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Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2010 11

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3 51mm holesaw arrives from Amazon. Try the rear fuselage bulkhead for fit and it will need quite a bit of trimming.
4 Put some handy blocks under aft dolly castors, and fuselage sides are now mostly within 0.2 degrees of level. Check again location of datum for tailplane torque tube squareness checks. Originally it was located with reference to the headrests but I notice now that is not central to the fuselage sides. Mark a new datum and re-measure to each side of the piano wire as before. Port 2369mm, starboard 2367mm. So front face of bulkhead will now be 36mm aft of wire OD at port and 38mm aft at starboard. Make fresh marks on inside of fuselage. Re-check fuselage level fore & aft then drop a vertical from rear of wire to fuselage floor, using a straight piece of aluminium extrusion and the digital level. Offer up bulkhead and file of where it's too tight. Repeat until reasonable fit achieved. Using clamps, set forward and aft ends of fin joggle to the correct widths and check bulkhead fit is still OK (would have been smarter to set the widths before doing the bulkhead fettling). Cut a piece of wood to spread the fuselage moulding at the forward end of the tailplane root moulding. Cut a shorter piece and chamfer ends slightly to fit as a tie near the aft end. Mix small amount of polyester filler and use to attach the wood between the fuselage sides near aft end of fin joggle. Adjust position & clamping to get 78mm width at rear end of fin joggle. 1357.5
11 Fettle bulkhead a bit more. Mark for BID tapes on inside of fuselage with thick felt-tip pen. Scuff-sand using flap-wheel on angle-grinder. All that activity broke the polyester filler bond on the rear tie so re-clamp to correct width again. Secure bulkhead with 5-min epoxy and check again its position & squareness. 1358.7
20 Check factory newsletter #41 (March 2004) for advice about the 30A slo-blow fuses. Look at various suppliers for 30A thermal breakers and order a couple of Potter & Brumfield/Tyco ones from Parts For Aircraft, together with toggle switches for mags and starter plus a safety cover for the latter. I was never keen on the keyswitch (for which a hole was provided on the Mod 63 gyro panel) and advice on the recent Rotax engine maintenance course convinces me I was right first time. Will have to blank off that part of the panel and make my own sub-panel, with guards for the mag switches. Consider wire labelling and wonder if existing stock of Avery L7656 (46mm x 11.1mm, 84-up on A4) would do. Concerned about whether they would be tough enough, have a look online at what's available in the way of robust labels. Find some polyester ones 30.5mm x 11.5m, 144 per A4 sheet at www.sticky-bobs.co.uk, but at £85.12 per box of 100 sheets I'm a bit shy! However Viking Direct have Avery L6008 silver heavy-duty labels 25.4mm x 10mm, 189 per A4 sheet at £21.49 for 20 sheets which is a bit less eye-watering! Have a fiddle with Labels & Addresses application to set up some sample serials and see how they look when printed out at that size. Look online for vacuum switches for the engine hours meter and find Rock Auto has a few end-of-line items in stock that look promising. Order the 4 they have left (to make the postage less painful).
22 Order L6008 labels and a few other items from Viking Direct.
23 Circuit breakers and switches arrive from Parts For Aircraft. Labels arrive from Viking Direct.
26 Vacuum switches arrive from Rock Auto. Alas, they are not what I thought - there is no electrical connexion, just 2 vacuum ports and what looks like a temperature sensor. Not worth trying to return them, will have to see if I can dispose of them on ebay. Look again at what's available from RS & Farnell. The Herga one looks best but RS only stock the 6721-0021 which is not sensitive enough. Phone Herga and they say they can supply direct, so order a 6722-30 which they will build to order. While looking at Maplin website notice they have a better-looking battery isolator switch so order one of those.
30 Battery isolator switch arrives from Maplin. Looks more satisfactory than the others I've got.

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