FIL65

Been some time since I posted on my build.

Test flew back in July and I'm only about 10 hours into the RAAus test flight program due to working away from home and poor weather.

She flies nice and straight from day one. Only a couple of little issues to resolve, the most annoying being the MGL radio which I will hopefully have resolved next time I'm home.

The Edge enhanced Rotax certainly gets her of the ground with 120hp+ under the new carbon fibre cowl. Just playing with prop pitch at the moment also to get a nice balance on cruise speed and take off performance.

Finally got power on this week.

Been busy with a new FIFO job so not getting as much time on the build as I would like. Finally got my Edge Performance part, big bore kit, performance cam and EFI and engine build is complete. Home for a couple of weeks so have the new engine mounted.

Next big project is a custom 4-2-1 exhaust doing way with the crappy ICP system.

I haven't posted for a while so I thought Id give a quick update on the progress of Savannah 19-1605.

Fuselage and wings have both been to the paint shop and I am working on the internal fitout.

The panel is a simple glass setup with MGL equipment being used. I gone with a 8.5" Explorer Lite iEFIS as my primary, and a XTreme EFIS/EMS as my secondary. Also fitted a Guardian mini IPad holder for running OzRunways.  Also using the MGL V16 radio controlled from the EFIS and a ECB (Electronic Circuit Breaker) which can also be programmed and monitored from the EFIS.

Engine build is progressing slowly. Am waiting for big bore kit, EFI and performance camshaft to arrive from Edge Performance and the rest of the components I require for the overhaul from Floods. This combination should put me around 125hp, providing a nice boost of power when it is needed.

Cheers Phil

Hi Craig,

Welcome to the aviation community. I am one of the organisers for Oz-STOL, drop over to our facebook page. We will be announcing 2020 fly-in competition dates very soon.

Catch you around the airfield.

Cheers Phil

For those interested, here is a youtube video of our Childers event. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year. We are planning events in NSW, QLD and Vic in 2020.

No, APenNameAndThatA we are a separate group of enthusiasts that recently run our latest competition at Luskintyre Airfield in May. Results for that comp are on our Facebook page.

Hi Folks,

We are happy to announce the Qld round of the OZ-STOL championships to be held at Childers Airfield on the 20-22nd of September.

Entry forms can be found on the Oz-STOL Facebook page.

Cheers The Oz-STOL Team

Fil65 would it be right to say that your flaperon bushes will effectively 'float' with AN3 bolt and castle nut etc, as per the current Sav assembly instructions, rather than being clamped to the wing hangers, as is the case in JGs sketch? Or did you have some other scheme in mind?

I will be using as per the assemble manual.

Cheers Phil

I have gone down this same path and had bushes made of similar dimensions for my build.

Cheers Phil

A quick update on my build progress.

Have the skins on both wings. Thanks to IBob for the idea of using a fence on the bench and to Bill Grieves for helping me pre bend the D skins. Fuel tanks and plumbing in next.

Cheers Phil

Hi Guys,

i had my UHMW block made by Coastal Aviation. They are located here on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. It wasn’t cheap as it was a one off, but worth the investment.

Cheers Phil

Hi Folks,

Please see below the flyer for the 2019 OZ-STOL competition being held at Luskintyre Airfield on May 24-26.

We are excited and happy to be partnered with AOPA for this event.

Link for registration. https://aopa.com.au/events/oz-stol-competition/

Hi Bob,

That's good to hear. Had my first inspection on Saturday and all went well with the fuselage and flight controls. I have just purchased a time expired 912 for my rebuild and have ordered the Edge Performance parts so I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Im hoping to be in the air by around May all going well.

Cheers Phil

Hi Bob,

It was recommended to me by my L2 who has done a number of repairs on Savannah nose gears, so I have taken his advice and upgraded the UHMW block.

How is your build progressing.

Cheers Phil

Been a few months so I thought I would give a quick update on my build progress.

The past few months have been spent deburring and prepping for alodining while still recovering from my surgery which has not been 100% successful.

The fuselage is nearing completion to a point where it is ready for paint. Just waiting for some undercarriage components to come back from the powdercoaters and my 21x8.00x6 main tyres to arrive so I can get it on wheels and move it from my build table.

I've finished the rudder, elevator and 2 flaperons and should have the remaining control surfaces finished by the end of this week or early next week.

I have upgraded the UHMW block on the nose gear to 10mm to provide a larger bearing surface. And also replaced all the brass bushes with oversize 8mm O/D Teflon ones.

Wings should be on the build table in the next couple of weeks.

Avionic will be MGL. I am going with a 8.5" iEFIS Lite for my primary display and a Mini ETreme EFIS as my secondary display. This will give me the ability to have my flight instruments on the primary screen and engine instruments on the secondary and be able to switch between the 2 should I have a failure with one. I will also use the new MGL V16 radio which can be controlled from the displays also and not require a head unit. There will also be a iPad running OzRunways for navigation.

I have decided on going down a slightly different path with my engine and will be rebuilding a 912ULS using Edge Performance parts. The build will consist of a big bore kit, performance camshaft and 4 into 1 EFI  system. This should produce figures of around 123 hp. ( The guys at Edge have been dynoing standard 912ULS's and getting figures around 86hp, so I should get around 36 hp more than standard) A tuned exhaust will be the final part of the engine build in the future when Danny and Mark have that available. Just looking for a doner time expired 912ULS post 2006 build???? The engine build should be around the cost of a new 912ULS.

Cheers Phil

Hi Guys,

As Mark posted I found a company in Beenliegh that chromated all of my skins at a very reasonable price, around $400. They only charged me at an hourly rate so it depends on how much you have to be chromated as to the cost. For those interested the company is Powdercoating Services Pty Ltd and can be contacted on 07-38047352. Yveyye was the young lady that I spoke with and was very helpfully and the guys in the workshop were great to deal with.

Cheers Phil

Here is a comparison photo.

Update, I had the new Teflon bushes made oversized with an outside diameter of 8mm. This should provide additional bearing surface area. I have Teflon bushes for all the moving surfaces.

Weeks of de burring and alodine dipping. A couple more bins to go then its on to the skins.

Tail feather frames ready for skins also.

Hi Paul,

Welcome aboard.

Cheers Hank, its good to be pain free after so long suffering.

Thanks Bob, it certainly makes a difference having the workspace to do the job.

I'm in the process of preparing the parts for the extended baggage area. Can I assemble all of the parts for it prior to the skins.

I'm still working out how to adoldine dip my skins so the fuselage wont progress to much more until I have that sorted. I do still have the front fuselage and wing components to de burr and alodine yet so I'm not stuck for jobs to do.

Finally back onto my Savannah build after being out of action most of the year with neck problems and chronic nerve pain. I recently had surgery and in recovery now and am finally able to get to work again. Part of my rehab has been sitting de burring and alodining parts. After a week or so of that I decided it was time to put something together to make me feel like something has been achieved so I started assembly of the fuselage.

Great job Perry. That is a very tidy build.

Do you think all the bushes need to be larger diameter or just the flaperon ones?