Sun. 1
I got back from Dayton at about 3.00 p.m. and felt a little bit guilty about not working on the Europa, so I thought I would have a go at bringing the wing down into my basement workshop. Well my son and I grunted for a while and it made it by about 20mm. I knew it was going to be a close thing, but I am happy to have it in my workshop rather than my garage.
Monday 2
Tuesday 3
I did a little on the other aileron hinge, doing the cut out section. I used my Dremmel and Permagrit cutting wheel for the job. I don't use the big Permagrit wheel much, but it makes tasks like this so quick.
Wednesday 4
Thursday 5
Friday 6
Saturday 7
I spent a fair bit of Saturday writing up last month's construction diary. It's the sort of thing that if you leave too long it becomes quite a chore to catch up on.
Sunday 8
I pop riveted on the aileron hinges and spent quite some time reading up on the manual for the wings. I must admit to not being very much more knowledgeable after reading chapter 8.
Monday 9
I de burred and scuffed the W 18 plates and gave them a treatment of Alodine. I got the wing hardware out and Jenny did an inventory of the bits and put them in a storage container for me.
Tuesday 10
I didn't do any building tonight, but I did get an hour of instrument training done. I am really not sure why I should pay someone to put a hood on me, make me fly around in circles, and all I get to see is six basic instruments!
Wednesday 11
Thursday 12
I did an hour of instrument training tonight and I am still not sure why I am paying to fly along with a bag over my head, look at a bunch of dials and concentrate really hard on not throwing up.
Friday 13
I cut the slots for the three W18 plates and drilled some locating holes in them.
Saturday 14
I read the manual this morning over a cup of coffee with the intention of getting a days work in on the wing. I know it was first thing in the morning, however despite re reading chapter 8, it was not obvious to me on what I should be doing next. I decided to get out some paper and make a list up. Part way through this exercise it occurred to me that a different author must have written the section on the XS wings. Although it was not obvious there were four tasks to be completed. Reinforcing the ribs, reinforcing the inner part of the aileron mounting box, reinforcing the outer part of the aileron mounting box, and installation of the W18 plates.
The rib reinforcing called for a lot of flox to be applied so I went out and purchased some disposable icing bags. The next task was to cut the entire bid required for the four steps. Since the wing was on my cutting bench I decided to do this on a sheet of cardboard on the floor. This was a mistake, I spent the next three hours crawling around on the floor! The manual didn't have a cutting list for the aileron work, or the ribs, so I have included one for anybody who is about to do their XS wings.
Cut up as follows:
13 full lengths 2 inches wide for all of the rib work
For the root end of the inside of the aileron box - 2 pieces 18" x 5" **
For the tip end of the inside of the aileron box - 2 pieces 9" x 5"
For the tip end of the outside of the aileron box - 2 pieces 34" x 5"
For the root end of the outside of the aileron box - 2 pieces 29" x 5"
** I put an extra length of cloth on my aileron in case I wanted to add a third hinge next to the mass balance weight. If you haven't done this then you only need a piece 10" long. These dimensions have not been validated by an actual lay up.
After dinner I spent a bit of time scuffing up the surfaces ready to do the lay ups.
Sunday 15
After sanding for a long time and not getting much done I decided to go to the hardware store and buy one of those little sanders with a triangular head. Between the Dremmel and the detail sander I was able to get to most areas. This still took all morning to get done. The next task was to do the rib reinforcing. The cake decorating icing bags were very effective for applying the flox. To apply the cloth I wet it out on cling wrap first and put it straight onto the job. This task took about 3 hours. Curing temperature was 22 @ 58% relative humidity.
Monday 16
Tuesday 17
Wednesday 18
Thursday 19
I didn't do any building tonight but I did manage to get another hour of instrument training done. I didn't have to concentrate so hard on not throwing up tonight, but I don't think that's what I am supposed to be learning.
Friday 20
Saturday 21
Today was a bit of an "Aw shit" day. I stated out ready to do a layup on the inside of the aileron box. I measured up where I wanted to put the reinforcing and marked it out. I then cross-checked this with my aileron hinges only to find that the two did not agree. Upon close inspection of my aileron I found that I had put the outer hinge in the wrong place. I sat and looked at it for a while and decided that the hinge really had to come off. I didn't really like the idea of taking it off, but with some careful work with a sharp drill the rivets came out and the hinge came off. It is some what reassuring to know when it comes time to replace them it is not a great problem.
I put the aileron to one side and did the two reinforcements for the aileron attach points and called it a day.
Sunday 22
Monday 23
I did a lay up on the outside of the aileron box tonight. That took a bit over an hour so I spent some time on fixing my aileron. The first step was to fill the holes where the hinge used to be. I mixed up some resin and flox and filled each hole with a mixture of resin, flox and fiberglass strands.
Tuesday 24
I took another instrument flying lesson tonight. I manage to fly around a VOR with a bag on my head. It seems a shame to have to spend so much time in becoming skilled in the use of this old technology. My hand held GPS does the job infinitely better with much greater situational awareness.
Wednesday 25
I floxed in another of the W18 plates on the wing which took about an hour. I did the next step of my hinge repair where I put a layer of bid on the underside of the hinge area. This will be to support the cloth and floxed to fill the hinge cut out.
Thursday 28
Friday 27
Saturday 28
Jenny and I decided to go away for the weekend as a last minute decision. We flew up to Mackinac Island, which is a small Island where all of the Great Lakes meet near the Canadian border. We flew along the edge of the lake instead of over the water and the flight took about 4 hours. I made one fuel stop which proved to be a little difficult because the airport was in the middle of replacing their fuel tanks. We then had to fly out of our way to an airport in the NE direction. I was greeted with a 90 degree cross wind of 16 gusting to 20 knots. Its a funny feeling when you put your foot on the rudder and you find its flat to the floor!!
Mackinac Island is a bit of a tourist trap, but very interesting. They do not allow cars on the island, everything is horse drawn. It was first settled by the French 275 years ago, and latter occupied by the British. Many historic buildings are preserved on the island, including the oldest church building in the state of Michigan built by Protestant missionaries in 1829. I think I actually spent more money renting horses that aircraft over the two days. We went horse back riding one morning and did some hiking. The taxi service is horse drawn carts and there were also bikes for hire there. They seem to do a number of weddings as it's a picturesque place and the horse drawn vehicles add a romantic touch.
Sunday 29
We flew back from Mackinac Island in the afternoon. I had a head wind for most of the trip back and my ground speed was often only 65 knots. At times like this I dream of cruising in our Europa at 130 knots. Some one told me that people that like to fly fast must not like flying very much, but I guess he never flew cross country in a C150 either.
Monday 30
I worked on my aileron again. I did the final step in the repair by laying in 4 layers of cloth and flox in where the hinge cut out was. I then finished it of with a single layer over the top.