building my Savannah-S in germany

[MajorTom]

Thanks Kyle, esp. the last photo is great.

 

And thanks Bob for the hint about the back seat panel. I had it just clecoed in. The manual, which was real good in chap. 14 is back to this mind twisting itAlien and forced a bunch of bad language out of my mouth... also drilled 20 rivets out at varius places.

 

Had to lay the fuselage on one side to get this big part in. And not even from behind it worked without drilling some rivets out or using brute force. ( I drilled )

 

Also I could not find parts SF 275 and 276 in the manual. But there place in the bird is not to hard to find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MajorTom]

Is there a trick to get the sidewalls befor the firewall ( SL036/SL037 ) in.

 

First I clecoed the bottom in and tried to go up.... did not work

 

Now I started from behind and tried to go forward.... seems to need very much force?

 

Any tipps?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

when you have curves always try to use a ratchet strap or straps to help bend...there maybe a lot of tension...like when doing the D section on te wings

 

 

[MajorTom]

Thanks Kyle.

 

I dont see any chance to use a strap. Yes there is a round section but the peeces together are a L-shape. SL036 is the pre bend part befor the sidewal. right side of the picture

 

 

First trie was to cleco the sidewall and the bottom together at the extruded angular and then line up vertical holes at the cabin door. Did not work. see picture:

 

 

Then I tried it the other way. I clecoed the vertical holes and went further around til I met the extruded angular. So the round SL036 fits into the angular shape. But now, when I want to go forward along the extruded angular at the bottom, it will not line up. There is to much stress. When I use the plodger, the holes get damaged. Also the extruded angular is starting to bend. See picture: right side is good, but I need to go left and put more black clecos in.

 

 

Any ideas, how to do it???

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Usually if it doesnt fit reasonably easy you have done something wrong...pics of when I did mine..make sure you have the floor the right way the over and under cross overs etc for the panels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I would cleco the sheet to the angles first then look at the bottom

 

 

[MajorTom]

Thanks again Kyle.

 

I can see no difference in my built.

 

The sidewalls go under the floor, but inside of the factory assembled cabin sides.

 

Like you suggest, I clecoed the angles and tried to do the bottom. Problem is that the prebent radius does not seem to fit.

 

Where you sidewall factory bent also?

 

 

[IBob]

So you have a part that is precurved to a radius, but needs to have that shape tapered like a cone, until it is almost a right angle bend at the rear end.

 

I'm pretty sure I put the part over the edge of the bench, and simply worked it to that shape by hand, literally pressing it with my hand with a series of strokes, gradually working it to a conical shape before fitting it. Maybe 5 minutes to do each side, don't hurry it.

 

It's easy enough: that is also how I shaped the leading edge of the wingtips.

 

 

[MajorTom]

Hey Bob Thanks.

 

Do I get you right? I have to disassemble the part and shaping it.

 

And after this, its an easy fit?

 

 

[IBob]

Hey Bob Thanks.Do I get you right? I have to disassemble the part and shaping it.

And after this, its an easy fit?

That is how I did it, and it worked okay for me. There was still some tension, but it fits fine.

Also, because the forward fuselage is not a 'simple shape', you have to work a bit to get some of the parts together, but it does all go okay.

 

And you are right to try different ways to cleko: sometimes the sequence of clekos is important.

 

 

[MajorTom]

Puh...

 

So I will try an other aproach.

 

Just hope not to damage something.

 

 

[IBob]

Puh...So I will try an other aproach.

Just hope not to damage something.

Qu'est-ce que c'est.............ce 'Puh'????

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

This is how mine arrived in the kit...I think I may have had to do some "panel beating" to make them fit

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Mine was a lot squarer in those corners..the factory had done that. I think I manipulated them to make a nicer fit..it was 6 years ago now :)

 

 

[MajorTom]

Mine is perfectly round from side to side

 

"puh" means releasing compressed air out of your mouth in an act of release or understanding the nessesarity

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

you cant fit a square peg in a round hole if its not the right size.....the corner of the fuselage is square so you are going to have to reshape it to fit...then it may all fit together

 

 

[perrynz]

Hey Major Tom.

 

Bob's explanation of how to form this skin is pretty good. In order to get an exact bend point, I measured from the edge of both holes (vertical and bottom) into the middle of the corner, on the factory assembled sides. Then transfer these measurements onto the skin that you need to reshape. Place that mark on the edge of a bench, and bend it by hand around the edge. You may want to shape the corner of your bench to the correct radius. That way, you will avoid bending it too sharply. The sharp part needs to be only where the skin sits into the factory side. From that point going forward, as Bob said, the radius gradually increases. To form the radius going forward, place the skin over something like a metal tube and massage the aluminium by hand. It's easy enough, but still a pity that ICP don't form this part, as it seems they used to looking at Marks photo.

 

Bob lives up the road from me, and we are at a similar stage of construction on our Savannah's. Cheers. Perry

 

 

[MajorTom]

Wow, two savannah builders in one road. You are lucky. There are only 10 Savannah builders in all germany. None of them nearby.

 

Thanks for the tipps! They are very helpful. What would I have done without all the tipps and support over the last months... You are great and I dont care if your toilets are flushing the other way around!

 

 

[MajorTom]

Hey Bob and Kyle and Perry, after some bending on the bench the sidewalls went in without problems.

 

Next step is the firewall. It seems to be a tight fit. Actualy my first thougt was, "This is not the firewall for a Savannah-S but for the new Ventura". It seems 7 cm to wide to fit my built.... Guess I need to find a way to convince the fusselage to grow somehow.

 

 

Yesterday I ordered a MGL Xtreme Efis. (like Richard from france did also) If this peece of electronics is crap we are going to come over and have a word with Kyle.... Just kidding, on July, 17. I get a visit from my inspector. I hope I can convince him that the MGL Efis or two of them can replace most of the steam gauges. It would be a heavy anoyence to carry an aditional full set of analog instruments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[perrynz]

Hi MajorTom. From memory, the construction manual indicates to fit the firewall in two halves, as you are doing it. You may well end up buckling/bending it if you do that. You will find it a lot easier to build up the firewall into one piece, complete with all of the stiffeners/ribs. With it in one piece you may still think that it belongs to a different aircraft, however, it will fit/start to take shape as you cleco it onto the fuselage. I started pinning from the bottom and worked my way up each side evenly. You will see that as each side takes shape, there will be considerable curvature starting to occur fore and aft on the floor panel, including along the right angle stringers that run the length of the cockpit. Rest assured, this is correct. You need to use a tapered mandrel/podger to get the holes to line up around the firewall. One other piece of advice. The firewall is quite rigid once it is riveted, so leave it clecoed (ie: don't rivet) until you fit the upper panel, as you may need to move it slightly in order to pick up the holes in the upper panel.

 

 

[MajorTom]

Thanks Perry,

 

building it into one piece was my first thougt. But when I held it into place, I was shocked how big it was compared to the small opening and intended to try to insert both halfes and try to push them apart.

 

How do you managed to get the assembled firewall in? I already have riveted the sidewall stiffeners in, so I can't push it in from the rear.

 

 

[perrynz]

I thought the same. First thing, ensure you have the tabs around the firewall bent to the correct angle, so that they will sit flat onto the lower (and upper) skins. (Cut a slot in the end on a piece of wood and slide this over each tab in order to bend it) To fit the firewall, pull the top of the sides apart. Initially you will think it won't fit, but once you start installing the cleco's, it will start taking shape. Regarding the stiffeners that you have already riveted, no problem, but you may want to leave perhaps the forward two or three rivets out, to allow you to insert the firewall. Those stiffeners sit on top (inboard) of the firewall tabs, so you need a little bit of flexibility while wriggling it in place. It's a fiddle job, but hang in there.

 

 

[MajorTom]

Do I understand right? I pull the sidewalls tops apart and slide the firewall in from top?

 

 

[perrynz]

Just to reiterate, build the firewall structure up. (Or at the very least, cleco it all together) The ribs will keep it flat as you are installing it into the fuselage.

 

 

[perrynz]

Slide it in from the front, initially tilt the bottom in and then pull the sides apart and then ease the firewall rear wards.