I picked up my wings t'other day from t'factory (Oh God, they've got me at
it now !) and I was idly admiring them in my workshop when my eyes settled
on the spar pin bushes. "I hope they line up with those I bonded into the
cockpit module" I thought.
Just to check, I laid my dummy spar onto each of the real spars and found
that they didn't ! The first of my beautifully machined, key-headed
half-inch bolts slipped in a treat but the second went "clonk" when it
passed through the dummy and reached the real one.
The dummy spar drillings appeared to be about 2mm further apart than the
real ones. When I had recovered sufficiently and had put away the smelling
salts , I tried the dummy in the cockpit module and, low and behold, it
didn't fit there either !!
Yesterday, after cleaning-up the end of the port main spar to fit into the
socket, I slotted it into the CM and, much to my relief, the bolts slid in
nicely.
The point of my story ? My dummy spar has resided in my (unheated) workshop
since June when I installed the bushes. We have had a cold and damp "summer"
here in North Wales and IMHO this has caused the MDF to expand. Therefore,
if you have yet to bond in your bushes, keep your spar warm and dry
otherwise they too could end up 1 - 2mm too far apart !
BTW I was sorry to hear that Roger Bull is no longer on the Europa staff. If
you are reading this Roger, thanks very much for all your help and support
and I'm sure every builder and flyer joins me in wishing you well in the
future.
Regards to all. Ron Jones. 359XS
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