Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Jim

 

No I haven't seen that place yet.... bloody head cold since Monday so haven't been flying...flatout driving the car let alone fly. We are blessed with the local flying scenery around here even flying out to Kilcoy up that valley is really pretty not to mention the beaches of course. I have a APRS ham radio tracking system fitted to the plane it keeps track in real time of my flight in speed and height and position here is a link to that last flight on the video done with the iPhone. It stores all my flights by date its on the rhs under year then months then the days it detects tracking. if you put your cursor over the red dots the icon changes you click the mouse and the flight data comes up

 

http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&ts=1340064000&te=1340150400&call=a%2FVK4KZK-9

 

 

[eightyknots]

I took off and it was only about 8 knots but at 2500 it was 40knt !!!! so didn't fly for too long it was too bouncy so that was only a 50 min flight

40 kt

 

Nice countryside/Glasshouse mountains, etc.

 

I can fly Kilcoy is just inside my radius.

I'm sure the rulemakers of the day must have looked at the distance between YCAB and Kilcoy and decided on 25 nm: very convenient.

 

 

[Hadyn Bell]

Hi Mark,

 

Attached is a photo (i hope) of the trim tap with the 3 holes in it. Do you recall if these holes are there for the manual trim adjustment and just need to have rivets fitted since we have the electric trim option?? Hope the head cold is sorted and you get some flying in this weekend. Beautiful day here on Norfolk, just thinking if we had the Sav finished, which way I would do my 15 minute cross around the island, to the left or to the right, round and round we go....

 

 

 

[Gundy]

Hayden they were the old trim tab design just ignore them. U could leave them out of fill them with rivets. Up to you. Gundy

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I think I put rivets in mine but Gundy is right its from the old design....the trim is now driven with the Ray Allen servo mounted at the tip of the tailplane

 

I am up at the farm this weekend...its bloody raining and my internet wireless is crap...must have a faulty modem I think

 

 

[Clayton]

Mark can you carry a passenger while your flying off your 25 hours?

 

I told my mrs that you put a ballistic chute in your aircraft. She wants me to invest in one also. Looks like I've got to find another 5 k now.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Clayton

 

The aircraft has to do 25 hrs with only ever 1 person on board. Then if you have a passenger endorsement then I can take passengers. As I haven't done my cross country endorsement yet I can not fly anymore than 25 nm from point of origin. During the 25 hrs though if I or someone else had a Xcountry endorsement then the aircraft can fly to Gympie,Kingaroy, Toowoomba and Redcliffe then after the 25 hrs it can go anywhere.

 

I ordered all the gear for the chute and it is installed except for the chute and rocket themselves as it comes separately from Magnum Parachutes. The straps and trays etc are all (supplied from ICP) in because they really need to be otherwise the wings have to come off and the top lexan. Once the 25 hrs are done and the Mrs wants her bum in there then I will install the actual chute so putting off the US$4500 for the chute until then. The chute is for no other reason than getting hit by someone else....I have no quarms about the structural side of the aircraft and neither does the Mrs but it gets so crowded now around the airfields you are more likely to have a mid air due to some pilots being so terrible in their Airmanship. I am by no means great at it yet as it takes time and experience to become great at it. So I am practicing more and more and making sure I get everything right as they say getting your pilot certificate is really only a licence to learn

 

Mark

 

 

[Hadyn Bell]

Hi Mark,

 

We discussed the possibility of you having a copy of the prop pitch tool made up that you showed me. Please advise if you were still going to get a couple made as we are keen to purchase one.

 

Also myself being a bigger bloke im keen to do the flap lever mod that you showed me as it worked well. Did you keep any plans on the design??

 

Cheers

 

Hadyn

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi Mark,We discussed the possibility of you having a copy of the prop pitch tool made up that you showed me. Please advise if you were still going to get a couple made as we are keen to purchase one.

 

Also myself being a bigger bloke im keen to do the flap lever mod that you showed me as it worked well. Did you keep any plans on the design??

 

Cheers

 

Hadyn

Mark, I suggested a few months back that there will be a run on your flap lever design. Your design sounds really sensible therefore it's a surprise that ICP didn't work that out years ago.

 

 

[Clayton]

Mark could you comfortably build a Savannah in a 40 ft container or should I be looking for a nice 12m x 6m shed?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Clayton

 

I think Ian Wells built his in a 20ft container you certainly could although a guy my size may find it a bit squeeze at times but certainly yes . In a 40ft you could build the wings as well no problem

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Hadyn

 

I will get into making that tool next week or so and will make you a set as well I will pull the spinner off this week and get the measurements for the Bolly front plate hole and bolt dimensions so I can make up the plugin for the front the rest is easy. I have my drawings for the flap bracket in .dxf format if you can read that or space claim format .sodc which is my 3D cad software I use for the CNC machines I did save a version to dxf for others to use send and email to [email protected] and I will send you the file

 

Mark

 

 

[rankamateur]

Mark could you comfortably build a Savannah in a 40 ft container or should I be looking for a nice 12m x 6m shed?

You would end up with a head full of primer, prepsol and thinners, You would certainly enjoy the build, on a hot day it is nice to have a high cieling and a couple of nice big roller doors.

 

 

[Hadyn Bell]

Hi Mark,

 

Best I load this onto your forum, not mine!!

 

Could you please run your nose over the Sav wiring diagram attached for your opinion on the extra fuses that I think are required. We will stick to the original harness and just the extra fuses as much as I liked your harness and fuse box. If you cant read it I can email it to you.

 

Cheers

 

Hadyn

 

 

[Hadyn Bell]

And the photo....

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Well 7.42 hrs on the Sav haven't been flying for almost 2 weeks...last week was dying with a sinus lurgy if I had flown over 1000 ft my head would have exploded I am sure...worst one I have had in a long time and the weather was fantastic too but this past week I have been feeling better and itching for some flying but the weather was terrible...rain rain and more rain. Its better now so spect the day today making sure everything was ok so took the bottom and top cowls off and found the top of the carboy bell was rubbing on the top cowl so did some bringing on that then also found the radiator was rubbing as well so did some grinding there and repositioned the radiator a little and supported the main hose to that left side now I have around 4mm clearance so will keep and eye on both. But I could smell petrol and couldn't seem to find it. The Sav has been sitting for 2 weeks with about 20 litres in the 2 inner tanks anyway I don't know how I miss fit but saw some mark on my pilots side lexan so looked down and a 200 mm section on the top of my strut ihas all the paint wrinkled I looked up and the edge of the tank covers are the same and I can see fuel dripping out. I drained that tank and opened the skins up thank god I spent the effort to nutsert the tank covers its made it easy to get in there. The culprit was the main fitting in the rear of the tank was leaking. I put this special sealer in and outside the fitting when I installed them admittedly it was almost 18 months ago but the brown goop was just falling off and the fitting was leaking. I checked the nut and found it was firm but not tight so not sure why this has happened so I will drop all the skins and check all 4 tanks and agin and look into a different sealer. So for all those building at the moment take special attention to this fitting I think it needs some sort of washer on the outside under the nut to help maintain a seal.

 

Anyway its now fixed so hopefully an early start tomorrow and will get a few hours up...firt off will be out to Kilcoy to say hello to the other Sav owners

 

 

 

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi AllWell 7.42 hrs on the Sav haven't been flying for almost 2 weeks...last week was dying with a sinus lurgy if I had flown over 1000 ft my head would have exploded I am sure...worst one I have had in a long time and the weather was fantastic too but this past week I have been feeling better and itching for some flying but the weather was terrible...rain rain and more rain. Its better now so spect the day today making sure everything was ok so took the bottom and top cowls off and found the top of the carboy bell was rubbing on the top cowl so did some bringing on that then also found the radiator was rubbing as well so did some grinding there and repositioned the radiator a little and supported the main hose to that left side now I have around 4mm clearance so will keep and eye on both. But I could smell petrol and couldn't seem to find it. The Sav has been sitting for 2 weeks with about 20 litres in the 2 inner tanks anyway I don't know how I miss fit but saw some mark on my pilots side lexan so looked down and a 200 mm section on the top of my strut ihas all the paint wrinkled I looked up and the edge of the tank covers are the same and I can see fuel dripping out. I drained that tank and opened the skins up thank god I spent the effort to nutsert the tank covers its made it easy to get in there. The culprit was the main fitting in the rear of the tank was leaking. I put this special sealer in and outside the fitting when I installed them admittedly it was almost 18 months ago but the brown goop was just falling off and the fitting was leaking. I checked the nut and found it was firm but not tight so not sure why this has happened so I will drop all the skins and check all 4 tanks and agin and look into a different sealer. So for all those building at the moment take special attention to this fitting I think it needs some sort of washer on the outside under the nut to help maintain a seal.

 

Anyway its now fixed so hopefully an early start tomorrow and will get a few hours up...firt off will be out to Kilcoy to say hello to the other Sav owners

I hope the damage to the lexan isn't permanent. Sorry to hear you have to do all that work but I'm glad you had those nutserts rather than avex rivets!!

 

EDIT: changed "rivnuts" to "nutserts".

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Well I suppose this is the 25hr reason to work out the bugs just another reason to be vigilant on maintainence. I expected to have issues as when things are new there is wear in time and always a few things to find and repair or modify. I am not phased by it just glad I decided to do checking early and I will continue to check things every 5to 10 hrs for a while yet

 

 

[bobcharl]

Mark,

 

Re your petrol leak problem,I have just started looking for a petrol resistant sealant for threads and flanges but have not found anything in which I would have a lot of confidence. Seems a petrol resistant washer inside the tank would be better than under the nut which would still leave a pathway along the thread(unless a thread sealing medium is used) A local firm which deals exclusively in petroleum handling equipment and fittings say nothing beats ordinary plumbers teflon tape for a petrol resistant thread sealant, but I am not yet convinced. Does anyone out there know? I feel sorry about the damage your leak has caused your lovely paint job, Mark.

 

Bob

 

 

[Tex]

Stag joining paste or Loctite 505 is supposed to do the job.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Bob

 

I found the answer its called Pro-Seal its a epoxy used to make fuel tanks etc for aviation... I have got some and will redo all 4 tanks main outlets and the bottom fittings for my sight gauges. I also got some fibre washers which will go on the outside over the fittings between the tank wall and the nut. I will put the proseal on the tank outer wall then the fibre washer then more proseal then tighten the nut up then make a fillet around the nut and tank so its a permanant seal...it wont leak anymore. The other tanks at this stage have not leaked but I have no idea why the nut went up another 3/4 of a thread. Maybe the plastic tanks depress over time not sure but it will be fixed next week. I am up the farm this weekend so have a big day slashing and mowing and whipper snipping and if I get some more time I will finish the welding on my internal lift in the shed...bloody cold and widy up here tonight too so will be brass monkeys here in the morning me thinks

 

Mark

 

 

[Tex]

Just FYI some recent research I did came up that Pro-seal was once no good with Ethanol. Probably not an issue now. If you are just after an epoxy then Vinyl Ester is the go.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi tex

 

All the blurb says it can handle 100LL and jet fuel etc now...the stuff I got is actually used by the airlines for their fuel tank stuff...so they must have fixed the issue although ethanol will eat anything...

 

 

[Tex]

yeah it is a very hard subject to pin down: the whole compatible with fuel thing. No ethanol in Avgas or JetA1 and they are just sealing a a metal tank. Pro seal seems to be targeted at that sought of thing, sealing a metal tank.

 

I think that that tank is Fibre Glass re-enforced Vinyl Ester Resin, but I am not real sure what exactly it is you are doing with it so.... don't mind me.....

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

The sav tanks are a blow molded type of plastic not fibreglass or metal. Its a funny sort of stuff. The red/brown stuff I used was supposed to be ok for petrol but it basically crumbled away when I got to the tank fitting. I am hoping that the fibre washer and the epoxy will make sure it doesnt leak anymore. sort of 2 levels of protection