My Savannah S model rebuild Blog

[Kyle Communications]

Finally some more progress. Finished the chute enclosure I do still have to make the cover on the top skin but will do that later. Removed it all reasonably easy enough so thats good for it to go back in when finished after everything is painted. So now it is onto the skins. I have the RHS riveted the LHS on but no riveted yet and the top curved skins ready to be riveted then I will roll her over and do the bottom curved sections then onto the front assembly. Isnt it amazing that when its all done correctly all the holes line up without any drilling :)...I am really pleased with all the skins we have made..it all fits perfectly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Finally some more progress. Finished the chute enclosure I do still have to make the cover on the top skin but will do that later. Removed it all reasonably easy enough so thats good for it to go back in when finished after everything is painted. So now it is onto the skins. I have the RHS riveted the LHS on but no riveted yet and the top curved skins ready to be riveted then I will roll her over and do the bottom curved sections then onto the front assembly. Isnt it amazing that when its all done correctly all the holes line up without any drilling :)...I am really pleased with all the skins we have made..it all fits perfectly

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Hi Mark Looking like your over the hump of preparation and on the down hill with little delays other than the build time and then paint, etc.  Enjoying the posts.  Well done.  Cheers Mike

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Mike

 

Yes been a lot of fiddling around. Still a few bits to make yet. Both Danny and myself will be making new cabin frames. Mine has not been bent but it is pretty rusted inside so wont use it. We will use it for a jig and weld up a couple of new ones. I have a few more brackets for the front section to remake..butchered ones which there are plenty of. Then get them alodined. Not sure about the front kick panels yet whether I will reuse them of make new ones. I will do that when I get to them. The chute rocket exhaust box has taken far longer than I expected...with the available time I have had lately. Soon I will be able to put the fuselage back on the mobile stand I made and I can put the wing together that I have all the parts ready...then strip the other wing and get all those parts alodined...the skins for both wings have already been made and alodined. Things should start moving reasonably quickly now. 

 

 

[eightyknots]

I wonder why the cabin frames on these relatively new planes have rusted so much?

 

Perhaps we need to run fish oil inside them?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Got a bit more done this weekend. The back end is basically finished finally so soon will get the front on. I am very happy with the way the curved skins have gone on and there is not any pillowing of any of the skins..they are nice and flat and round

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I wonder why the cabin frames on these relatively new planes have rusted so much?

 

Perhaps we need to run fish oil inside them?

 

 

Hank both mine and Danny's were both outside stored after they were wrecked..weather was accessable to them. Mine and Danny's both have had big bangs on both wings..Danny's one was flipped upside down and bent his frame badly. Mine seems ok but is rusted internally so I wouldnt trust it. We will make up a jig and tig up a new chrome molly frame..will also fit a couple of grip handles to the front vertical bars. makes it easier to get in and out of. I have heard of some builders that did put fish oil inside them or similar but it weeps and also stinks it is probably a better idea to put some of that rust converter/sealer stuff inside that sets and stops the oxygen from attacking the steel. If you seal off the surface then rust cant form

 

 

[eightyknots]

I will have a think whether or not to put something into the frames for rust protection. As you say, if it remains sealed then it may not be a problem.

 

I wonder if the grip handles could be welded on easily without weakening the frame or, what is worse, warping the frame? Perhaps it may be possible to fit plastic automotive handles to the frame instead? There many different kinds available:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[eightyknots]

Mark, are you going to fit a ballistic chute to your plane as part of the upgrade?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi hank...look at the pics on here. yes the blast box has been made for the chute and you can see the chute in some of the pics

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Actually there are a few pics at the first post on this page

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

The welding of the handled wont weaken the frame

 

 

[eightyknots]

Actually there are a few pics at the first post on this page

The pictures are good. I am surprised how much of the extended baggage area is still available to carry things.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Well its been a interesting few weeks since I last posted the progress here. Some days are diamonds and some days are sh*t

 

Got the front sections on after replacing a bent angle piece on the inside luckily we have some of the correct size angle..its the same size as used in the wing spar. also straightened the main angles that go down onto the skins at the side. I had a bit of trouble lining it all up as it had been out of alignment previously and this of course needing to remake a few brackets as they all extra holes in them in the wrong places. So basically now its all lined up and it fits except one issue that had my head screwed around for a while and it was the main control rod. Mine seemed to be extra long and I couldnt work out why. I made a complete new crossmember that ties the whole front section together as the original had quite a few bends in it. I am fitting the twin sticks so when I remade the cross member I didnt put any of the holes in it so this makes it stronger especially with the large plates used for the twin stick hinge mounts. The triangular brackets that tie it in to the fuselage sides I had to remake but they fit nicely now. So all of this is in the right place but the control rod was about 8mm too long and wanted to force the cross member forward a mile and this then puts a huge load on the alu baring arrangement that the front of the rod is keyed into...you can see the wear marks in the originals so I made a new set of them as well. The pictures should show it. I asked the question on the FB group and this appears to be a common problem of the rode not fitting. I modified the webbing in the rod so it now does not hit the rear cross member that the bell crank sits on to drive the aileron bell cranks. So now I get to putting that bell crank onto the main control rod and I cant put it on..yet it came off so I am looking at the locking bolt hole and its a half a hole out...well it took me a while and I worked it out...the numptys tried to fix the issue by turning the bell crank backwards !!!!!! this then puts the rods going up to the bell cranks on the flap mixer at the wrong angle so they bind as you hit full flap.

 

Ok so I said to Danny lets look at yours...sure enough its exactly the same..they put his on backwards as well...also its been drilled so that when the control rod it at 90 deg the bell crank is a bit off it is not 90 deg to the control rod... so Danny is good at tigging so will make up a brass plug to go into both pieces so when welded they dont distort and we will redrill the holes correctly and in the right spot. Another interesting thing os the aileron control rods...look at the picture...notice how much one is longer than the other. This is how they came off the aircraft !!!! my god they are so far out the plane must have been flying sideways to have had to do that much adjustment to make it fly straight.

 

So as I said its been a interesting and frustrating couple of weeks....also scarey that there is more than likely more of them out there like this

 

The lastest "mod" we have decided to do is use bolts and nylocks to hold the rear of the side cheeks to the rear fuelage and als the 8 SS rivets at the control cross member we are using bolts as well as they are stronger than the rivets and really almost the same weight

 

I am up the farm this weekend for some R&R and to do some spraying...had to bring up a heap of flooring for the house we are about to start building up here...so it will be good to have a break for a few days

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

Well its been a interesting few weeks since I last posted the progress here. Some days are diamonds and some days are sh*t

 

Got the front sections on after replacing a bent angle piece on the inside luckily we have some of the correct size angle..its the same size as used in the wing spar. also straightened the main angles that go down onto the skins at the side. I had a bit of trouble lining it all up as it had been out of alignment previously and this of course needing to remake a few brackets as they all extra holes in them in the wrong places. So basically now its all lined up and it fits except one issue that had my head screwed around for a while and it was the main control rod. Mine seemed to be extra long and I couldnt work out why. I made a complete new crossmember that ties the whole front section together as the original had quite a few bends in it. I am fitting the twin sticks so when I remade the cross member I didnt put any of the holes in it so this makes it stronger especially with the large plates used for the twin stick hinge mounts. The triangular brackets that tie it in to the fuselage sides I had to remake but they fit nicely now. So all of this is in the right place but the control rod was about 8mm too long and wanted to force the cross member forward a mile and this then puts a huge load on the alu baring arrangement that the front of the rod is keyed into...you can see the wear marks in the originals so I made a new set of them as well. The pictures should show it. I asked the question on the FB group and this appears to be a common problem of the rode not fitting. I modified the webbing in the rod so it now does not hit the rear cross member that the bell crank sits on to drive the aileron bell cranks. So now I get to putting that bell crank onto the main control rod and I cant put it on..yet it came off so I am looking at the locking bolt hole and its a half a hole out...well it took me a while and I worked it out...the numptys tried to fix the issue by turning the bell crank backwards !!!!!! this then puts the rods going up to the bell cranks on the flap mixer at the wrong angle so they bind as you hit full flap.

 

Ok so I said to Danny lets look at yours...sure enough its exactly the same..they put his on backwards as well...also its been drilled so that when the control rod it at 90 deg the bell crank is a bit off it is not 90 deg to the control rod... so Danny is good at tigging so will make up a brass plug to go into both pieces so when welded they dont distort and we will redrill the holes correctly and in the right spot. Another interesting thing os the aileron control rods...look at the picture...notice how much one is longer than the other. This is how they came off the aircraft !!!! my god they are so far out the plane must have been flying sideways to have had to do that much adjustment to make it fly straight.

 

So as I said its been a interesting and frustrating couple of weeks....also scarey that there is more than likely more of them out there like this

 

The lastest "mod" we have decided to do is use bolts and nylocks to hold the rear of the side cheeks to the rear fuelage and als the 8 SS rivets at the control cross member we are using bolts as well as they are stronger than the rivets and really almost the same weight

 

I am up the farm this weekend for some R&R and to do some spraying...had to bring up a heap of flooring for the house we are about to start building up here...so it will be good to have a break for a few days

 

Mark

 

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Mark, are you saying that the torque tube bell-crank should be mounted like the photo that shows it all together with the pushrods (ie bolt to the rear of the bellcrank) or is that the wrong "reversed" position?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

That is the way they mounted it which is the WRONG way. I took the pic to show when its the correct way it was half a hole out for the main bolt. The only way the bolt will go through is if the bell crank was reversed....Danny aircraft build by the same people was exactly the same. With the bell crank reversed the angles of the pushrods are wrong. So we are filling the holes and will drill new ones...and also so that the bell crank is aligned correctly at 90 deg to the shaft as mine is off and so is Danny's.....rough so and so's

 

 

[Marty_d]

That is the way they mounted it which is the WRONG way. I took the pic to show when its the correct way it was half a hole out for the main bolt. The only way the bolt will go through is if the bell crank was reversed....Danny aircraft build by the same people was exactly the same. With the bell crank reversed the angles of the pushrods are wrong. So we are filling the holes and will drill new ones...and also so that the bell crank is aligned correctly at 90 deg to the shaft as mine is off and so is Danny's.....rough so and so's

Yeah I thought so. I'm using a Sav bellcrank in mine and mounted it to the tube with the flat side to the rear, ie the reverse of that picture.

 

 

[M61A1]

we will redrill the holes correctly and in the right spot

Hey Mark, is there any reason you couldn't just drill a fresh hole at 90° to the old hole? Or you could step up to a bolt size that picks up the old holes when it is in the correctly rigged position.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

There are tabs off the back surface of the bell crank that are the stops for the travel. they are in the way to be able to drill the hole... I suppose I could do it at 45 deg ...I mean its just a locking bolt but straight up and down just makes it easier to get at to put the bolt in and do it up.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

using the old holes and drilling out is still a issue as the bell crank has not been put on at 90 deg to the when the stick is vertical ..its easier to weld them up and start again by doing it properly...not like in the slap it together when it was first assembled

 

 

[M61A1]

using the old holes and drilling out is still a issue as the bell crank has not been put on at 90 deg to the when the stick is vertical ..its easier to weld them up and start again by doing it properly...not like in the slap it together when it was first assembled

I didn't mean just figure 8 the existing holes. I meant use a drill size that picks up both , while maintaining correct alignment which might mean going up a 5/16 fastener such. Whatever is easier for you.

 

Like this....

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Danny welded up the holes in the main control rod and rear bell crank. The rod was also not straight it was bent so he straightened it and also sand blasted the welds and filled them in a bit more with some tig welding. The small area I filed out in the web has also been beefed up with some more weld. The bell crank has also been straightened. He is a talented man :)...mind you he is doing the same to his. I trial fitted it all last night after picking it up and it all fits great now...as it is supposed to with no undue pressure on the cross member at either end.

 

Now for a coat of black paint and its ready to go in

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Got the control rod installed now there is no undue pressure on the front crossmember and the rear angle change doesnt hit the rear crossmember and uses the correct stops on the rear bellcrank and the bellcrank is also on the right way around and set the 10mm back from the end of the control rod so the angle is now correct for the 2 pushrods to go to the bellcranks on the flaperon mixer. I keep thinking the surprises should be ending soon with this little project.... hopefully the rest will be straight forward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Didnt get much time the past week or so to work on Mabel so managed to get stuck into a bit this weekend

 

Got the front all on...bending those side cheeks was a real pain too. In the XL build they came bent in the kit these ones I made so were flat but I think they come that way in the kits now.

 

I needed them alodined but my tanks are not big enough so I tried a local powder coater who does the "chromate" so the powdercoating stays on the alu. I know there are many types of alodine and this stuff is a lot clearer.

 

Its more like a clear but you can tell the surface is certainly bonded with something but its not goldish in colour. So I will see how it goes as I have more to do yet.

 

Danny bought a sliding seat kit from a guy who didnt like it and pulled it out and replaced it with a std seat kit so he could put twin sticks in so he has copied all the brackets and made a different seat section. I am going to retrofit this to fit my larger seat arrangement. The key is the brackets underneath the top is just a skin for your bum. I wont use sliding seats but this way I am sure I can get the seating position much better than the std ones. Danny has kept the short crossmember in the seat kit so mine will need a bit more thought as I have crossmember supports behind it for the twin sticks.

 

I am going to be working on that now and also fitting the rudder pedals but I am going to mod them like Danny did as its far easier than the original way I did mine in the XL. It should effectively do the same job so at work this week I will make up the toe pieces and fit them. Once I get these in I can then put the firewall in. Its ready to go with all the brackets. I did have to make up the lower support bracket for the firewall as it wasnt available at the time as a spare but it was easy to make up. I will post some more pics of the seats and the new pedal arrangement when they are done and fitted.

 

I have to get my finger out now as the S21 kit should be ready to leave Rans at the end of this month or early next month....Cant believe its been almost 10 months since I was over there and placed my order. I saw te other day mentioned that Rans has 125 kits on order at the current time...who said aircraft manufacturing was dead?.   I have organised for 3 of us sharing a 40ft container 2 of S21 and 1 of S20 and we are waiting on one of the guys orders that has a Titan 340  engine coming from Continental that is coming with the kits and that is due at Rans on the 23rd of this month. Then I am told it will be about 6 weeks to get here on the boat. Must be going from the east coast and going the long way around

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IBob]

Oi Mark, when you get done with that, this looks right up your alley.......)

 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/aircraft/aircraft/auction-2223627217.htm?rsqid=a2c58e20e71841d9ad6b316445b8208a-001

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I couldnt afford to run it hahahahah