Building a Cozy MK IV

Cockpit ventilation.

I started this chapter by installing the cabin vent outlet. It looks like this.

I then made a male mold of the air duct that will run between the NACA scoop on the side of the fuselage and the duct exit on the instrument panel. I covered these molds with box tape for a release and then covered with BID fiberglass. I then cut the NACA scoop into the sides of the fuselage. Below is what they look like before trimming.

The next step isn't in the plans. You will need to connect the two points between the vent intake and the back side of the instrument panel. To do this I used a piece of foam that was big enough to cover both openings at the same time.

With the foam in place I marked the inside of the hole at the instrument panel and the hole in the intake.

I then sanded the block down staying outside my marks on both ends of the block and smoothing the edges in preparation for fiber glassing. I raped the mold with box tape and applied 2 layers of BID fiberglass. After cure I removed the foam and cut excess fiberglass of and sanded the part. I then installed the part and taped it in place with two ply of BID fiberglass. Below is a picture of the duct in place being taped in place.

Canopy/ Turtle Deck

Next you make another jig to build a turtle deck. The jig had to be modified at one end to match the larger size of canopy that I am using. I am using a stock canopy but it will be opened up to be 2 inches wider and 1 3/4" taller. Sound familiar Wane Hicks, thank you. With this being the case the turtle deck templates needed to be altered to match. The end of the turtle deck that attaches to the firewall is stock so I can use a stock engine cowling. The fixture builds quickly and I used my crown stapler to assemble the fixture which helped with speed. After it was all stapled together I glued some of the joints together with bondo per plans just because I like the smell, just kidding on the smell. Below is what the jig looks like as I started to lay the foam strips in it.

Below is what the foam for the turtle deck looks like with the fiberglass.

The next step is to build the bulkhead that goes on the front of the turtle deck. This bulkhead moves with the canopy when the canopy is opened and closed. When the canopy is closed, this bulkhead will be positioned close behind the front seat head rests. This bulkhead needs to be modified to fit the modified sized turtle deck. This wasn’t difficult but it did take a little time. After I had the template modified I tested the template into the turtle deck. It fits nicely. Below is the test fit.

The next step is to trace the bulkhead onto PVC foam and fiber glass it with two layers of BID on each side. Below is the bulkhead fiber glassed but not cut out yet, the epoxy is still curing. When I squeegee the layups, I placed the part in between two pieces of 4 mil plastic and squeegee it hard to get as much epoxy out as possible.

Next I marked where the turtle deck gets cut. About half of the turtle deck will raises and lower with the canopy and the other half is stationary. To do this the plans have you set a couple of boards to get the proper location for the cut. Once you have the location, you drill 1/8" holes about 1" apart to mark this location so it can be seen from the outside of the canopy.

Next you fiberglass tape the bulkhead into the turtle back. After that cures you remove the turtle back from the jig. Below is what it looks like at this point.

Then you fiberglass the outside of the turtle deck the same as what you on the inside, which is two layers of UNI fiberglass with the fibers on the second layer crossing the fibers on the second layer.

Next I installed the hinges that the canopy and part of the turtle deck will hinge on. The only trick to this is to get them straight and on the same plane, ok not that kind of plane level with each other.

Below is what this process looks like.

Next I get to see if the turtle deck fits the fuselage. It looks like a nice fit. It did need a little trimming to get it to fit nicely against the firewall but not much.

My canopy is on a barge on its way up here now so I don't have the windows yet either (they come with the canopy) but I did lay out where the turtle deck will get cut for the windows but from the advice of other builders I did not cut them in yet.

My cone-head head rests are still not fiberglassed in place yet. They just sitting on the shoulder supports. God they are ugly so I am having a hard time committing to using them.

My canopy arrived from Todd's Canopies in Florida. It looks like everything made it in great shape. Below is what it looks like before any triming and most is still in its protective wrap.

The next step is to cut the window openings. To do this I used the method in the FAQ section. While marking the windows cut outs something didn't look right. After double checking my measurements and finding they were correct I checked the dimensions given in the FAQ procedure. There is an error in their measurements because if you use their measurements the window along the drip edge will be out of parallel by about a quarter inch. After correcting this I drilled two inch holes with a hole saw in the corners of the window opens to be. I then cut the openings and sanded them straight.

For the next step I used a 1 3/4" cut off wheel in my Dremel tool and removed the foam that is between the inside and outside layers of fiberglass around the window openings. By doing this you will then have a slot to slide the window into.

I then marked the finish size of the windows with a white board marker. Next I cut them using an angle grinder with a cut off wheel. This turned out to work great. This was an easy process that I was a little concerned about before doing it.

The next step is the final commitment on the windows. The windows get floxed in place and some bracing was needed to keep a nice fit against the outside of the turtle back. They look really nice.

You next flip the turtle back onto the fuselage again and align everything one last time and flox the back half of the turtle back in place. After cure you trim the flanges off flush with the fuselage and tape the joints with BID.

This next step was making me a little nervous. I trimmed the canopy per plans with the notches for the instrument panel and the ¼ inch above the longerons. I did all of these cuts with my angle grinder. I then had to cut the back side of the canopy that attaches to the turtle back. All went well but I took my time to make sure not to make a wrong cut.

Next I taped it off using electrical tape to make clean edges for the edge of the fiberglass. This took two new rolls of tape. After everything was taped I scuffed up the floxing areas of the canopy.

I installed all the duct tape for clearance and spacers and release where the plans requested. I bondoed the 1" x 6"'s in the locations to temporarily support the foam. 

I floxed the canopy to the turtle back and used a ratchet strap to hold the canopy to the turtle back. I stuck a couple of scrap pieces of foam under the strap to draw in the sides. This worked great.

Next I cut the foam blocks to fit around the canopy and put them in place. After that I trial fit them in place, I epoxy the blocks in place with micro.

The next night I roughed in the foam blocks with my saws all and began sanding the blocks to their finish shape.

After sanding the foam blocks to the desired shapes, I fiberglassed the foam with two layers of BID and two layers of UNI. This is what it looks like at this point before I trimmed the excess fiberglass off.

The next step is to cut the canopy loose from the fuselage, this is easy but a little nerve racking. I then made a wooden frame so you can sit the canopy upside down to work on the underside without damaging the canopy.

Next I flipped the canopy over and sat it on the bench. The frame worked fine.

With the canopy out of the way, I could inspect the drip edge on the now front of the turtle back. I wasn't very pleased at the way it looked so I cut the bad section out of it and replaced it.