Some of you may recall a thread last December regarding Goldwing and their
light kit for the Europa, where several of us expressed concerns about
delivery of products we had ordered, and Goldwing's December 7th response to
the group about these concerns. Having just re-read that response merely
reminds me that when walking in a pasture one tries to avoid stepping in it.
First, I wish to reiterate that my order, placed with full payment in early
September 1999, for the complete XS kit including strobes and nav lights has
so far been only partially fulfilled (at the very end of December). In
fact, the only functionally complete components delivered to date are the
(semi-transparent) plastic fairings that cover the holes I have cut in the
wingtips. Still lacking are sockets into which to insert the strobe tubes,
both nav lights, and the electronics and cables that mount in the fuselage.
Which brings me to my second point: my project has been delayed many
months, and I must conclude that after countless messages have been ignored
by Goldwing that they will never deliver anything further, leaving me to
complete the light installation on my own. I would like to use as much of
what I have already paid for as possible, but I can not identify the
electronic components already received.
Does anyone have guidance to offer in obtaining the necessary hardware
elsewhere? Specifically in addition to how to mount the strobe tubes, I
would appreciate any information about the necessary electronics to fire the
strobes. I have the wingtip mounted aluminum boxes, but not a hint as to
what resides inside of them since they are devoid of identifying markings
(except Goldwing's crude scissor cut stick on label, probably printed on a
ink jet printer), nor do I know the function of the fuselage mounted
electronics long promised by Goldwing.
And lest any of you are still considering doing business with Goldwing, here
is what you can expect to receive when (if?) they ship something to you: to
cut your wing tips, a paper template that bears only a passing resemblance
to the XS wing tip; a few sheets of sketchy instructions faintly reproduced
on a office copier; packaging that once contained electronic components
unrelated to the lighting kit (complete with the original labels which are
at first confusing until one realizes that they describe nothing in the
kit); optically defective plastic fairings complete with folds and bubbles
to diminish and distort any light that passes through; wiring pre-assembled
with connectors at both ends making removal of one connector necessary in
order to thread the wires through wing ribs or conduit (and I've yet to
discover the type of pin extractor appropriate to the connector - anyone
have a suggestion?). What you do not get is mounting hardware, or
reflectors for the wing tip strobes, or any clue how to attach the lights or
the fairings to the wing tips. If you are an engineer (I am) or an A&P (I'm
not) the task will not be too daunting, just very time consuming, but I feel
that I was mislead into thinking that this "kit" would actually include some
means (or at least a hint of how) to actually attach the lights to the
aircraft.
I am anxiously awaiting a response from the group; maybe we'll even hear
---From Goldwing in a month or two.
Best regards,
Rob Housman
A070
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