Savannah58 Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Wait, I have a picture of the cowling.My fist impression on the fiberglass parts where not the best. I don't want to complain (at least not to much). But when you are used to hightech, seamless, finished out of the mould RC-plane fuselages, you feel like 1960 seeing the parts in the box. The materials are the cheapest you can get. And the work seams a little unskilled or unmotivated. Could explain further, but lack the vocabulay. It is a little like the cleco pliers, which don't fit to the rest of the excelent crafted aluminium parts. [ATTACH]48600[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]48601[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]48602[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]48603[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]48604[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]48605[/ATTACH] Hey MT I was lucky to have a expert nearby and we did some trimming. Still don't like the fit. They could have done better but it is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savannah58 Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Quite a lot of us have mounted the cowls externally not like how ICP does it. Its a bit of a jiggle but it can be done. I did have to shave a little off my top cowl to stip the carb rubbing and also had to pull the radiator back a bit. Also you need to cut a hole either side of the cowl for the exhaust pipes or the cowl will blister[ATTACH=full]48624[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]48625[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]48626[/ATTACH] Thank you Kyle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rankamateur Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 The gap isnt too big..maybe 20mm I will see if I can find a pic of it or I will take one They always have a much bigger gap at the bottom than the top, though I have never heard of a reason for it. Ron Hoey won a prize at Natfly for his cowling to spinner fit when he had completed his build, it was quite close at the top from memory. . Ron do you have a photo or two of your cowling installation? I don't remember if you installed your cowling with in the fuselage or outside it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcharl Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Hi MajorTom and welcome. Re your issue of sorting parts: When I received my VG XL kit I was faced with quite a time delay before I could access my hangar and start construction so I used some of that waiting time to construct a checklist. I did this on Excel by working through the assembly manual, page by page, and entering the part # and assembly to which it belonged(eg. rudder, fin etc.). Then ran an alpha/numeric sort and added columns for "checked","bin" , etc. Then when unpacking the box it was easy to check a part off and store in a bin ,recording all on the spreadsheet No searching for a particular part, just take them as they come and bin them accordingly. Took ages to do, but made the build process much less frustrating, not that there was much frustration involved once I mastered Italio/English. Since I am of an older age group and have a very low level of computer literacy, I am sure you could do something similar without difficulty. Or perhaps you might be in too much hurry to commence the build! Good luck. Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBob Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 And a small suggestion...from one who was in too much of a hurry to commence the build: One of the my cardboard boxes was full of small aluminium parts. Many of those parts, I realised, are pairs, left and right. So I tipped the whole lot on the bench, extracted all the pairs and taped them together, and kept them in a separate bag. This greatly reduced my search time amongst the small bits and pieces. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 Did almost 16 hours of sorting this weekend. It worked great now, thanks to the help of SKEE. Really this excel-file does the trick! I have to add some tings, because its from 2013, but thats no problem. I think ICP should definetly provide a packing list, with each kit !!! After some concideration, I hung up the bigger sheets. I had a pice of cardboard 3 m x 2,2 m. Put some reinforcements on it and ended up with a perfekt envelope. So not much space is needed and my wife can drive her car into the garage again. No ice on the windscreen any longer. Also spend some hours to fabricate firewood and put some into the fireplace. Happy wife - happy life... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 It's starting to look good already! In your travels through the list and packets have you managed to find any flat headed rivets? If so where were they? So far that is the most difficult part to find for me. At first I also thought some instructions were missing but so far the only one I really can't find was for the parachute installation kit, but I have a copy from several kind folk on here. That said there isn't a parts list for it and I will have to see if the straps were supposed to be included or if they come later. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 No, I haven't found any rivets jet. But left the cardbordbox with rivits and bolt for last thing to sort. Guess I gonna hate it. I get headaches just from thinking about nonmetric bolts, washers and nuts..... This stupid stuff has numbers instead of dimensions. @ Richard we can be glad, we don't have to sit right side in our savannah's. Hmmmm, got my clecos finaly. Had to drive 2 hours to customs, just because the parcelservice wanted to make some extra money. They sad, they had to give it to customs for personal pickup, because the papers where not in order. Offered to do it for just 28,50€.... Guess what, the papers where perfect!!! Sorting moves along nicly now. But I got 2 more missing parts and one bend part. Don't know if I just have to bend it back, because it is bend 3D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Communications Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Just tap it gently flat with a nylon hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Just tap it gently flatwith a nylon hammer o.k. will try.... bending it back didn't work... the part was bend in one direction and deformed in the other direction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Communications Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 use a wooden block behind and a soft head hammer and just gently tap it flat again from the back side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBob Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Looks like a wing skin stiffener? If so, I wouldn't worry too much: that bent bit will end up sandwiched between a wing rib and the skin (which is why it is cut away at that point) and it will work fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 It looks like you made the same order as me for Browns, except I only ordered one set of cleo pliers and regret that now. The bent part doesn't look too bad it would be worse if it were a wing skin or rib. You are certainly more organised than me and I am sure when you start will go a lot faster. Don't worry too much about the nuts and bolts they are generally very well marked and as I found last night the "missing M4x10mm hex head bolts were not numbered but in a bag with an Italian name on it. It pays to be patient and if get stuck and can't find something, just leave it for a day or two and then start to search again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Call it what you want, but while waiting for my kit to arrive, I put in a reservation for a number (dont't know the right term) for my savannah. I included the whole family and we had a lot of fun. Showed them the NATO-alphabet and still aviable numbers. My son voted for something with a lot of "W"s and "V"s so I would twist my thounge and say something embarassing. We ended up with D-MDYZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 24, 2017 Author Share Posted February 24, 2017 Could not stand counting and sorting and chasing after missing parts any longer. So I started with the fin. First page - first problem ... the A3 flushhead rivets for the anchor nuts where missing. But, due to this friendly site I was well prepared an and did the modification. Deburring worked verry well, no problem at all. Used a file for bigger irregularities. Tried a one blade deburring tool and a spezial dubblebladed tool for thin sheets. Both worked real good. Final touch came from a 3" scotch brite weel in a stand drill. Priming went well also. Used some scotch brite pad and some silicon remover to clean the surfaces. Apllied light grey etch primer. Good stuff... inexpensiv, very sticky, fast drying, not black.... looks a little like what (i)Bobs is doing. The manual sucks but the rest is REAL FUN. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Hi Thomas you are doing well! What is the trick for the "missing A3 rivets? I countersunk the holes then used ordinary ones but they do stick out a bit! Just received my grey paint so will try it out this weekend. I can't seem to find a good clear photo of the upper hinge bracket either so I am guessing with mine at the moment. What is your last photo of? Keep up the good work ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 Hey Richard, you are to kind. I just try to do it right. And to be honest, when I read the manual I don't feel very smart. It's like 50% wondering what to to, 30% deburring and anticorrosion, but just 20% airplanebuilding. Finished the fin. But could not do the rivnuts... . Need to buy the propper rivnut tool Manual said not to rivet the upper and lower rib. But I found no reason not to rivet the lover rib. Decided not rivet the upper rib until I know what to do about the fin tip. Last picture is an easy tool to modificate rivets into countersunk rivets. There is a good tip (or do you say hint) with good photos and explanation here on the forum. How are you coming forward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Hi Thomas we are travelling similar paths here,I have completed the rudder and hope to advance the fin this weekend. Do you have a link to the thread on the flat head rivets? I am really stuck with them. I also found it difficult to countersink the spar as it is too thin so I think I will have to redo my two captive nuts at the base of the fin! I bought a rivet tool from Otelo.com which was reasonably priced, but haven't tried it yet and it only does unto M6! Just found some M8s in a bag,,,..... arrrgghhh I have also just started to find the parts for the horizontal stabiliser and will attach that next. Give me a few minutes and I will take some pictures of that upper bracket and strut connection to see if it is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 look here, Bob explains well : Savannah S Build Notes - Some Tools What do you think about exchanging our phone number. We could help each other fast, when we run into trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Will pm later. Thank heavens for Ibob!! I thought of trying something like that and he has already done it. I love the way he has described exactly what happens. Start with enthusiasm, search for parts, enthusiasm drops, get on internet, no result, improvise, finish, elation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 I asked ICP about the missing A3 coutersunk rivets in most kits. I also tried to explain that Chapter 10 is the first thing builders like us are working on. So the very first thing to do is to fasten the anchor nuts. First task - first problem ... not very promissing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Indeed that is what ICP said to me, "start with the tail its easy and gets you used to how to work" It is true some parts of the manual are difficult to understand or there are important things missing, I have found that the exploded views in the parts catalogue at the back however often show the assembly more clearly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 Give me a few minutes and I will take some pictures of that upper bracket and strut connection to see if it is correct. Last picture is definetly not like in the figure in the manual! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorton Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 :) five more rivets to redo! and I had countersunk the holes as best I could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorTom Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 I have found that the exploded views in the parts catalogue at the back however often show the assembly more clearly. Exactly, wish they would be more detailed and with part numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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