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Re: Europa-List: Europa colours

Subject: Re: Europa-List: Europa colours
From: Raimo Toivio <raimo.toivio@rwm.fi>
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:42:40
Gert, so beautiful is your plane!

I think we once met in Barkaby.
Anyway - your Europa has been one of my inspiring examples during the 
years.
But it is obvious - you are living in a country of great design like 
Bang&Olufsen.
But how dare you make a dark bottom, bad boy you are!
Any difficulties /delaminations?
Let me guess: not at all.

All the others:

By the way, what is the temp inside the cowlings when
taxiing long in a hot day? There, near by the critical areas.
I painted all the inside glass surfaces white and have a
heat reflecting & noise insulating firewall coating.

Moro, Raimo

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Gert Dalgaard 
  To: europa-list@matronics.com 
  Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 9:18 PM
  Subject: Re: Europa-List: Europa colours


  I only fly at night......    
  :-)
  Gert


  http://home19.inet.tele.dk/dalgaard/oygds.jpg


  Den 23/07/2007 kl. 20.02 skrev Raimo Toivio:


    Hi Rob

    As I wrote

    "I am not going to encourage anybody to paint their
    Europa=B4s undersides any colour but white. I still well

    remember Manual=B4s words: all the Europas must be white."


    and


    "I think - with other colour as white - it is better to be even more 
careful. "


    and


    "Keep your full matt black Europa in the hangar and fly only night 
time if

    you wanna be absolutely sure"


    Anyway - I called to my friend Jukka Paavolainen, who has build

    and still flies his Lancair 320 OH-XJP. He said his Lancair is

    just on ordinary glasfibre - epox system and definetely not baked

    in high temparatures. Only the cowlings - because of the engine and

    exhaust heat - has been made by more heat resistant phenolresins.


    His Lancair kit is year model 1990 and so is my earlier example 
SE-XOP,

    which is overall deepred and beautiful Swedish Lancair 320.


    I believe newer models are as you described made by adanced 
composite materials.


    You wrote


    " Park on a black surface and the solar energy absorbed by that 
surface will be re-radiated to the underside of the aircraft, and if 
that aircraft is any color but white it will absorb too much energy. "


    and I still think you are wrong. I am going to talk to one 
thermodynamist,

    who works as a doctor in Tampere Univercity. Maybe he can make this

    thing clear. I promise to come back and tell what he know. Also if I 
am wrong...


    Fly it - do not melt it...

    Raimo

      ----- Original Message -----
      From: Rob Housman
      To: europa-list@matronics.com
      Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 6:02 PM
      Subject: RE: Europa-List: Europa colours


      Sorry Raimo, but this is dangerous thinking for those of us flying 
in warmer climes.


      In my previous post I deliberately avoided getting into too much 
technical detail, and I used the word =93reflected=94 where I should 
have used the technically correct term =93emitted.=94  


      First, you seem to misunderstand heat transfer.  You are correct 
that the sun=92s energy is not reflected from a black surface.  However, 
a =93black body=94 is not only a perfect absorber but also a perfect 
emitter, which is to say it may not be reflecting solar heating but it 
surely emits it.  Park on a black surface and the solar energy absorbed 
by that surface will be re-radiated to the underside of the aircraft, 
and if that aircraft is any color but white it will absorb too much 
energy.  Any material absorbing energy will increase in temperature.  
Sure, there will be some re-radiation from the dark aircraft structure 
but that is irrelevant because the epoxy-fiberglass will already have 
softened.


      Second, the Lancair aircraft all use a different composite than 
Europa.  Here=92s how Lancair describes their composites on their web 
sitehttp://www.lancair.com/Main/legacy.html  ---


      =93Like every Lancair, the Legacy=92s major airframe is 
constructed of advanced composite materials. Cured at 270 degrees 
Fahrenheit under vacuum pressure, these NASA tested, epoxy based 
composites are among the lightest, strongest, stiffest materials known.


      The high-temperature, pre-impregnated carbon fiber and/or 
fiberglass systems combined with Nomex/honeycomb core materials are 
considered the supreme composite airframe materials of choice 
worldwide.=94


      Note that the Lancair=92s composites are cured at a much higher 
temperature than the factory and we cure the Europa structural 
components.  The =93glass transition temperature=94 is approximately the 
cure temperature so softening of the composite does not begin until 
approximately T sub g is reached.  For a detailed explanation to T sub g 
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_transition_temperature  For our 
purposes we can consider the glass transition temperature the softening 
temperature, above which the structure loses a significant portion of 
its strength.


      Anyone contemplating painting a Europa any color other than white 
(including yellow) should review the chart in the Builders Manual, 
Figure 1, Colour-Temperature Relationship, on page 36-1 of the Europa XS 
Tri-Gear Manual, Issue 1, dated 30 May 1998. 


      Best regards,


      Rob Housman

      Irvine, California

      Europa XS Tri-Gear

      S/N A070

      Airframe complete


      From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com 
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Raimo 
Toivio
      Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 1:28 AM
      To: europa-list@matronics.com
      Subject: Re: Europa-List: Europa colours


      Rob,


      I am not going to encourage anybody to paint their

      Europa=B4s undersides any colour but white. I still well

      remember Manual=B4s words: all the Europas must be white.


      I still have to point out the energy of the sun is NOT

      reflecting out of the black asphalt IMHO. That is why

      it is hot when a sunny day. It absorbs allmost all the heat

      energy and nothing is reflecting out. White surfaces are

      cool because they are reflecting out much more.


      So it could be more dangerous to keep it on the snow covered

      surface while a sunny day (or on white sand or water w Europa 
floats!).


      In Sweden there has been 10 years a wonderful full colour mid red 
Lancair 320

      and no composite problems at all. Register # is SE-XOP (!). And 
like

      we all know in South America (Columbia?) there is flying a total 
deep yellow Europa.


      I think - with other colour as white - it is better to be even 
more careful.

      Beauty is a good reason for some extra work and some sacrifice.

      That is the fact all the women know. That is all.


      "Keep your full matt black Europa in the hangar and fly only night 
time if you wanna be absolutely sure"


      Raimo  

        ----- Original Message -----

        From: Rob Housman

        To: europa-list@matronics.com

        Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 2:32 AM

        Subject: RE: Europa-List: Europa rules


        Mike '


        In re: dark paint


        Don=92t even think about it.  Where we live and fly, on warm 
days the heat reflected off the ramp will be sufficient to soften the 
epoxy-fiberglass enough to reduce the strength of the structure.  Sure 
it will be OK at altitude but you still have to climb away from the 
surface.  Folks flying closer to the Arctic Circle don=92t have to worry 
about getting the airframe too hot.


        Best regards,


        Rob Housman

        Irvine, California

        Europa XS Tri-Gear

        S/N A070

        Airframe complete


        From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com 
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of 
DuaneFamly@aol.com
        Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 3:23 PM
        To: europa-list@matronics.com
        Subject: Re: Europa-List: Europa rules


        Raimo,


        Congratulations to you and your aircraft. I think we can all 
stand a little taller and more proud when one of "our" planes tops the 
list of all in an entire country.


        Do you have any pix of you panel? Is the underside of your 
aircraft really painted dark? Black, blue, brown? Any reasoning for 
this?


        Mike Duane A207A
        Redding, California
        XS Conventional Gear
        Jabiru 3300 
        Sensenich R64Z N
        Ground Adjustable Prop


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