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Europa |
| N55XS | |
| April, 2004 |
Europa A-055
April 1st
Finished torque tube bushing fillets and painted. Began work on starboard wing. Fashioned and installed starboard aileron bellcrank access cover. Installed starboard aileron bellcrank and push pull rod...
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Time: 3 hours
Total: 47 hoursApril 2nd
Drilled starboard spar and fitted quick connect bellcrank. Attached push/pull tube to both bellcranks, to check for clearance. Even after trimming the rib pass through holes, tube was too close to the spar. Fashioned and installed, full length, .063" aluminum shims for aileron bellcrank. Tube clearance now checks out, fine...
Cut out pass through holes, in fuselage. Installed bushings into stabilator trim tab pushrod, after trimming rod to proper length. Fitted stabilators and made first adjustments to the trim tab actuator system. Everything checks out...
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Time: 5 hours
Total: 52 hoursApril 3rd
Made fine adjustments to tailplane assembly. The electronic level really makes precise adjustments, easy. Did rough assembly of pitch rod/mass balance containment bracket, then laid 2 layers of BID on front and back of bulkhead. Closed out starboard wingtip. Laid out starboard aileron hinges and clecoed in place. Then took a break for some of the finest boiled crawfish, I've seen in quite a few seasons. Look at the size of those monsters! After eating, came back to flox and rivet the starboard aileron hinges in place. Started fashioning the aileron mass balance assemblies.
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Time: 6 hours
Total: 58 hoursApril 4th
Attached mass balance roots to starboard aileron with quick epoxy. Cut mass balance clearance holes in starboard wing. Fitted starboard aileron to wing and drilled hinge attachment holes. Riveted blind nuts behind hinges. Fashioned starboard aileron short pushrod and drilled access hole through trailing edge closeout. Cut back aileron flange to clear pushrod and temporarily installed aileron assembly to check function. Everything worked. Attached lead weights to mass balance roots and laid up three layers of cloth, around the assembly. Finished coating the pitch rod/mass balance containment bracket with epoxy.
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Time: 6 hours
Total: 64 hoursApril 5th
Did final BID layup on starboard aileron. Installed hinges on port aileron. More filling and sanding on tailplane.
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 4 hours
Total: 68 hoursApril 6th
Carved and rough sanded layup on mass balance for starboard aileron. Fitted aileron to wing to check deflection. Checked OK...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 1 hour
Total: 69 hoursApril 7th
More filling and sanding on control surfaces. Attached mass balance assemblies to port aileron.
Time: 1 hour
Total: 70 hoursApril 8th
I get the feeling that I'm going to be repeating these words, many times, before this bird is in the air. More filling and sanding of the control surfaces. Also laid up the first cloth and epoxy on the port aileron mass balance.
Time: 2 hours
Total: 72 hoursApril 9th
Again, more filling and sanding of control surfaces. Did final layup of port aileron mass balance assembly. No sense in including pictures of the same part, over and over. I'll include them when there is a significant change in their appearance... :)
Time: 4 hours
Total: 76 hoursApril 10th
Sanded for 3 hours and then started filling again. Will these control surfaces ever be done? Oh, also finished trimming the mass balance on the port aileron and then, you guessed it, started filling it...
Time: 4 hours
Total: 80 hoursApril 11th
Treated and corrosion proofed aluminum aileron and pitch tubes. Drilled starboard ribs for fitting polycarbonate tubing that will house the wiring for the wingtip lighting and cut tubing to proper length. Installed in place, to be secured in place with redux at a later time. Secured trim servo wiring to rear bulkhead. Oh yeah, and more sanding and filling on the control surfaces. Stabilator tips are finished...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 5 hours
Total: 85 hoursApril 13th
Filling and sanding all day. On the bright side, the trim tabs are done!. Brought them over to my paint guy, and he gave the thumbs up for priming, to be done in the near future. Worked over the stabilators and ailerons. Making good progress on those surfaces. Ordered the directional, landing and anti collision lights.
Time: 6 hours
Total: 91 hoursApril 14th
Filling without sanding. I'm noticing that the sanding works better after letting the epoxy cure for a couple of days. I actually see the light at the end of the tunnel on the ailerons and stabilator. These are the parts that must be painted, before balancing. Once done, I can concentrate more on the cockpit module and closing the wings and fuselage.
Time: 1 hour
Total: 92 hoursApril 15th
Filling and sanding. Ailerons are looking good. Put what should be the last touch-up on them. Will sand out and see. Began touching up the edges on the rudder...
Time: 2 hours
Total: 94 hoursApril 16th
Filling and sanding. Ailerons are done!. Stabilators are getting close. Trial fitted ailerons and flaps to starboard wing. Fit was good. Started work on cockpit module. Laid out and cut away excess material. Cleaned and zinc chromated aileron torque tubes.
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 6 hours
Total: 100 hoursApril 17th
Filling and sanding, but not a lot. Stabilators got last fill. Rudder is half done. Built lots of mechanical parts for the cockpit module. Waiting on epoxy to cure. Zinc chromated several parts.
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 9 hours
Total: 109 hoursApril 18th
Final sanded stabilators. They're ready for primer. Sanded and refilled starboard side of rudder. One more side to go. Attached gimbal bearing mounts to stabilator torque tube. Set rear aileron torque tube brackets with Araldite and pinned in place until cured. Installed port and starboard stick. Starboard stick is set with a pip pin so that it can be easily removed, if necessary. When brackets were cured, I installed the aileron torque tube assemblies with cross bar, as well as the pitch rods and pitch torque tube. All were set on a flox bed, to be tightened, once cured.
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 8 hours
Total: 117 hoursApril 19th
Fabricated and installed seat stiffeners/storage area walls. Fabricated and installed headrest storage compartment floors. Tightened all hardware for flight controls in cockpit module and checked for proper operation. Everything checked out, fine...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 4 hours
Total: 121 hoursApril 20th
Cleaned up cockpit module work from yesterday and ground all surfaces that are to be attached to the lower fuselage. Dropped the module in the fuse and marked out areas to be scuff sanded. Fabricated one end of the tailplane push rod and fitted it to the cross link, in the cockpit module. Trimmed baggage tray and set port wing on table. Closed out port wingtip and marked aileron mass balance cutouts...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 4 hours
Total: 125 hoursApril 21st
Sanded all areas on port wing that were to be reinforced with BID, then applied BID and epoxy in all areas. Closed out wing root ribs to spar and applied peal ply. Sanded rudder and applied, what I hope is the final coat of filler. That leaves only the flaps. Spoke with John, at Europa, today. The new manual is on the way...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 5 hours
Total: 130 hoursApril 22nd
Cleaned up yesterday's layups. Fabricated and fitted access panel to aileron bellcrank. Fitted pitot tube to underside of port wing. Drilled ribs and fitted with grommets, then ran pitot tube flexible tubing for pressure and static vents. Laid BID to the tubing to anchor it into the wing. Installed aileron bellcrank and pushrod and cleared it in all rib pass throughs. Installed quick connect bellcrank in port wing spar...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 6 hours
Total: 136 hoursApril 23rd
Made adjustments to tailplane mass balance arm and secured in place. Measured, cut and made up aft end of pitch pushrod and adjusted for proper throw. Mounted stabilators to check for proper up and down movement. Movement is within specification. Marked trim tabs for rudder clearance, to be cut and finished, later. Finished trimming trim tab pushrod exit holes and check for proper clearance. Temporarily fitted top of fuselage and checked for proper placement of the pitch pushrod containment bulkhead. Removed fuselage top and laid up mounting brackets for the containment bulkhead. While fuselage top was down, I trimmed all excess fiberglass, around door and windscreen areas. Dropped on door moldings and plastic windscreens to check for fit...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 6 hours
Total: 142 hoursApril 24th
Installed spar tip guides. Lined aileron quick connects with phenolic pad material. Installed spar pin bushings in cockpit module. Fabricated quick connect bracket spacers. Scuff sanded inside lower fuselage for receipt of cockpit module. Built up fuel tank fittings...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 7 hours
Total: 149 hoursApril 25th
Fitted wings into cockpit module to facilitate installation of C/P module quick connect bellcrank brackets. Using all thread guide pin, I set up and installed the brackets in Araldite/Flox. Drilled and bolted the tailplane mass balance bulkhead to the brackets in the bottom of the fuselage. Opened all fitting connections in the fuel tank and cleaned out all debris. Built access panels in lower fuselage to access fuel fitting connections...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 5 hours
Total: 154 hoursApril 26th
Fitted external bellcranks to spars and checked clearances. Fabricated and installed bushing reinforcements in cockpit module. Finished internal bellcrank brackets and hooked up pushrods and adjusted. Started fabricating the two tank support braces...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 5 hours
Total: 159 hoursApril 27th
Installed fuel tank into cockpit module and laid up braces all around. Installed fuel selector valve. Drilled tunnel for rudder control cable pulley and inside seatbelt. Made up final BID on tank spacers. Installed fuel fittings in tank.
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 4 hours
Total: 163 hoursApril 28th
No building, today. Spent the whole day flying and earned my certificate. Now I can fly this thing, once it's built... :)
April 29th
Finished fabricating the two tank spacers and installed them into the cockpit module. Installed tank gauge tubing to tank fitting. Built up a 3mm ply tank support, under each side of the tank, where is passes close to the quick connect bellcrank brackets, to head off any possibility of the tank rubbing against the brackets. The pads actually form a saddle for the tank to sit in. Cut and laid up reinforcement for the fuel valve access hole...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 3 hours
Total: 166 hoursApril 30th
Finished the fuel selector access panel. Drilled cockpit module to accommodate fuel lines. Installed fuel lines and filters. Scuff sanded (again) the cockpit module and fuselage, where they are to be bonded. Module is now ready for bonding...
Click thumbnail for larger viewTime: 4 hours
Total: 170 hours
