Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2022 03

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Navigation & Acknowledgements

day	notes	hours
1	The Airbox Aware seems to have died completely - the touchscreen is not responding. Send a message to Airbox asking if their offer to take it in exchange for a Runway HD subscription still stands. Do some research on what model of iPhone would fit the space vacated by the Airbox Aware.
2	Order a second-hand iPhone 6S 128G from CEX, a RAM holder for it, and a short USB-Lightning cable.
3	Thinking about how to support & rotate the fuselage for filling and painting, consider that I may have enough pieces of rectangular steel tubing to construct supports for the forward and aft ends of the fuselage. The parts could be welded together or possibly bolted. At the aft end, a spigot could go into the tailplane mounting tube (or a sleeve outside it). At the nose, thought first of a flange that could be bolted to the prop flange with a shaft welded to it, but much simpler would be a shaft fitted in the hollow shaft of the gearbox. Try various items for fit and find that a copper tube of 21.5mm OD fits quite nicely. Will need to obtain some round steel rod of that diameter.
4	iPhone 6S and RAM holder delivered. Fit cable ties to secure the polyurethane vent tubing (from the sight gauge and the fuel weight sensor) to the aluminium vent tube between the tank connector C and the top of the fuel filler cobra. Notice in passing that the area of the fuse legend sheet stuck to the old polycarbonate sheet with cyanoacrylate glue has bloomed and is almost illegible. In contrast the area stuck with PhotoMount looks better, but has some distortion of the legend. Perhaps the best solution would be double-sided tape inside the sandwich, around the edges.	3603.3
7	Thinking ahead about being able to easily drain the fuel tank for calibrating the fuel gauge or any other reason, wondering if fuel taps might be available with 1/8" NPT fittings to temporarily replace the drain valves. Some online research shows such things do exist, but at about £30-£40 each. Further thinking leads to the possibility of a 2-way fuel tap (as available from Parts for Aircraft) connected to the fuel drains by polyurethane tubing and 1/8" NPT fittings with 6mm barbs. That would be much cheaper.
8	Get the upper & lower cowls out of the trailer. Assemble them together on the drive. Offer up the balsa spacer ring but it seems slightly large on the flat forward face of the cowl. Remove propeller from temporary stand to allow proper measurement of the spinner diameter. The spinner shape is almost parallel-sided at its aft end and the diameter is indeed 260mm as previously measured on 9 Jan. The balsa ring is 270mm, despite my intention for it to be 265mm, about the size of the cowl forward face as measured. It seems clear now that the ring should be 260mm, and it could be faired into the cowl shape with micro filler if necessary - although ensuring perfect alignment with the spinner might be an issue. Also trimming the ring neatly from 270mm to 260mm OD seems tricky and I am resigned to making a new one, but then consider that it could perhaps be trimmed on the bandsaw with a narrow fine-tooth blade. Return prop to the stand, dismantle the cowl and put it away in the trailer. Decide it would be good to get the ailerons and flaps off the trailer floor and fitted to the wings. Ailerons have to go on first, because access is needed to the link-rod end. Disconnect the port wing dolly locating braces. Lift the spar out of the clamp and slide the wing partly out of the dolly for access to the outboard aileron hinge screw-holes. To get the bolt into the link-rod ball end I need to open the wing supports quite a bit and jam them apart with a length of wood. With aileron at an angle to clear balance horn slots, fit it to link rod with a EURO01 washer under the ball end and then drop it into the wing closeout. Use the piece of hooked piano wire to pull the aileron hinges into alignment with the holes and fit AN525-10R8 screws, greasing the threads to minimise wear. Fit another EURO01 washer outside the link-rod ball end and secure with MS21042-4 stiffnut. Running out of time now, so return other stuff to its places in the trailer and close up. Notice in passing that there is a long piece of 25mm square steel tube stored in the trailer, and a shorter piece of 50mm x 25mm. Take that piece in to the garage for consideration in the planning of the fuselage support spit.	3606.5
10	Short USB-Lightning cable for iPhone 6S delivered.
11	Add circles of 41mm, 205mm and 260mm diameter to balsa ring drawing and print out on card as an aid to marking the ring for trimming, and for positioning it on the cowl. Trim to 260mm diameter and cut out central hole 41mm diameter.
12	Get out the door locks and bring them in to the office for checking against the LAA Mod SM10297 drawings. Dig out the 1/8" NPT barb adaptors and some polyurethane tubing from the fuel systems box. There are 2 off 18230-1 1/8" NPT to 1/8" barb adaptors and a good length of 1/8" ID PU tubing that will easily reach between the fuel drains. Store them together for use in draining the tank. Mark about 5mm in from the edge of the balsa ring at multiple locations and use the marks to centre the printed card circle on the ring. Trace around the card with fine felt-tip pen. Fit a Starrett 1/8" x 14TPI blade to the bandsaw and cut around the marked line on the balsa ring, keeping the kerf outside the line. Smooth off the bandsaw ripple with a fine Perma-Grit block. Check the run of the 1/8" PU tubing (from the fuel weight sensor vent) to the fitting on top of the fuel filler cobra. Trim the tubing to final length and slip an Eliza Tinsley 3mm hose clip onto it. Lightly lubricate the brass barb with a smear of Vaseline. Warm the end of the tubing to soften it by dipping it in freshly-boiled water and slide it onto the barb. Position the clip and secure it with nippers. Check run of the sight gauge tubing to the filler-top fitting and trim to final length. Look for a hose clip but can't find anything in stock that's really suitable. The tube is about 9.5mm OD, but will expand slightly when fitted to the barb. There are some CLIP000 Jubilee-style ones that came with the kit but they seem just a bit large (although called out as 9.5mm-12mm), and not very smooth inside. I'll use them if I can't find anything better. While rooting around in the fuel systems box for any more hose clips, come across the fuel pressure measuring kit and of course it has 2 fuel taps in it that I got from LAS Aerospace. They have 6mm barbs rather than the 1/8" I was thinking about above. Have another look through the NPT adaptors. There are plenty with 8mm barbs (HFSB 8-2N & FPA903/A) but only one (HFSB6-2N, FPA903/B) with 6mm. However, there is also an AN840-4D which would do nicely. Store those together with some suitable 6mm ID PU tubing. Note that I have in stock plenty of 3mm x 12mm Spirol pins for the door lock mod - the huge amount ordered on 2015-09-15. Order some constant-pressure hose clips in several sizes around 9.5mm from Advanced Fluid Solutions.	3608.5
13	Phone conversation with Bob Hitchcock about the Michel Auvray downlock spring mod, soon to be properly issued as LAA Mod SM10755.
17	Hose clips delivered from Applied Fluid Solutions. Try the hose clips on the sight gauge tubing and the nominal 10mm fits best. Store the others (9mm & 11mm) in box 26. Slide a 10mm clip onto the end of the sight gauge tubing. Soften the end of the tube in boiling water. Push tube onto fitting on top of fuel filler cobra while supporting rear of fitting. Once tube fully home on nipple, expand clip and position to secure tube on nipple. Check fit of protective cover over top of cobra. Relieve slightly to clear the vent tubing. With masking tape, temporarily position one of the right-angle composite brackets near the lower forward corner and check that it is correctly aligned with the cover. Using the long-handled mirror to get a straight-on view while holding the cover in place, mark the outline of the bracket on the cover with a fine felt-tip pen. Remove bracket from fuselage and place on inside of cover at marked position, holding with cleco clamps. Mark the centre of the bracket face on the cover. Drill pilot hole through cover and bracket 1.5mm and open to 4.8mm for 10-32 screw. Unclamp bracket. Hold anchor nut in place on bracket in usual way with a screw fitted with a nut to prevent screw entering stiff part of anchor nut. Drill rivet holes 2.5mm. Countersink for rivets with 5.9mm drill bit hand-held. Fit and pull rivets. Assemble bracket to cover and check alignment - looks perfect. Order some KM1000-4 M4 anchor nuts from Demon Tweeks for the door lock mod - that size is out of stock at LAS Aerospace.	3609.9
18	Order some heavy-duty silver labels from Avery in a size that will suit the Factory Mod 73 tailplane placard requirement. Get confirmation by phone of the defunct Airbox Aware trade-in against a Runway HD subscription. Enter Airbox ID & password on the app and the charts etc are available. Try figure out why the port inboard seatpan blue foam is rocking slightly when pressed into position. Grind away some areas with a wheel on the Dremel and a Perma-Grit block, until it sits a bit better. Lay the granulated rubber foam blocks on top and some cushions. Clamber into port seat and undo the instrument panel securing screws (2.5mm hex key). Drop panel and remove the Airbox mount bracket from the plate behind the 2 lower-left instrument holes. Remove that plate from the panel (2.5mm hex key and 7mm AF wrench) and disconnect the associated leads. Drill out the rivets holding the angle bracket for the Airbox mount. Not sure if it would be easiest to make a new plate or to bridge the hole in this one. Find some 2.5mm aluminium plate that could be used to bridge the gap. I want to space the RAM mount for the iPhone 6S out from the panel to clear the USB plugs, so will need longer screws for it. Those supplied are 8-32 UNC and I don't have any longer ones in stock. Check if M5 could be substituted, but the M5 stiffnuts are too small for the hex recess in the RAM mount and turn freely. The mount will need to be spaced out about 15mm to clear the USB connectors, so it appears that screws about 28.5mm would be required (11mm within mount, 15mm standoff, 2.5mm panel); nearest imperial equivalent is 1.125" Can't find 8-32 UNC screws in that length so order some button-head stainless 1" & 1.25" from Westfield Fasteners.	3611.6
19	Decide it would be best (and lightest) to make a new sub-panel rather than add a patch to the original one to fill the Airbox bracket hole. Find an offcut of a 19" rack front panel that is just long enough, although the mounting holes are rather large and inconveniently placed. It is 2.1mm thick, compared to the 2.5mm of the original. Decide that the large holes will not be a problem if I fit M4 anchor nuts (KM1000-040) to bridge them. My recent order should provide just enough. Clamp the original sub-panel to the new piece of aluminium plate with cleco clamps and scribe the outline and hole positions. Unclamp, hacksaw to size and smooth edges. Note that the new piece is already a gram lighter than the original, even before making any holes. Clamp together again and drill through the mounting holes 4mm. Step drill the bush hole 16mm. Step drill the USB outlet hole to 26mm. File the USB outlet hole to the required anti-rotation oval shape. Check the length of 25mm x 50mm rectangular steel tube for size as part of the proposed spit stand. It's not really long enough for the forward upright or base piece, but might do for part of the aft end stand. Observe an issue I hadn't yet considered - the spit stand once fitted would obstruct removal of the dolly, but the dolly has to be out of the way to allow the fuselage to rotate. Need to think a bit more about the design and logistics!	3612.7
21	Anchor nuts delivered from Demon Tweeks.
24	Screws delivered from Westfield Fasteners. Heavy-duty silver labels delivered from Avery. Lay out the tailplane placard on the Swift Publisher template and print 2 copies.
25	Check fit of stainless stiffnuts in RAM mount recesses - perfect.
28	Crawl over to port seat, fold down the instrument panel. Offer up behind the panel the sub-panel for the USB socket and the RAM mount. Align the fitting holes on sub-panel and main panel. Mark the outlines of the 3.125" instrument holes onto the sub-panel. Take sub-panel out. Fit USB outlet and check position of RAM mount to keep it clear of the cables. Mark through the mount holes onto the sub-panel. Drill pilot holes at the marked spots 2mm then open to 4.2mm for the 8-32 screws. Fit the RAM mount with 1.25" screws lightly into the stiffnuts. That leaves the back of the mount about 22.5mm clear of the sub-panel. Allowing about another 5mm for full engagement of the screws, the spacers will need to be 17.5mm.	3613.1
29	The spacers for the RAM mount will need to be about 12mm OD to clear the USB outlet. Can't find any suitable round rod among the plastic stock. Order some 12mm nylon round rod online.
31	Look through the aluminium offcuts for something suitable for the door lock mod SM10297 doubler (1.5mm - 2mm thick). The 6061 aluminium sheet is too thin at around 1mm. There is another offcut of a 19" rack front panel similar to the one I used for the iPhone 6s RAM mount sub-panel, which measures about 1.6mm, so should be perfect. Look through the composite offcuts bin for pieces of prepreg that could be used for the door lock mod cover plates. There are several possible pieces but the fuselage wheel-well cutout seems to have the smoothest back surface, and the gel-coat finish could also be used as-is. The access hole for the mod is called out as 40mm to 45mm diameter. I have holesaws in stock in both those sizes, but I am concerned about the pilot drill going into the door outer skin, so it might be better to cut the hole with the MiniTool jigsaw and diamond blade.

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