Cleve,
The Graham singleton Stern post is an upgrade on the original
classic Europa. You had to build up the stern post. It took lots of
time and effort. Graham made up a stern post that replaced the original
and you just redux'ed it in place. I bought one as I have one of the
last classics. (6 months later the XS came out wouldn't you know). The
XS has a separate stern post like Grahams. However He also has a
phenolic fire wall to replace the hand made Stainless Steel one you build
up. If you are building a Mono the its the way to go. If a Tri gear,
you need the space for other things and you don't need the fire wall.
However, the way the factory runs the rudder cables to the rudder is not
the best way. It is ok but the original way of driving the rudder with a
push pull tube is the best way. The orig. factory way puts all the
rudder stresses on the bottom of the rudder. Note the lay ups ect. to
make it work in the manual. Grahams way utilizes a bell crank mounted
to the bulkhead in the back. The rudder cables go to that bell crank and
terminate. Then a push pull tube goes from the bell crank to the rudder
to control it. The cables that go to the tail wheel also leave the bell
crank and go to the tail wheel. This keeps the stresses of pushing the
rudder pedals off the bottom of the rudder. The bell crank method is
stronger and I believe the failure mode (pulling the cables off the
bottom of the rudder) has been eliminated. If you go this way, put in a
6" opening in the rear area to allow for maint. and instillation of the
push pull rod and cables to the tail wheel. Graham also has wing
fairings which keep you from having to fabricate them. They are fairly
large which is the aerodynamic way of doing it. A small fairing for some
reason has more drag. I've utilized all of these items in my Mono Wheel
and I'm very glad I did. It already takes quite a bit of time to build
and anything that speed it up in my book is ok.
I am about to finish up the little things that needed to be done
and begin taxi testing. Maybe get first flight before the 4th. Getting
close.
Jim Nelson
N15JN
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