Skykits Corporation presents the Savannah

Build Log: Page 4                                 

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                                                                                        Total time to this point:  67 hours 12 minutes. 

Here is the back side of the baggage compartment clecoed together so the layout is understandable.    Then it is disassembled,

cleaned, corrosion protection applied and it's reassembled inside the fuselage.  Here it is riveted together.    In order to get to the
back side of the baggage compartment, entrance is made through the rear fuselage belly hatch.  Here it is framed, with Dzus fasteners installed. 

  Those holes you see in the back are the roof air vent.  Here's the hatch all buttoned up. 

The front fuselage has been joined to the rear fuselage and the wheels are installed.   Here's a view of the fuselage now resting on it's

wheels.     The tail is being propped up as there is not enough weight at the front end yet.  A good solution for bringing the front end

down is to add the engine mount.  Here it is installed.    Notice the bend in the arm on the left.    This Savannah will have
the Rotax 912ULS engine which has a heavy duty starter.  The HD starter has a larger diameter so the bend is made to accommodate it.  Building the baggage area, and various parts of the front and rear fuselage consumed 11 hours and 10 minutes.

Update 11/06:  We have found that a 25lb bag of shotgun pellets purchased at a sporting goods store make great weights to hold the front end down.

The Savannah comes with disc brakes.  Here's the disc brake on the left main wheel.    The landing gear took 2 hours and 45 minutes to assemble.  The disc brakes are activated by the toe pads on top of the pilot's rudder pedals.   You can also see the front wheel steering rods

passing through the firewall.     The control stick is installed like this      with direct linkage to the flaperons. 

Construction of the flaperon controller begins like this      and is finish riveted like this.     Then the rest of the parts

are assembled until the flaperon controller is completed.    It is then mounted behind the baggage compartment and the control

rods are attached.    The whole control setup took 6 hours and 55 minutes to assemble.

Now it's time to install the cabin frame, cabin cowling, instrument panel and seat bottoms.  Here you can see the interior of the cabin with the frame for the instrument panel installed.  Note the screw anchors riveted to the instrument panel frame.  The instrument panel itself screws to these anchors

with rubber mounts for vibration protection.  You can also see the steel windshield pillars.     Here's a view from the outside

showing the complete frame installed and riveted along with the seat bottoms.    Time to build this portion of our Savannah demonstrator was 5 hours and 50 minutes.

Update 11/06: To ensure that the cabin is square, run a tape measure in an "X" across the top of the cabin.

                                                                                   
 Total time to this point:   93 hours 52 minutes. 
 

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