unpunished in terms of time and expense and this one got out of control. I needed the qualities of DR Who’s TARDIS to fit everything in, a Long-EZ is …small! Unfortunately my skills in compressing spacetime are lacking, so it took a while.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/First-Flight24_3_25-email-resolution.mp4

Here’s the first flight video. Its very low resolution. There is a better version on my YouTube channel.

So what was it like to fly this thing I have built for the first time? What happened on the 24 minute flight?

I’m usually nervous before flying. It ranges from almost no nerves if I’m flying several times a week to quite a bit in direct inverse proportion to when I last flew. Once I’m all set and taxing off I have zero nerves for the rest of the flight. The only exception is flight instruction and particularly flight tests, I’m not good at all for those! <grin>. Interestingly I’ve had several emergencies over the past 40 odd years and I’m just ice cold and get the job done every time so far.

First flight nerves just felt like any other flight, relative to the time since when I last flew. Nothing special. If anything it was a bit disappointing to not have the feeling others talk about. I’d already had the canard fly very briefly in a taxi test. That was important as I needed that confirmation before committing to extended full throttle.

Canard rotation was as the taxi test in the 60 knot TAS range. Also as testing there is a slight pull to the right on application of full power on the initial ground roll but its gone in a second, I just needed to be ready for it.  I was more focused on the runway position, how much was left if I have to reject the take-off,  than the ASI and the just focused on feeling the aircraft. I knew there was an issue with the static port position and that IAS was going to be about 10 knots over. I had to use more back stick than expected to get the canard up. I did have the trim with elevator down already but it needed a bit more. Full rotation needed more positive pressure than the last plane. This may be just the trim.

I was pretty quick on the hat top trim adjustment which proved to be incredibly sensitive. That was ‘fun’. I’ve since adjusted it in the G3X and we will see how it is next flight.

Pressures and temperature here were excellent. My concern was that this plane wouldn’t cool in the air, and I’d have to modify the cowls so that was a big one. I’d fixed it for ground taxi with the flaps, flying was unknown. So far we are good. The plane was flying very well and the handling on this initial flight was excellent. It had a super smooth roll. Pitch is very sensitive, partly due to the trim not being perfectly setup yet.

Climb was off the charts, nearly 170 knots at 1000fpm. I had a lot going on. For some reason the second radio was loud and active despite not being selected on the audio panel.  This is weird. I tried changing to to another frequency but there was chatter on that and then a lot of static with another try. Meanwhile fainter, Moorabbin tower was in my ear concerned at my climb. I assume and worried I might bust into Class C above the field. I should have just turned Com 2 down but I wasn’t familiar enough with the interface and didn’t think of it anyway. I can’t reproduce this on the ground so it is a matter of trying again in the air. I need to be ready to get the volume down next time that’s all or just set it to Com1 frequencies.

Meanwhile there was an alarm going off in my ear. This turned out to be the canopy warning when I finally focused on it. The canopy was locked and ‘pinned’ so it must have been the micro switch needing adjustment. I’ve since tweaked that and we will see if it happens next flight.

More alarms were happening. The cowl flaps despite being closed before take-off both upper and lower were showing open. It turns out there was enough pressure in the cowls to blow them open to 1 out of 6 graduations. So just cracked open a little. I have since tightened them. Easy job as it was built into the design just for this issue. I do know that I can open them a little in flight and they wont break off. Unintended test! I had the coolant pressure alarm going off too. That one is just needs a re-calibration of the warnings. I wasn’t concerned about that as the number was still good.

Despite selecting gear up on my early climb out, the nose gear was down. You can just make it out in the picture. That was unexpected as it causes a lot of drag which I didn’t even notice. The cockpit video shows the selector is up but the gear has an auto extend, and that was operating. I tried cycling the switch but that did nothing. Better down than stuck up! This one is still to be sorted out. I think it might be either the laser needs calibrating for 100meters auto-extend or a micro switch is not actuating or both.

By now I saw some EGT warning showing they were high. Opps, I was still at full throttle. This would explain the insane speed in the climb. So we know that coolant and oil temperatures are OK in this condition. I reduced throttle and the exhaust temperatures dropped quickly.

By now, which is less than 5 minutes I’ve got the throttle back, ensured I’m under 2500′ and at least silenced the canopy warning. The radio is still annoying. The gear is still down, flaps showing open, pressures and temperatures are good. I tested rolling gently left and right. It takes more stick forces than I’m used to but it is very stable. I tried steeper rolls and was all good. Yaw is fine as well. Pitch is sensitive due to the trim speed challenge so I didn’t try to get to hands free. I just ensured it would be safe for controlling a landing.

By now I’ve switched to cockpit static and IAS is probably near enough to TAS now so I don’t have to subtract 10 knots from what I am seeing on the glass panel. That’s a bit different too as the old steam gauges are so big and easy to see instantly. I’m still learning where to look in a glance as a part of my scan inside and out.  I slowed the plane to 60 knots indicated and still no stall. This is enough for now I have the data I need for a safe, controlled landing.

The canopy and vision out the side windows as well as a slightly higher sitting position make the cockpit worth the effort I put in to the modifications. Outstanding result on that one. There is no spot for elbows in strakes however but I didn’t notice this as an issue. I know I’m going to miss cockpit storage that I could easily have added. I did plan on it but just forgot! Well, next lifetime. I don’t have another plane in me.

You can see I just hung around the airport. I did stray a bit more to the east than I planned but at 2500′ AGL, well above circuit height and ATC didn’t seem too upset about anything.

After a bit under 20 minutes I called up tower to come in. I might have given them an ops normal but I don’t think they cared. You can assume if there was a problem I would tell them. I was told to join downwind for 17R. I had a bit of height to loose and managed this OK while keeping the speed under control.

Landing was like all the other times I’ve landed a Long-EZ over 18 years. The difference was that I’m a little higher in the cockpit now, visibility is even better and for this first one I knew there was a phone video running so it had better be a good! I just set it all up, looked up down the end of the runway at the right time and just waited, holding the nose. If you watch the video you can see it worked out OK.

The taxi back to the hangar should be a time of elation, satisfaction a great sense of achievement, the greatest day of my life? Naaaaa nothing. Sorry. This has been so long coming that it was just something to get done so I could move on. Its about 3 years after when I though it would happen. Covid and engine delays were not my friend. Not to mention the huge job the ground cooling was needed when I though I was nearly ready. That added a  good 4 months at 70 hours work a week to find a solution.

Overall I’ve built a plane, it flies. There will be a few more weeks work to rectify some ‘squawks’. Then one more Moorabbin local flight to check the rectifications. If all is well, the next flight is leaving my home at Moorabbin for the new base and the next chapter in this adventure.

_______________

I will tell you one thing that has happened over the course of the build. I didn’t know much when I started and now I know more than I used to.

I couldn’t visualise mechanical things in my mind’s eye. Now I can think of the details of a modification and see possibilities and various angles, I can rotate an idea in my mind. My thinking on everything I approach in life has refined. I look at problems differently. I can see solutions to things I never saw before. There is a new focus. I have adopted a more ‘scientific’ approach to situations that come before me. I can see how to make things like I never could, devise methods for a repair or a part that I never saw before. I have a rare confidence that if I need to make something, I will just figure it out as I go along and not worry at all that it won’t happen.

I know that if I persevere, eventually, the solution will feel right and that’s the one that will work. I can go into something like the flap design and just push and push until it works out. I have a large box of prototypes on that to prove it. I might not see how at first, but the answer reveals itself, I just have to keep going.

Aeroplane building might surprise you with what the process it teaches. I now have to apply this to IFR flying and all my concerns and fears about not being able to succeed in the round the world task, the big airports, the pressures in the air, the procedures, the physical dangers.  Yet I don’t care about self doubt, that lives on a shelf I no longer look at. Plane building without skills just teaches I only need to get on with it.

Have a goal, make a start and the magic happens in-between.

 

 

 

Exhaust Wrap and Heat Protection

Date:  03-18-2025
Number of Hours:  16
Manual Reference:  no ref

“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…” to quote Jaws. I did my first runway test, flaps closed of course and something got hot. 

Guess where the exhaust pipes sit?

Both sides on the bottom, right next to the pipes.

Of course I should have thought of this. In fact I did previously. Before the flaps were cut out I had heat shields here which were removed for the cut outs.  In previous testing I never got to high RPM for any sustained period so the issue wasn’t present. It just wasn’t on my radar until this happened.

The epoxy had boiled off and just left the burn marks. I dug it all out, which turned out to be huge holes until I got to good carbon and epoxy. The next step was to fill it with dry epoxy. Just pour foam would have been fine too, and a bit lighter. Anyway I followed up with three graduated plies of carbon and as you see above, good as new, move on.

I’ve added heat shield as I should have previously. The actuators also get a covering.

I’ve added lockwire to the hinges as well. Its hard to spot in the pictures. I got to learn a bit more about drilling small holes in thin aviation grade stainless steel too. The local tool shop is somewhat richer after my lesson included the purchase of quite a few very small drill bits. The local sheet metal guy eventually took pity and schooled me.

Of course this heat shielding will have to come off when I repaint the cowls. I’m trying to order some high tech shielding that is super thin. This stuff is closing the gap on the bottom cowl.

Not to leave things here, how about a thermal wrap on the pipes? I already have ceramic coating inside and out. This is in addition.

The wrap is relatively cheap and held on with stainless straps. Now I’m close to flying I hope the pipes won’t be coming on and off again for a while. This stuff is good for 1200C or 2192F. As the pipes get in the 1300F range I should a lot more heat out the back and less remaining under the cowls. I imagine my EGT numbers might be up a bit and the next runway test data will tell the story. Its looking like a good mod to assist with my cooling improvements.

Solving Ground Cooling 12 – Completed

Date:  03-14-2025
Number of Hours:  20
Manual Reference:  no ref

With the upper and lower cowl flaps now installed, the large avionics job remained.

After some planning I laid out conduit for wiring so that there would only be one plug for the top and one for the bottom cowl. The the carefully applied paint was taken back to the carbon and I hot glued the channel in place.

After it was fixed I went ahead with micro to transition the edges and properly glue the ‘pipe’ in place. Then a layer of carbon fibre over the top.

The top cowl just needed the one bridging piece for the wiring.

It then got the royal treatment from my wiring expert, definitely not me!

Somehow he put a huge amount of circuitry into the little box. there are eight relays in there! Not only driving the up/down signals but also hooking up to the four flap microswitches and one on the throttle to give auto retract if I forget them at take-off. There is also taking the signal from the flap position indicator and hooking that into the Garmin engine box. A huge amount of work. I just had to secure the box in the hellhole with clickbonds and do a few other ‘homework’ tasks.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CoolingFlaps-14_3_25.mp4

Here they are in action. The wiring worked first try which was impressive.

They do look good.

WEIGHT
A total gain of 2.32kg (5.1lbs) incl. all reinforcement and hardware
Before the mods: Lower Cowl 4.14kg (9lbs 2oz)   Upper 3.37kg (7lbs 7ozs)
After: Lower Cowl 5.38kg (11lbs 8oz)   Upper 4.45kg (9lbs 8ozs)

The upper and lower cowl will need a repaint. Partly from blistering when I lost coolant during testing and these big cutouts for the flaps will need some transitioning work and edge rectification to make them pretty.

With a number of other small jobs done, I am ready for slow and fast taxi testing on the runway.

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 11 – Upper Flaps

Date:  03-07-2025
Number of Hours:  110
Manual Reference:  no ref

Time for the upper flaps. I’ve been working 70 hours a week on this for some time and I didn’t expect things were going to get easier. Its just a matter of showing up and keep pushing. If you are thinking of cooling flaps for your Long-EZ, you have been warned.

This is where the top right flap mechanism has to go. Weaved in-between that stuff on the left side. There just wasn’t room on the right side of the opening.

As usual I start with ‘Masonite’ shapes and scrap metal.

That smaller shinny black pipe is in the way of everything. I managed to move it .5″ with different fastener positions. I could just remove it, but then the engine wouldn’t run.

I kept playing with shapes and putting the cowl on and off the plane dozens of times, it feels like hundreds.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/upperflaptest.mp4

One of the challenges is getting the geometry right so the flap opens a certain amount. Then its lots of testing.

All seemed ok so I could go ahead with the  hard point of .25″ marine ply.

The hardpoints get a ply of carbon to lock then in place although the fasteners really do that job.

Given it all seemed to work I made the main pieces out of my 2024-T3 aluminium and tested again.

The opening I want is 190-200mm which is what is happening with the lower flaps. This is not critical and +/-5% will probably not be noticeable.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/upperflapright.mp4

Everything seems to work.

Then for some reason, gremlins or evil fairies,  it doesn’t quite fit anymore and I’m ‘just’ touching in a couple of places.

So despite making a ‘finished piece’ it was wrong and I got to make another one, after some more prototyping, which is the finished piece on the right.

I got it all working, happy days. So on to the left side upper flap. It has to be easier? Hahaha …of course not.

The obvious spot for this left side was to put the mechanism on the inside to match what I’d done on the right side upper flap. There seemed to be more room too. This was going to be easy.

I made my usual bunch of prototypes and endless off and on to ensure it was going to fit. I probably spent 20 plus hours and got the push arms to fit, but I just could not make the actuator fit in the end. It was just too near the engine mount. This was a fail.

OK, I’m going to have to make it fit on the left side for this left flap. As you can see it just needs to fit around the engine and a few pipes here and there. On the plus side, there is heaps of room for the actuator.

It was getting weird but one prototype gets made, then acts as a template for the next which has ‘modifications’.

More on and off testing.

Getting closer.

This is nearly it.

I did make a nice metal one before this as I had it nailed. Wrong, nearly nailed doesn’t count so here’s the next one after two more Masonite versions.

This is quite pretty, like some strange weapon from movie.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/7_3_25Upperflap-done.mp4

This works. There is a bit of a catch in the door opening and closing to do with the cowl curvature that I will address.

The four flaps now done with a working mechanism. Wooohoo!

These are the prototype pieces that I made.

I don’t use CAD design and CnC cutters or plasma. I use MAD. Masonite Aided Design with a cordless jigsaw, drill, hand files and sandpaper.

I think this is more efficient as I can knock out a part pretty quickly. A final piece takes me around 2 hours and a few minutes for a prototype. It would be seconds with a plasma cutter…and days getting it set up just right and driving to someone’s place to do the job.  Then waiting for it to be done, then finding out its nearly correct and needing another one made. My own gear would be huge time and expense. I need it now!

Next up is to design some sort of flap alignment system as these guys are likely to move around when closing in high winds and they might jam open or at least be glitchy. I’m not having that!

They also need the electronics, which is being worked on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 10 – Lower Flaps

Date:  03-02-2025
Number of Hours:  137
Manual Reference:  no ref

Here we go with building a mechanism for opening and closing the flaps. I started with the lower ones.

Criteria:

  1. Getting the actuator as far as possible from the hot exhausts.
  2. The second big one is trying to fit a mechanism that works around all the pipes and guff I already have under the cowls.
  3. Finally I need something that pulls in the best possible direction, upward, for keeping the flaps tight and closed in flight.

Before we get going. Here’s the actuator I’m using. Its rated at 16lbs of force. There are stronger at 38lbs but I think if I needed that it might break the cowl!

Firgelli FA-MU-16-12-2 Linear Actuator

Here’s the first idea. I need the actuator down near the hinge (away from the exhaust) and a scissor action like my original prototype with ice cream sticks.

This angle will help pull the flap closed.

I soon found I needed more angles to pull on a flap arm. I did make a bunch of fittings which took an afternoon and that’s already one of many masonite arms. The fittings in the end were never used in final versions.

Now I’m getting a bit closer working on going around pipes with a more refined piece. Oh and did I mention I was NOT happy with the way the two doors fitted on the cowls. Yes so I cut off the flanges and redid that whole job. You can throw in more than 20 hours extra work that I made for myself. How to do the flanges is in earlier posts so I’ll spare you more pictures of the same process.

I am not seeking perfection, the enemy of good enough, I do need things to fit functionally. There is no compromise in that. The little arms with the rod ends do look nice though?

I did add those two largish switch to the left side console, just above the seat warmer switches. These will be for upper and lower flaps as pairs.

I continued with my prototyping work getting the hinge mechanisms to work around all the obstacles. This is just a fraction of what I ended up with as the prototypes progressed.

Here things are starting to work. I’m up to putting in hard points, 1/4″ marine ply, Fasteners are going through the cowls and are all going to be rock solid. I do not want any of this stuff coming loose and going through my prop. The actuators have 16lbs of force which is a lot of ‘pull’ in one direction.

Many, many days got us to this point. One of the hardest parts is the geometry of the set up. Change one thing and something else is wrong. I spent several days just playing with this on the one flap. Getting it to fit under the cowls needs to be correct within 2-3 mm or it is going to hit something.

Getting to here, just for this one flap was 14 solid days work.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/18_2_25-flap3mp4.mp4

Here you can see it works pretty well off the plane.

That fancy looking arm with the lightening holes is not CNC or plasma cutter made, its old school. A jig saw, hand files, a drill and sandpaper. It takes me around two hours to make one from scratch. It would take that long to do a CAD drawing and then days to get it made. It is so much easier to just knock one out. If it’s wrong, off I go and make another one. For a one off part, I think this is still the best method.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/18_2_25-flap1forweb.mp4

This is on the plane and missing the pipes and so on.

You can see on the lower middle an extra fitting? This is a bracket for a micro switch which will signal if the flap is open or closed. It took a bit of head scratching as usual and it is adjustable of course.

Time for the second lower flap.

You’d think once I’d made one the rest would be easy? Wrong, each location has a fresh challenge and all the geometry is different. This photo is several days in of trying to nut it out. I experimented with multiple locations for the middle hinge point, it was a beast yet to be tamed.

I tried a lot of different ideas to make this thing fit and open up to the same 200mm as the other flap. Within +/- 5% is the goal. They will look weird otherwise.

I’m not there yet but this gives an idea of how much these guys will open.

Part of the process is trial and error to get all the balls in the air at once. Opening size, missing the pipes, fitting under the cowl. Yes this means cowls on and off around 50 times for this one.

Eventually, as in many days later, this has come out looking a bit like the other side. In the small details it is totally another animal.

This side also needed the flap micro switch for open/closed indications which is almost finished in the picture.

I’ve added a RayAllen flap indicator. This has a 1.2″ travel so I have ‘geared’ it for the 2″ actuator travel. We will hook it up to the G3X flap annunciator and I’ll be able to partly open the lower flaps in flight and see a position in the cockpit. While the concept and design of these cowl flaps is for ground cooling, I have made them really strong just in case a little extra cooling in a slow climb would be handy on a very hot day.

I thought this lower cowl flap process was going to be the most time consuming and the most difficult compared to the top cowls. Of course I was wrong and another nightmare awaited me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 9 – Hinges

Date:  02-09-2025
Number of Hours:  52
Manual Reference:  no ref

With the flap doors and lips made all I need to do is fasten the hinges. Easy right?   ……..not so easy after all.

I used this hinge on the oil door and it worked out really well so I went ahead and bought four of them.

In my confidence, I even put in the hardpoint of plywood and covered it in carbon on both lower cowl openings. I used the same place as the oil door.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Flap-door.mp4

There is a problem. Maybe its because the lip is thicker. I spent a couple of days trying everything I could think of. No luck. What did work, doesn’t on these flaps. I was starting to think I needed to make giant ‘Jay hinges’ as people use on hatches.

I made a few prototype of these ‘Jay’ hinges… but they had exactly the same lip problem. It is really the compound curve right at the opening that is the issue.

An engineer friend visited the hangar, looked at the problem and asked for a piece of paper and an old school drawing compass. He made a few squiggles and told me the hinge rotation point needs to be further back, in fact 20mmm from the edge.

I played around with hot glue and the top cowl and that seems like it might work.

So I have ground off my nice hard points and built another one further back. I love doing things twice. I’m just doing one side at a time now. The other big thing is that I’ve cut the lip all the way back to fit the hinge rotation, kind of an insert that you see above.

I’ve tested this and it ‘nearly’ works, like the earlier Jay hinge ‘nearly’ works. I’ve had to trim the edge of the flap right down so its ‘edge’ and I might need to make a slightly larger than ideal gap around the rotation edge of the flaps, but it will work with this amended and rather unsightly gap at the pivot point.

This is a bit of a relief, although not ideal, it is a solution I can live with.

I need the hard point both for getting the hinge line equal on the door and the cowl as well as for strength. I also need to get the hinge pin going in level so that it doesn’t bend which would cause it to wear very quickly. A little micro does the trick here.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Flapdoor2.mp4

Here you can see the gap at the hinging point and how the door ‘just’ misses the edge. I may have to open it up a touch more. There is a bit of sideways wiggle in the hinge that makes quite a difference to the opening gap required. I’m going to get the mechanisms built and see if that stabilises the opening. If not I have a couple of ideas to try.

We do have a door that opens and closes. OK for now. I did start on the mechanism next and that produced a few new problems of course. I’ll finish off the hinge story here and we can have a look at the mechanism issues in my next post.

Meanwhile I am just not happy with how these doors fit against the lip. Everything was pretty good until I put the cowls back on the plane. Once in place, they flexed into a slightly new position. On the plus side the top cowl door lip are usable. The bottom ones need to be done again and set up on the plane when I put the wet carbon fibre down.

I’ve just the lip off although I did leave the thickness as its strengthening that part of the cowl at the opening and I can live with this.

This time I’m setting up the door as flush as I can make it with all the fasteners done up. Of course I had to remove the exhaust pipes so I have access from the top.

All done and peel plied. These layups take so long that I’m getting the carbon wetted out on plastic and then putting it in the fridge. I then take out enough for two piles of the seven and the rest go back into the cold. It is the height of summer here and pretty hot in the hangar. Not as much fun as it might be.

I put the top cowl back on to let it cure. The result is not perfect, but given I’ll have to refinish the cowls again anyway its within ‘range’ of having an acceptable result.

Of course I had to do the whole process on the other side as well up to this cleaned up state.

Again the fit is better than before and all the ‘error’ cost me was several more long days. Every delay in getting to first flight hurts. The clock keeps ticking. On the plus side I am very much in ‘builder mode’ and going in to work every day until it is done.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/9_2_25hinge7.mp4

So the hinge works. Now I have all the hardpoints to do of the other three and mounting of the doors as I fit the hinges. There needs a bit of trimming work to get the gaps right.

Hardpoints on the top as well. The earlier cowl stiffener probably saved me from having to do these twice. It was still a LOT of work fitting the doors with the lips and it is far from perfect as the cowls flexed a little after being cut. It will work out OK with time and care during the refinish.

The hardpoints got a ply of carbon to seal them in. They will get some levelling down the track too. I do need to keep moving however. I want to see how the mechanisms work before I do a final fit as a few more little things might be needed.

I decided to get the four hinges working before the next step so I at least had a feeling of completion of something.

If you stand back far enough these look ok. Just don’t get too close. OK, lets move on and make these doors open and close with electric actuators while somehow fitting under the cowls between all the engine hoses and bits. Wish me luck.

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 8 – Flap Building

Date:  02-02-2025
Number of Hours:  62
Manual Reference:  no ref

With the testing complete and the efficacy of the ground cooling cowl flaps proven by the data, one thing remains. I have to build these things into my ‘real cowls’. The last major step before first flight.

Here we go. The Top cowl weights 3.37kg (7lbs 7ozs) and the bottom 4.14kg (9lbs 2ozs) These flaps and the mechanism are going to weigh a ton. I need them strong. It will be added to my Weight and Balance sheet.

Using the dummy cowl cut-outs as a template, I marked out the flap outline on both upper and lower.

I had to be a little more careful than the dummy set. On the top ones I tried to make them pretty even. The bottom set are offset slightly due to the exhaust pipe layout, but only a little.

Cutting them out was easy with a Dremel. Of course these pieces are only the thickness of the cowl and you can cause flexing by just waving them around. They will need some force to ensure they are tight and I do not want flaps broken off and in my prop, that would not be good. This means they need to be rock solid.

If I build them well enough to open in flight they might be useful in a prolonged climb at low speed if there is a cooling issue in that configuration. I don’t need them for speed brakes, if I did the approach is just wrong and I’d need to go around.

All the paint had to come off the underside for the next step.

I need to make ‘hardpoints’ where I can attach the actuator arms to push and pull on the flaps for movement. It must take considerable force. I’ve modelled this on the landing brake construction to some degree as we know that works in flight and OK to use at 90 knots or so.

I’m using the marine ply that was left over from the firewall. It was quite thick so I’ve routed pieces down to .25″ The shape is to allow for the hinge attachment as well as the actuator bracket.

Given the cowl doors are a compound curve, I’ve just placed them on the carbon and filled the gaps with dry micro.

Of course I have to prep the cowls themselves for flap ‘lips’ by removing paint. It took some time as I didn’t want to remove any carbon either.

Yes the top cowls had to be done too.

I made simple carboard surrounds and did my thing with pour foam. This is going to give the flaps a lot of strength without too much additional weight.

Carefully trimmed there is not a lot of foam left. The edges are ready for the carbon to carbon join.

I thought it a good idea to mark out where the hardpoints are. Once it is covered in carbon, I’ll only be guessing otherwise which could be an issue for placing the hardware.

This is 3 plies of carbon later.

It does need a bit of a trim.

These are really solid now, although heavy. Better strong than departing the airframe unexpectedly.

I had to do the same full treatment for the upper cowl flaps from cut outs to this stage, timber, pour foam and carbon. It is quite a lengthy process. Here’s how I do the carbon. Marked and laid up between thick plastic.

Probably vacuum bagging would be one more step for improvement, although the plastic technique gives a really good ‘glass to resin’ ratio. It’s just not something I’ve pursued on this build. I have a ‘fear’ that I’ll ruin the part if I don’t get it just right and this hand layup thing is working out.

Cleaned up and ready for the next step, making the cowl lips for them to ‘sit in’.

Each flap had to be covered in grey duct tape which I still use as a mould release.

The flap is placed as best I could back where it was cut-out from. Hot glue and sticks are my weapon of choice for this sort of thing.

I couldn’t get absolutely perfect alignment. The cowl has flexed somewhat with such a huge holes in it.  Its not too bad and I will have to refinish these cowls at some point after a bit of testing. They were painted so beautifully too.

I will have the opportunity to do a little filling to make them right. It will be another big job. Painting only works if the preparation is ‘perfect’ and that gives you only a good job.

Now for the lips. I have gone for 7 plies. While only 1.5″ wide, it is still a lot of carbon and preparation.

Both sides were done on the same day with peel ply at the end. I nearly ran out of time as the epoxy was starting to go off.

It was a bit of a job cleaning off all the hot glue. The tape worked really well and the doors came out easily enough.

After a trim, I have nice fitting flap doors. Not perfect, but they are close and will, after the repaint, be very nice.

Here’s how it looks on the reverse side. What colour should they be when they stick up in the air?

Here’s the other lower flap.

Of course there was the same lengthy process with the top cowl flaps.

Here’s the completed lip on one of the top flaps. There will be enough pictures later as I work on the actuators.

With the light just right the cowls still look good. Just don’t get too close until the repaint, OK?

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 7 – Test Data

Date:  01-18-2025
Number of Hours:  0
Manual Reference:  no ref

This is the data collected from 11 engine runs in different cooling configurations. Cowls on and off, 4 cooling fans behind the radiators, installed and removed with two bottom cowl flap openings and finally with all four openings and the flaps temporarily installed fully opened.

NOTE: My engine is liquid cooled. My interest is in the coolant temperature, similar to the numbers that you might have in your car. Oil temperatures are also important.  CHT’s have no relevance of course in a liquid cooled set up.

Results
With the four large flaps open and no cooling fans I can stay in the hold for 40 minutes with engine temperatures low enough to safety take off.  (Coolant 192F, Oil 205F)

I can now start the flap modification on my permanent cowls now these ‘test dummy ones’ have given me a proof of concept.

Summary Data Chart

You can see with the cowl flaps open and no fans I am below 200F after 40 minutes at idle RPM and the oil is 205F as well. Safe engine temperatures for a take off. I hope I’ll never have to wait 40 minutes in the hold but now I know the plane can handle it.

You can see with no flaps I would be good for less than 10 minutes, a bit like my old Long-EZ with the air cooled engine. This graph also shows that the addition of fans was a very minor improvement and is certainly not worth the trouble.

The Raw Data
I have a lot more data than this. My G3X record numbers every second! I took notes every 2 minutes in the cockpit. That is plenty. What follows are copies from my excel sheet and may be easier to read in this format. Feel free to get in touch if anything is unclear. Temperatures are in F° time is in minutes.

Time Test Duration Coolant F Temp Post Pre Rad Temp1 Pre Rad Temp2 OIL Temp Oil PSI Aux Pump ON Coolant PSI Engine RPM Volts Amps COMMENTS
Taxi Cooling tests Auto Temp set to 170F, Non fan radiator areas gaffer taped on rear side 3 X 5.2″ Spal Puller Fans
28/11/2024   BOTH COWLS OFF
12.51 0 48 Startup
12.56 5 162 169
12.59 8 171 177
13.02 10 174 179
13.04 12 176 179
13.09 17 177 180
13.16 24 181 185 ON 7 12.7 38
13.18 26 182 188
13.19 27 184 189
13.22 30 185 187
13.23 31 184 186 8
13.24 32 183 185
13.26 34 183
13.31 39 Shut Down
28/11/2024   BOTTOM COWL ON TOP COWL OFF
15.22 0 105 104 106 7
15.27 5 175 176 177 159 ON
15.31 9 182 185 185 177 50
15.35 13 190 193 192 196 49 9
15.38 16 195 197 198 206 47 10
15.41 19 199 201 201 211 47 10
15.44 22 203 205 205 216 47 11
15.47 24 208 210 210 219 47 12
15.50 27 209 211 210 222 47 12
15.52 29 209 212 211 223 47 12 870
15.56 33 Shut Down
2/12/2024   BOTTOM COWL OFF TOP COWL ON   OAT 24C
9.45 0 109 130 115 1
9.49 4 141 160 155
9.52 7 171 176 176 ON 6
9.56 11 177 181 181 178 7
10.00 15 185 189 189 186 48 7 870
10.04 19 192 196 196 198 47 8 870
10.07 22 196 200 200 204 47 9
10.10 25 196 199 200 208 46 9 12.5
10.13 28 198 201 202 211 46 9 40/4
10.15 30 200 203 203 212 9
10.18 33 202 206 206 215 10
10.21 36 204 208 208 217 10 12.4
10.24 39 203 207 207 219 45 10 12.2 38/4
10.25 40 Shut Down
2/12/2024   BOTTOM COWL ON TOP COWL ON   OAT 31C 3 Fans flush with areas in-between blocked off
13.54 0 94 104 111 109 0 860 14.1/13.0 30
13.57 3 143 162 154 135 1.2
13.59 5 173 177 177 153 ON 7 860
14.02 8 189 193 194 180 9 850
14.05 11 198 202 203 194 11
14.08 14 209 213 214 209 12 900
14.12 18 219 223 224 225 14 830
14.14 20 222 226 227 231 15 brief taxi @ higher rpm
14.16 22 226 230 231 236 16 820
14.19 25 227 231 231 244 16 12.7 34
14.20 26 228 232 252 245 16 17psi = 1.2BAR
14.22 28 226 230 241 241 19 Shut Down 20psi = 1.4BAR (max pressure)
24/12/2024   BOTH COWLS ON 3D Prototpe1 Rear Shrouds 4 fans two large two small  BAD DATA (Melt down)
15.56 0 77 87 77 0 NOTE Fans melted, shrouds melted BAD DATA
16.01 5 167 171 172 147 5
16.05 9 175 182 182 177 6
16.08 12 189 196 196 190 6
16.11 15 199 206 206 203 6 900 13.4 37
16.14 17 209 216 217 216 9
16.17 20 217 224 224 227 10 Rear shrouds shifted out of position
16.22 25 233 226 233 243 12
16.26 27 239 232 240 247 13
16.28 29 236 243 243 251 14
16.30 31 238 245 245 254 14 Coolant boiled
27/12/2024 BOTH COWLS ON No fans or Shrouds – BASE LINE NUMBERS  Both pumps on after 110F OAT 23
13.59 0
14.01 2 124 128 128 103 3 880 13.9 47/1
14.04 5 149 152 152 127 6 910 13.7 46/2
14.06 7 167 171 172 152 8 920 13.5 43/2
14.08 9 177 180 181 165 9 870 42/2
14.10 11 187 186 190 177 11 900 13 39/2
14.12 13 194 198 199 190 12 910 12.8 38/2
14.14 15 202 206 207 201 14 910 13 37/3
14.16 17 209 213 213 210 15 930 12.9 36/3
14.18 19 214 219 220 220 17 890
14.19 21 STOP
29/12/24 BOTH COWLS ON 4 Fans (two large 2 small) Good new shrouds OAT 28 Pump on at 104F
15.32 0 85 100 98 85 1010 39/0
15.36 4 139 143 143 122 860 46/0 aux pump on
15.38 6 155 159 160 140 910 44/1 (no change)
15.40 8 167 172 172 156 910 43/3
15.42 10 176 180 181 172 910 41/4
15.44 12 184 188 189 184 9 920 40/5
15.46 14 192 197 197 195 10 920 38/6
15.48 16 199 204 204 205 12 920 37/6
15.50 18 206 211 216 214 13 930 36/7
15.52 20 211 216 221 222 14 940 35/7
15.54 22 214 212 226 229 15 950 12.7 34/7
15.56 24 218 227 232 233 15 850 34/3
15.58 26 224 232 231 245 16 35/3
15.60 28 226 239 239 242 21 36/3
Pump on at 104F
31/12/24 TOP COWL ON BOTTOM DUMMY COWL WITH COWL FLAP HOLES 4 Fans (2 large,2 small) SLIGHTLY MELTED new shrouds OAT 27C
15.55 0 89 103 98 60 14.1 28/1
15.59 4 137 103 142 123 4 44/1
16.01 6 153 157 157 143 5 50/1
16.03 8 161 167 167 159 AUX OFF 6 43/0
16.05 10 169 175 175 169 6 850 43/0
15.07 12 176 182 182 178 7 42/0
16.09 14 180 187 187 186 8 41/1
16.11 16 186 192 192 193 8 40/1
16.13 18 189 196 196 200 9 40/1
16.15 20 193 199 199 205 10 13.3 40/1
16.17 22 194 200 201 209 10 13.4 39/1
16.19 24 197 204 203 213 10 13.3 38/1
16.21 26 200 206 206 217 11 38/1
16.23 28 202 209 209 219 11 13.1 37/1
16.25 30 205 212 212 222 12 37/1
16.27 32 208 214 214 225 13 37/1
16.30 35 211 215 215 230 13 12.8 34/2
1/1/25 TOP COWL ON BOTTOM DUMMY COWL WITH COWL FLAP HOLES NO FANS OAT 23C Pump on at 104F
14.50 0 75 74 75 71
14.53 3 124 128 127 101 2 14.1 30/1
14.57 7 147 152 151 123 4 14.1 29/1
15.59 9 163 169 168 142 5 14.1 28/1
15.01 11 177 181 181 159 6 14.1 28/1
15.03 13 189 193 193 172 8 14.1 28/1
15.05 15 200 205 204 185 9 14.1 28/1
15.07 17 208 213 212 196 11 14.1 27/0
15.09 19 213 217 217 209 12 14.1 27/0
15.10 20 221 224 224 213 14 14.0 0/0
SHUT DOWN  temps too high
17/1/25 BOTH DUMMY COWLS, TOP & BOTTOM FLAPS, 4 FANS OAT 21 Pump on at 104F
9.11 0 77 84 85 67 AUX ON
9.14 3 113 115 115 81 3 800 45
9.16 5 132 138 137 108 4 820 44
9.18 7 140 143 142 121 4 830 43/2
9.20 9 147 150 150 132 5 830 42/2
9.22 11 152 155 156 145 5 840 42/2
9.24 13 156 159 159 154 6 840 41/3
9.26 15 160 160 164 164 7 850 12.7 41/3
9.28 17 165 169 169 169 7 850 12.7 40/3
9.30 19 168 173 172 175 7 860 12.7 40/3
9.32 21 170 174 174 180 8 860 12.6 40/3
9.34 23 174 178 178 184 8 860 12.6 40/3
9.36 25 181 185 185 189 9 860 12.6 39/3
9.38 27 184 189 187 193 9 860 12.6 39/3
9.40 29 187 191 190 197 9 860 12.6 39/3
9.42 31 187 191 191 200 9 860 12.6 39/3
9.44 33 189 193 192 202 9 860 12.5 38/4
9.46 35 189 193 193 204 10 850 12.5 38/4
9.48 37 192 195 195 206 10 850 12.5 38/4
9.50 39 191 196 195 207 10 850 12.5 38/3
9.52 41 192 196 196 209 10 860 12.5 38/3
9.55 44 189 193 193 210 9 860 12.4 37/3
18/1/25 BOTH DUMMY COWLS, TOP & BOTTOM FLAPS, NO FANS (removed) OAT 24C Pump on at 104F
10.09 0 77 78 79 66 AUX ON 0 820 13.8 34
10.12 3 119 118 118 89 2 820 13.9 38
10.14 5 128 130 130 101 2 820 13.9 38/1
10.16 7 144 146 146 120 4 860 13.9 38
10.18 9 154 156 156 124 5 860 13.8 38/1
10.20 11 162 164 164 148 6 860 13.8 38
10.22 13 168 171 171 158 7 860 13.8 38/1
10.24 15 172 175 176 167 7 820 13.8 38
10.26 17 175 177 178 174 8 820 13.7 39
10.28 19 178 180 180 179 8 820 13.7 39
10.30 21 179 182 182 183 8 830 13.7 39
10.32 23 180 183 183 187 8 840 13.7 39
10.34 25 182 185 185 190 9 840 13.7 39
10.36 27 189 191 191 193 10 830 13.7 39
10.38 29 191 193 194 197 10 850 13.7 39
10.40 31 190 192 192 199 10 830 13.7 39
10.42 33 192 195 195 201 11 840 13.7 39
10.44 35 190 193 193 202 11 830 13.7 39
10.46 37 193 196 196 204 11 840 13.7 39
10.48 39 192 195 195 205 11 840 13.7 39

 

This last graph shows that the addition of fans was a very minor improvement and is certainly not worth the trouble.
They will block air in flight and use too many amps for the alternator to keep up at low RPM.
The result with the huge cowl flaps is not far off both bottom and top cowls removed, a good result.
The cowl flaps may also be useful in flight for prolonged climbs or just after take off in hot conditions.

All this testing work has put me in a position to confidently cut up my good white cowls.  Let me know if you need a very expensive but now useless set of two ply Long-EZ cowls! Despite the carbon they are really flimsy.

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 6 – Dummy Cowl Flaps

Date:  01-16-2025
Number of Hours:  16
Manual Reference:  no ref

Having solved the basic concept of how to open and close these flaps. It was a matter of refining the process.

I made a bunch of fittings although something tells me these will not be the final ones. In a wide eyed way, I had hoped so.

I got the arms working after a while with aluminium pieces and offsets with spacer inserts. A problem is that because of the compound curves the arms done pull straight up and they need to be in a bit of an arc. My little 9V battery didn’t have the power to pull them through.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/16_1_25flap4movie.mp4

Add a 12v aircraft battery and its a monster.

I refined it a bit but this is not a final result. After some thought I ordered some incorrect parts and have just ordered some more that will work. I’ve also lined up a machinist to make insets. I’ll show all this in a later post, assuming it works, or even if it doesn’t. In short I’ll use rod ends that are adjustable to replace the piece that bolts to the cowl door in the picture.

Meanwhile I have the proof of concept so lets move on.

I marked out on my dummy top cowl the biggest doors I could make fit.

Given its a practice piece, I cut the holes out in about 5 minutes, freehand. Looking in from above, the pipes are exposed top and bottom. This is the source of the under cowl heat so if its visually open, the hot stuff will get out.

These are huge flap openings, go big or go home right? It will be some work to ensure the final cowl work is very strong with so much structure removed.

I added the same offset hinges to the other three flaps and secured them with screws.  With the one bottom flap with a test mechanism that’s one flap open and taken care of.

Using the fittings I’d made earlier I secured the others with scrap aluminium. All I need is something that stays open and strong enough to go to the runup bay for testing and back again.

This has to be the money shot. An F16 look? I am ready to test.

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 5 – Begin Cowl Flaps

Date:  01-11-2025
Number of Hours:  25
Manual Reference:  no ref

The 11 days since my last post have been busy.  The data tells me I need to vent the bottom cowl AND the top cowl. So first up I need a new top cowl to do my testing with.

I covered the top cowl in duct tape as usual, trying to get it as smooth as possible. Not that it matters except to work on my build standards. The resultant dummy cowl will be stored in my roof space when all the testing is done. I don’t think I could throw it away… yet.

This time I used up all my PVA release fluid. We will see if it makes the cowl easier to get off.

Despite the so called slow cure West epoxy hardener it was a real race against time to get the two plies of cloth wetted out and pushed and coaxed into place.

I spent well over five hours trying to get this cowl off the mold. In the end I had to make two cuts in the top, then it sort of popped in a couple of places. I quickly repaired the two cuts and after a trim we have a dummy top cowl to play with.

While it still needs more fitting work it is going to be fine for testing. I may have to reinforce the end as I did on the real top cowl so it doesn’t impact the spinner. We will see how it it after I get a few fasteners in place.

The cut-out for the flaps I felt was not quite in the optimum position relative to the exhaust pipes, the main source of heat. Here I’ve marked where they should go.

So I repaired or ‘put back in’ the flap doors!

After re-cutting the doors I am much happier with the position now. I moved this one back a little to leave room for the radiator fan. It was a little close.

Previously this door was further to the left, now it is well clear of the outer exhaust pipe. I will alter the closeness to the edge of the cowl when I do the real cut-outs. For now what I have is OK for testing.

You can see good visibility for the pipes now. Which suggests the hot air will get a better path and so improve the ground cooling when the plane is not moving.

Yes its not pretty but I spent a while getting the offset hinge working. It has to clear the cowl as it opens downward. Its the same type of hinge I used on the oil door. I have reverse the spring but its not strong enough to close the door on its own.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/11_Jan_25-flaphinge-1.mp4

Despite the hot glue and ice cream sticks, it works quite well.

I’ve bought this mini 2″ push length linear actuator. Yes I know they don’t like the heat. A cable is out of the question, no room. So somehow I need to make this work and then shield it from the heat.

I worked non stop for several days on this problem. I got the actuator to work ‘a bit’ with partly opening the flap door but it was pretty awful. I don’t have room to make this actuator upright and it would need a lot of mounting if I could. Even then it would get knocked over sooner or later when I pulled the cowls.

I tried every configuration that I could think of. I went to several engineering shops expecting a solution. I just wanted a solenoid type until that would move an arm 180 degrees. I thought I could make that work. Devices were either way too heavy, thousands of dollars each or both.

I went down the remote control cars and planes route, the big ones. They have quality servos. I spoke to several experts. Wrong voltage and they need a controller, it was just getting too complex when all I wanted was a thing with two wires that I could reverse… like the actuator! …but I couldn’t seem to make that actuator work with the space issues and they just didn’t seem to support the door very well.

I found a nice cowl flap mechanism for RV planes. It was around $800 and out of stock and wouldn’t fit anyway. I did like the idea…so I started to mock up something quite different to that but ‘inspired’ by this stock item.

Does this give a bit of an idea?

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/11_Jan_25-flapactatorManual-test.mp4

Here’s the basic movement. This is a long way from useable but I was onto something. I had to put the bottom cowl back on and work out clearances of course and then where to mount it.

It tucks in here. I did have to move the exhaust pipe clamp but a good days work will make new supports if I need to. I might have to move a hose as well. We will see.

It will fit on this opposite side but I’m right near the exhaust pipes. I think I can build a shroud for them and it might survive will lots of shielding.

I’m getting a good opening. It took a few hours to work out the gearing and several ice cream sticks.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/11_Jan_25-flapSuccess.mp4

Here is the proof of concept. It works. I have a cowl flap mechanism. Now to make the parts a little more carefully!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Ground Cooling 4 – Melt Down!

Date:  12-29-2024
Number of Hours:  3
Manual Reference:  no ref

I used a lot of gaffer tape and spare heat shield material to secure the fans and shrouds for the next test.

You can see the fans really tightly in place. Its just a quick test and gaffer tape works on everything. I think they have some on the ISS (International Space Station).

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/24_12_24-Fantest.mp4

Here’s a bit of a walkaround before I headed off to the runup bay for testing.

It turns out that gaffer doesn’t work that well when things get a bit hot. Goodbye expensive fan. 🙁

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/24_12_24-BoilingCoolant.mp4

In fact I should have pulled the pin earlier.

After I shut down the engine and coolant pressure continued to rise. At 18psi it will blow the cap, or rather the bypass valve in the radiator cap with operate to send coolant from the expansion tank into the overflow bottle. I saw a bigger number than 18psi in the data.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/24_12_24-BoilingCoolant-1.mp4

If its still too hot, that overflow bottle will fill up and as a last resort it has a little hole in the cap.

My expensive 3D shrouds are not what they used to be. See item #6

A few lessons learnt.
1. If the test is showing high temperatures, just abort early.
2. Minimise the under cowl testing temperatures, I might be stressing wiring and other components.
3. Reduce the time in the idle, I REALLY don’t want to glaze the cylinders.
4. I need to reduce all this taxi time, so only necessary tests and finger crossed about the glazing.
5. I need to do better than gaffer for securing heavy fans onto radiators in high heat conditions.
6. 3D printed parts with cheap plastic are NOT heat resistant.

Ahh but I won’t be put off easily. Here we have another set of shrouds again nicely printed. The data from the last test was not useful because of the shroud failure. I want to know do these fans and heat shrouds work??

This time I got excited with foil tape, lots of heat shielding, cable ties and even lockwire.

https://alongwayroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/29_12_24-tryagain2.mp4

Here’s a bit of a look around. Off I went to the runup bay again full of hope and good cheer.

The fans did sort of stay in place but the shrouds were again heat ‘effected’. I could use them again but its not a 100% seal. At least I got some data.

Yes my chart skills have improved. You can see Both Cowls on with melted shrouds and Both Cowls no fans is pretty much the same temperature. I want to be around 200F for take off so I have a bit of margin when the aircraft goes from idle rpm to full power. Its going to get hot, fast. I will test this in the runup bay and/or on the runway before first flight. I don’t want a boil over after two minutes!

The numbers we want to compare at ‘Both on no fans no shrouds” (orange) with “Both Cowls Good fans/Shrouds” (light bluish) The fans and shrouds give me only about 10F improvement and maybe 5 minutes before we get to the 200F at the 15 minute mark.

This tells me the whole fan shroud thing is doing very little really and given I want twice that time before takeoff and still be around 200F, I am nowhere near my design goal.

CONCLUSION: I need cowl flaps on the bottom cowl and maybe on the top too. I do want to confirm after getting the bottom cowl with cutouts for flaps tested with and then without the fans. With hot air escaping I would then find out if the whole fan/shroud thing is worth the trouble. I suspect not, but data is king.

CONCLUSION UPDATE: But wait, its 1/1/25 and I did the test with the cowl cut outs and NO fans. I was completely surprised. The fans, now that there is a path for the hot air to escape do a huge amount of work unlike before the opening. At just under 20 minutes with fans 189F and without fans 221F and rising fast! That’s 32F difference. The oil was 200 vs 213 without fans again at only 20 minutes.

I did remove the fans for this last test and they are looking quite melted and sad. I am going to have to do the next set in Carbon fiber as a hand layup, the plastic is a big fail. I’ll get more of these printed in something I can use for a mold so at least it will give me a shape to work with.

It looks like I am going to need those fans and shrouds after all which is disappointing. The plan is to now go ahead with a dummy top cowl and do similar cut outs. I’ll have to make doors for them of course and get that all working in the mock up. I will then test again, with and without fans and shrouds and make a final decision. At this stage it looks like the fans are back in the mix again unfortunately. The doors and going to be very tricky to get working so that’s my January 2025 already planned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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