Quickie / Rutan plans with polyurethane foam

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A lot of Rutan planes and derivatives call for polyurethane (in the
fuselage). My understanding is that starting around 1990, builders
have used urethane instead of polyurethane (in Long EZs, etc.). Has
this scenario taken place with Quickie Q1 s... ? Since most Q1s were
built before 1995, would it be safe to say almost all Q1s have
polyurethane...?

[Ed Sullivan]

On 27 Mar 2006 12:15:36 -0800, "
> wrote:

>A lot of Rutan planes and derivatives call for polyurethane (in the
>fuselage). My understanding is that starting around 1990, builders
>have used urethane instead of polyurethane (in Long EZs, etc.). Has
>this scenario taken place with Quickie Q1 s... ? Since most Q1s were
>built before 1995, would it be safe to say almost all Q1s have
>polyurethane...?
>
To my knowledge all Quckie Q1s were wire cut from Polystyrene foam
billets. Urethane foam cannot be wire cut since it emits a poisonous
gas.

[Nemo]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>A lot of Rutan planes and derivatives call for polyurethane (in the
> fuselage). My understanding is that starting around 1990, builders
> have used urethane instead of polyurethane (in Long EZs, etc.). Has
> this scenario taken place with Quickie Q1 s... ? Since most Q1s were
> built before 1995, would it be safe to say almost all Q1s have
> polyurethane...?
>

The canard, wing, vertical tail, and all controls are built using
polystyrene (Styrofoam). The fuselage is urethane foam. The turtle deck does
use some PVC foam there but that is the extent of it. The only changes have
been where the materials come from not how much/where it is being used in
construction.

The Styrofoam is hotwired and the urethanfoam is sanded (if you can call it
that) unless you follow a few surfboard pages and hotwire it. The later
explains why surfers are dieing out. The pvc is bent with a heat gun.

The best and up to date source of information is going to be QBA
http://www.quickiebuilders.org/ and the Q-list on yahoogroups.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Q-LIST/

Nemo

[Richard Riley]

Later planes - Long EZ's, etc - were largely built with PVC fuselages,
and Styrofoam flying surfaces. Urethane foam and polyurethane foam are
the same thing.