General – bzvelocity.com

Selling the Kit

I have come to the realization that even if I worked on the Velocity build full time, I would still be approaching 70 years old when it is finally usable as an aircraft for traveling. With so many things going on – aging parents, home upkeep, keeping pace with entropy, it is not possible for me to spend the quality time that the Velocity build requires and deserves. So I have decided to sell the kit, hopefully to someone who can appreciate the work that I have done, and who can finish the airplane and fly it and enjoy it the way it was meant to.

So the Velocity kit is for sale. Here are some pictures that I took of the fuselage and wings in their present state, along with photos of all the parts that go with them. I have heard that the factory has a many-month wait time for delivery of new kits. Purchasing this kit will let you start building NOW, with no wait, and also give you a head start on some of the assembly, all for a lower price than the factory list price!

Making Airplane Noises

A beautiful spring day affords an opportunity to roll the airplane out of the garage, clean up, reorganize, put tools away where they belong. So why not sit in the plane and pretend that she is flying? It is a nice way to re-engage after the cold weather.

Even my co-pilot is excited!

Visit from Ron Stacy

Ron flew his beautiful Turbo XL into Georgetown Municipal (KGTU) for a very pleasant visit. We drove to Walburg for lunch at Dale’s Essenhaus, then back to my garage where Ron looked over my work. Ron provided a steady stream of excellent build tips. He has some implemented some interesting things on his aircraft, including cooling ducting on the bottom cowling and a special-purpose NACA duct for oil cooler and intercooler air.

Typical BS

There are always things that slow you down, make you scratch your head, or make you shake your head in wonder.

As part of my kit, the factory included some parts that were not labeled, I could not find in the manual, and had no clue what they were. I sent some pictures to Scott S. and he identified them as aileron bell cranks for the V-Twin….. It turns out the V-Twin and the newer XL-RG kits are not using the push-pull cables from the whale tail to the ailerons. They are replaced with solid push rods and bell cranks, and these parts are part of that new system (completely undocumented). Scott quickly got the correct parts to me, as well as a new Atkinson-type aileron trim actuator/spring mechanism to replace the previous cheesy string-belt trim system.

I ordered several 6 foot lengths of 5052-O aluminum tubing from Aircraft Spruce to use for brake lines. The package got mistakenly routed to San Antonio instead of Austin, and it was a few days late arriving at the house. From previous experience, I know that Aircraft Spruce is pretty good about shipping long lengths of tubing taped or affixed to a piece of wood to keep them straight. Never mind that – when my package arrived, all of the tubing was folded in half and stuffed back into half the box, which was now only 3 feet long. The wood stiffener was missing. I can only guess that somehow the box was too long for the guys in San Antonio, so they just shortened it….. I sent the great folks at Aircraft Spruce a photo and they happily sent me another order of tubing.

Velocity kit arrives in Georgetown

The truck from the factory arrived today with the fuselage, wings, canard, cowling, and many, many boxes of parts and materials! With the center section wing spar attached, the fuselage is too wide for a standard trailer, so the trailer that was used to haul the airplane has a nifty hydraulic device that holds the fuselage at an angle, so that its not too wide, and not too tall. To unload the fuselage, the hydraulic carriage tilts down, and the airplane rolls off the trailer on ramps.

It was very hot today, so we had to take several breaks while unloading everything. We finally got it all unloaded from the truck, and carried it all into the garage. Here, the airplane will live and be worked on until it is time to take it to the airport. If I’m very diligent, maybe a couple of years, otherwise longer. The hard part now is going to be organization. I need to find a place for all the parts, and clear out enough maneuvering space in the garage to allow efficient work.

Velocity N20VZ Build Log

Welcome to my build log for my Velocity XL/RG-5. As I complete the steps in construction of the aircraft, I will try to post entries, with pictures, to this log. The postings will appear in reverse chronological order, but also be cross-referenced by aircraft subsystem. Feel free to comment or contact me.

Factory Head Start

Taking delivery of the kit!

On 2 May 2016 I showed up at the factory in Sebastian, FL to take delivery of my Velocity XL-RG5 and begin 2 weeks of working on the kit with a factory technician. I had the great pleasure of working with Chad, who has been building Velocity aircraft for over 25 years. The factory staff worked 9 hour days Monday-Thursday and a half day on Friday. During my stay, I worked extra hours after closing and on the weekends. I learned a ton about fiberglass technique and made more progress on my kit than I had anticipated!