Wednesday 1 ~ Sunday 19
Well I seem to have just about got to the bottom of all of those "must do" tasks associated with moving into our new house. We managed to get plenty of flying done,. I have logged 30 hours of instrument flying, and I nearly manage to find my way around with vectors from Air Traffic control. I am hoping to be able actually fly into class C airspace without being yelled at by some air traffic controller soon. Now that would be a novel experience.
Monday 20
I have been really lamenting that I haven't been able to work on my Europa. Last week I dragged the wing out of the garage, and put it into my workshop. The idea was, if it got in the way enough I would be motivated to get moving on it. Well it worked. The first little job I did was to put the nut plates on the bell crank inspection hole. I got my aileron push rod tubes and gave the inside of them a coat of paint as well.
Wednesday 22 ~ Saturday 25
We had a nice trip to Niagara Falls and back. We flew north along Lake Michigan and stayed over night at Mackinac Island. The next day we flew down to Port Huron, across Canada to Niagara Falls. We stayed a couple of days and flew a straight line back to Milwaukee, 5.8 hours flying in one day.
Sunday 26
I took the aileron push rods outside and gave them a coat of paint on the inside wall. I made up a swab of cloth and ran it up and down the inside a couple of times until I got a good coat on the walls of the tube.
I put the entire bell crank together for the final time. It seems like I must have put it together about 3 or 4 times. I could have put it together right the first time if I had read the instructions, but I guess that would have been too easy. I am an engineer at heart; I simply avoid reading instructions at all costs.
Monday 27
I got out the thin tube for the aileron push rods and gave them a coat of paint on the inside and out. I dug out the bits and pieces for the W16 plate and mounted it on the spar. The manual suggests a ¾ inch sped bit, but I found my 5/8 one worked just fine.
Tuesday 28
I brought the aileron push tubes inside and riveted the W17 thread into the ends. I don’t have a drill press any more so I had to do this by hand. To get the holes opposite, I calculated the circumference and divided this into 4. I transcribed this onto a piece of paper and used this to mark the position of each hole.
I got my bell crank bits and pieces out and gave them a fresh coat of paint. I had my friend who had built an RV 6, take them and rivet them for me. He also did the short aileron push rods for me.
Wednesday 29
Well, this happened to be the aileron that I had put the hinge in the wrong place and so I had to repair it. This time I carefully put the hinge in the right place, drilled, countersunk, glued and riveted it. I guess the good part of that whole sorry little incident is that it reassured me that the hinges will come off for replacement, and repairing epoxy & fiberglass structures is not a real big problem.
Thursday 30
I thought I was going to just do a quick little job in the workshop tonight, but I was wrong. After the flox had set I put the nut plates on the hinges. This was just a fiddly little job. It seemed to take longer that I expected; by the time it was done a couple of hours had passed.