Welcome to the club, not the Europa Club, the club of hard knocks.
I had expected that the factory would have fixed these problems by now. My
kit started as a classic but by the time I had the empennage completed the
XS was introduced and I upgraded. Unfortunately there were XS fuselages
available but not XS wings so I built the fuselage before the wings. Big
mistake, but thats another story.
My wings, flaps, and ailerons were not even close to fitting together
without getting a bit heavy handed, and the factorys aileron pushrod holes
in the ribs were not in a line. Ill spare you all the gruesome details but
among other things it was necessary to put S bends in two of the flap hinges
so that they would actually meet the plates in the wing, and it was
necessary to increase the size of some of the holes in the ribs to allow
free movement of the aileron pushrod. And of course my aileron bell crank
assemblies didnt fit to the factorys studs without some persuasion. I
have yet to increase the length of the ailerons and flaps so that they will
match the rear closeouts in the wing, but this will be necessary in order to
fill the rather large spanwise gaps (flap to aileron, and aileron to the
outboard end of the wing closeout). Oh yes, there is also the matter of no
mention in the manual about installing a factory made triangular fiberglass
insert at the outboard end of each wing to complete the rear closeout. I
had wondered why there was a diamond shaped piece of fiberglass in my
inventory until I saw a posting that mentioned this in passing, and I
realized that the diamond was to be cut into a pair of triangles.
Fortunately the triangular closeout can be installed after the wing panel
closes the top of the wing.
Fit the flap to the wing so its trailing edge is aligned with the aileron
trailing edge, and be sure the trailing edge fits to the template because
having the correct chord length is probably important for good flying
qualities. Make whatever adjustments you must to make everything fit
properly, and especially be sure to make the flying surfaces on both wings
the same or the thing will want to fly in circles. Although this may not
give you specific answers to your questions, I hope it will help to know
that your work is to better tolerances than the factorys.
Ive said this before (and probably will again) but it is absolutely
necessary to read well ahead in the manual so that you have a clear
understanding of the steps that follow what you are working on now. There
are numerous inconsistencies in the manual that are obviously a result of
making editorial changes without checking to see how a change in one chapter
might affect work in a following chapter (or even in a prior chapter).
Perhaps the errors I have encountered are found only in the XS Tri-Gear
manual because that manual is essentially several revisions of the classic
monowheel manual, but I doubt it.
What else can you expect? Well, Im surprised that you havent mentioned
the mass balance weights on the leading edge of the ailerons. If you have
not yet bonded the lead in place, wait to do so until you verify the correct
location. Using the dimensions in the manual (at least in the 30 May 1998
version of the Tri-Gear manual) will require making some adjustments to
the mass balance boxes in the wings.
Best regards,
Rob Housman
A070
From: owner-europa@post.aviators.net
Subject: XS wing construction
I've had a bad day.
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to assemble the wing components
accurately. The bellcrank end of the aileron push rod is far too close to
the spar- I have had to grind off a layer of glass previously added to the
spar in this area. Would I be better off fitting a plate behind the
bellcrank fitting to increase the rod clearance? The factory fitted root end
W18 has only 3/4" showing below the wing instead of the reccommended 1" and
is also fitted away from the inside of the flap closeout. With the flap T/E
lined up with the aileron T/E and the template fitted to the root end I have
about 1/2" clearance outbd flap L/E to closeout and 1/4" at the root end. I
then have an overlap hinge plate to W18 of about 1/2" at the mid and root
hinge points, this despite my correct positioning of the flap hinge arms to
the flap and the other W18's(I've checked) Should I accept this missmatch
and put it down to poor factory tolerences or attempt to close up the flap
L/E to closeout gap to the book figure of 3-5mm and then grind off the T/E
of the aileron to line up with the flap?
Maybe I am expecting too much from this kit. It seems that I have to
guess ahead all the time, trying to anticipate errors and possible fixes -
mostly I'm caught out.
Do I hear grunts and sighs of aggreement out there? Have all you chaps
been through this many times? What else can I expect to meet problemwise
with the wing assembly?
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