IBob

Christin, I have old style discharge tube wingtip strobes, ordered with my kit when I knew no better. But I would not go that way again as they are relatively useless in daylight. Following fatal midairs here, especially one at our local field with the reports and studies that then raised, there is an increased realisation of just how challenging 'see and be seen' actually is. I hear you on the budget, but it is not something I would be looking to economise on. As an aside to that: we are taught that effective visual scanning can only be done by shifting the sight in a series of steps, pausing at each step to process. In reality, how many pilots actually fly like this? I must have sat next to dozens of pilots over the years, and I can't say I have ever seen this in action: the most I have ever seen is periodic sweeping checks. Anyone?

PS well done spotting them proud rivets! And...I actually wrote to ICP more recently about the Savannah manual.....endeavouring to point out that translation is best done by native speakers (in fact, prior to the interweb, professional translators translated only INTO their native language). To which I received a polite reply from the technical manager........in broken English. Well..........I tried.........(

sfG for my Sav build, I found it useful to put the parts listing (with it's exploded diagrams) into a separate manual, so that I could have both that and the build manual open at the same time. I also benefited hugely from build pics posted by others on this site....so much so at times that I also had an old laptop on the bench where I could look at the pics. Also in the first part of the build there was another builder in the area: initially I was ahead of him and he would ask me about stuff, then I took a break and he got ahead so I was calling him. I also messaged Mark Kyle on occasions, and he was always helpful. And finally I would bounce stuff off the then Australian agent, who was hugely knowledgeable. But I didn't bother him unless all else failed. All of which is to say I think it is far harder if you are working in isolation. And much easier (and less error prone) if you are in contact with other builders.........

The Savannah manual calls for countersunk A4 rivets fitted flush there.

Hopefully dey got a natif English speaker to translate Die Ventura Book.........)

With the riveting 'beads', suggest you make several as they tend to fall off and roll under the bench when you pull the rivet. And I think steel (mine were just MS reinforcing rod) would be better than aluminium, which does not slide freely. In retrospect a bit of soap on the stem would probably help when doing this.....though it's not something I tried.

You and every other builder, ever, sfG..........) BTW a few rivets will probably be in tight corners. Looking at what others had done, I filed as much as possible off the top of my rivet gun to make it less bulky there. And you can also pull rivets without having the gun straight: I drilled a rivet stem sized hole down the centre of some 1/4" steel rod, then cut it off into individual 'beads'. By filing an angle onto one end of the bead (which you then thread onto the rivet stem), you can pull a rivet flush with the gun at an angle. There are obvious limits to this and sometimes the stem breaks high, rather than in the rivet body, but that is easily cleaned up.

sfG, as discussed elsewhere here, the corrosion proofing of joins is very important. I primed everything, but initially used the black stuff and brushing or speed brushing did not work well at all, giving me uneven cover and a lot of black stuff pushed through the rivet holes. Were I to build again, I would definitely invest in the Paint Buddy. While they are not readily available in NZ or Australia, I would see the cost and inconvenience of sourcing from elsewhere as very minor in the context of the build, both in terms of ease and economy of use and making a proper job of it. If it is anything like the Savannah, you don't need many tools, but it makes a big difference to speed and quality of build if those tools are well matched to the job.

Looking at the height above ground: there's two guys dodged the final bullet.........

Stick with it Danny: Our local field has town on one side, circuits for the main strip are always away from town, so LH or or RH depending on wind direction. I trained here, this is just how it is and I never really developed any preference. So I suspect a good part of it is what you are habituated to. I fly a Savannah too, and a nice thing about the XL or S is that you can dip the starboard wing and have a look through the roof before committing to a starboard turn.

Yep, there was a guy used to do it in a Cub in NZ in the 70s. Dressed as a little old lady, would hobble out on a stick. Started his routine with a great deal of careering round the field before actually taking off. Grass fields, so he didn't drag the tips, but a pretty good show for all that.....)

You're right Marty. And gearboxes.

I wonder what the drive mechanism is to those props???

Looks like the one on the right is POC? Then the LH one they've ditched the lower struts and gone from pusher to tractor.....

Lancair, I think.