A Savannah for Southern NSW

[bobcharl]

G'Day All,

 

Am new to the world of Internet Forums, so if this seems unusual in any respect when it is posted please forgive me.

 

I live 30km north of Wagga in southern NSW. Savannah's are a little uncommon here, I know of only two in a 250km radius of here, as opposed to SE QLD which seems to be dotted with them. Perhaps it's something to do with affluence (or lack of). If there are others near me I would love to hear of them. I will try to highlight some of the problems so other builders can be forewarned before they make the same mistake I did.

 

Anyway, I have commenced construction of a Savannah VG XL. I hope to provide a running commentary of my efforts, although not in the detail of some already on this forum, and in no way to compete with them.

 

I have tackled the rudder first because it looked the easiest part. (I am a first time builder). Went quite well.The fit-up is good, although where a rivet goes through a longeron, a rib, and a couple of skins requires some effort. I was reasonably pleased with the outcome, except for the plastic cap on the top.I may have to re-fit it. The manual was not much help in that regard. Whilst on the manual, that Italio-English takes mastering. Surely a better translation would not be too much to ask for.

 

Cheers till next time,

 

Bob Charlton

 

 

[Tomo]

Welcome mate!

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Bob

 

Good to see you posting on the forum....keep up the postings all info is great and the wealth of information from the very experienced people no matter what they have built or flown on here is fantastic

 

Mark

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi Bob,

 

Anywhere west of the Great Divide is a good place to start your long X-Country flying trips. So you're in a good spot there and I expect you must have already been to a Natfly at Temora, being so close.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Looking forward to reading your progress Bob.

 

 

[Powerin]

Welcome Bob. Looking forward to reading about your build. A Savvy is definitely on my shortlist of aircraft to build one day. Might we see your Savvy at Wagga some day in the future?

 

Peter

 

 

[Ultralights]

Gday Bob, Im based in Wollongong, and also there is a new savvy under construction in Kiama, and a new factory built S arrived recently on the South coast of NSW, so they are spreading south! Sadly i cant give you any help with building as i bought mine already built, (i didnt want to wait to fly and do what i do at work again when i get home)

 

there is also a SOC email group you can get onto, ill have to find details later though (SOC= Savannah Owners Club)

 

 

[rankamateur]

Gday Bob, Im based in Wollongong, and also there is a new savvy under construction in Kiama, and a new factory built S arrived recently on the South coast of NSW, so they are spreading south! Sadly i cant give you any help with building as i bought mine already built, (i didnt want to wait to fly and do what i do at work again when i get home)there is also a SOC email group you can get onto, ill have to find details later though (SOC= Savannah Owners Club)

Is the Kiama builder Rudiger or another?

 

 

[Ultralights]

yep. its Rudi

 

 

[rankamateur]

yep. its Rudi

He has come a long way in a couple of short years, good on him!

 

 

[bobcharl]

Have now got the fin assembled and riveted. Was keen to get it to go together without the wave in the skin that all the Savs I have looked at seem to have, but no luck. It has turned out just the same as all the others. Remarkable how rigid the structure becomes after completion. Lots of time spent painting anti-corrosive paint on the contacting surfaces. I am giving each surface two coats of the paint supplied in the kit. Had considered using etch primer, but decided ICP should know something about the job. Have been told about a handy gadget called a "Paint Buddy"to use for painting, but like lots of good products does not seem to be made any more.

 

Now to the stabilizer.

 

Bob

 

 

[rankamateur]

No better way to put the primer on, where your want it without putting a heap on where it doesn't have any effect. It would be well worth your while to import a couple of paint buddies if that is what it takes. Try http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Professional-Paint-Buddy-Roller-Home-Touch-Up-Tool-/380325375550 and also wipe the surafaces over with prepsol and let them dry before putting on the primer so it gets a good bond then you wont get the parts working on the rivets.

 

 

[bobcharl]

rankamateur,

 

Thanks for the link. I am following it up.Re the prepsol cleandown, I have been using acetone. What do you think?

 

Bob

 

 

[bobcharl]

The stabilizer is now completed and I am reasonablyhappy with the result.The outer sections when clecoed together seemed rather flexiblewhere there is no longeron underneath so I madeup what the manual would call "angulars"and riveted them onto the ribs with the external surfaceflush with the top of the ribs. Drilled the holesthrough the skins and they riveted up to be a nice firm job. I know its more weight but I can always go on a diet. Only blemish on the stab.is from the nose ribs. I re-shaped them prior to fitting to avoid this happenning, but no luck. I have been told cutting the tip off the nose rib is the way to go, but I didn't have the courage. Wish now I had tried it. This is just a fascinating project.

 

Bob

 

 

[bobcharl]

A query:

 

Have come across a 6.00-6 aviation tyre (McCreary brand) at a reasonable price. I want to know if it would be the same profile as the Condor 6.00-6.

 

I was considering Condors but these are so much better priced. Can anyone help?

 

Bob

 

 

[JG3]

A query:Have come across a 6.00-6 aviation tyre (McCreary brand) at a reasonable price. I want to know if it would be the same profile as the Condor 6.00-6.

I was considering Condors but these are so much better priced. Can anyone help?

 

Bob

I much prefer the McCreary brand, the Condors are a lot heavier..... Profiles are similar.

 

Are there more of those McCreary's available?? A friend would like to get some.

 

JG

 

 

[bobcharl]

JG

 

These McCleary tyres are available from Hawker Pacific in Sydney. Google Hawker Pacific and go to their home page and click "Special Offers".

 

I understand there are plenty in stock. Good luck.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

 

 

[bobcharl]

Have finished the elevator. I'm pleased with the way it has turned out. I like the trim tab design; hope it works as well as I think it should. I haven't put the plastic tip on the elevator or stabilizer yet. I am considering putting rivnuts on both sides to facilitate any dismantling in the future, but haven't decided yet. Would like to post the occasional photo but haven't a clue how to do that on this forum. Any advice gratefully received.

 

 

[rankamateur]

Any advice gratefully received.

Here goes nothing, typing in the reply box. pressed the upload file button next to post reply. navigated to a file, got an error because the file was larger than the file size limit. opened file with "open with" in paint to reduce file size with "image" then "resize" function, save file with "save as" under another file name. pressed upload again and navigated to reduced photo file and double clicked photo file. this time successful, never done it before but it wasn't very hard. I included the deadends in case you hit the same snags. Cheers Steve...

 

 

 

[bobcharl]

Got the flaperons completed. Well, almost. Ican't work out the best way to fit the plastic tips on the ends of the outer sections. They fit the leading edge nicely but the trailing edge doesn't want to look decent at all. I might have to set them aside and see what has been done on other Savs. I put a strengthening doubler inside the ribs where the tabs between the inner and outer sections rivet on just as a precaution even though problems in that area seem rare. I have a feeling any stress on these tabs could be caused by misalignment of the hinge points on the wing and fuselage. I will see how they line up when I get that far.

 

Now for the fuselage.

 

I note this website now has a "Builders Blog" section. I wonder if thats where I should be posting this drivel. What does everyon think?

 

Bob

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Bob

 

Just keep using this thread you started...that way all the savannah's are in the one forum. I haven't done my tips for the flaperons yet as I haven't bought all of those over from where they are stored with the wings until I have the fuselage ready to "lockup stage". Did I send you the photos I took of how Reg brost does the flaperon tips?

 

Mark

 

 

[bobcharl]

G'Day Mark,

 

Great to see you project continues to romp ahead. I love your paint job.

 

No, you haven't sent me any photos of aileron tips-I would certainly appreciate any that you have which might give me some ideas.

 

Bob

 

 

[Powerin]

Keep up with the drivel Bob . The thread has over 600 views so there's plenty of us reading it.

 

On the subject of photo resizing: I use Google Picasa to manage my photos. If you use the "Export" button you can choose to resize the photos. So I go through and select all the photos I want to post, resize them and put them in a separate folder all in one hit.

 

Microsoft also had an image resizer for WindowsXP that worked from within Explorer. You right click on a photo and you can choose to resize it straight from the menu without having to go to a separate program. If you still run XP you can still download it from Microsoft here. There is one (not from Microsoft) for Vista/7 users that works the same way...get it from here.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Bob

 

I think he cuts the rear edge to get them to fit. I hope to start my engine in the next day or two...just getting the fuel system finalised so I can make it like as if I have the tanks inline....just been crazy busy here with work...its that time of the year here people leave everything till the last minute

 

If you have a mac its really easy to resize :) its built in

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

[Powerin]

If you have a mac its really easy to resize :) its built in

Yeah...there's about 20 built in ways to do it in Linux too. Tell me, why is Windows so popular?