Big day

Yesterday was a big day for me because it was the beginning of my getting the Savannah back into shape again. It was a good day for it too – sunny and warm but not too hot as to make working in the shade of the hangar doors uncomfortable.

I’d spray painted the new wing tip plastic the other day to save a bit of time so was all ready to go but had to wait in until my post arrived as I ordered a new small Black and Decker angle grinder (‘meuleuse’) on Sunday and expected it to arrive in the morning, which it did. So then I was off to Malbec.

The damage on the Savannah was confined to just the end of the slat on the right wing and the wing tip, so it was a matter of removing the slat ready for fitting the replacement, which I already have, drilling out the pop rivets securing the wing tip, dressing the surrounding metal back into shape, drilling the new wing tip to accept the strobe and fitting it into place.

But like all jobs like this, it was easier said than done, mainly because someone had used poor quality pop rivets to fit the original wing tip many of whose centre pins had fractured outside the rivet tops rather than inside as they are supposed to.

This made drilling them out very difficult and under such circumstances, no matter how careful you are and start off with as small a diameter drill as possible (2mm in my case), you always end up drilling them out just off centre and some inevitably come out leaving holes that are a bit ‘ugly’.

First some shots of the job before I started. Wim, Victor and I had repaired the damage as well as we could on the day in the hope that I’d still be able to make the flight to the UK but in the event I decided against it, not because of the damage but because by then I’d realised that I wasn’t well enough to do it. I’m sure that the aircraft would have done the flight but the photographs show that the wing tip wasn’t very pretty.

Now a couple of shots taken after I’d removed the slat but before I’d removed the wing tip. On the day, the front part of the wing tip had popped right out and I’d replaced it and held it in situ using duck tape. Luckily the damage to the wing tip leading edge was only superficial if rather unsightly.

Next some shots of the new wing tip plastic when I tried it for fit the first time but before I’d dressed the leading edge back into shape.

And finally some shots of the ‘finished’ job after the wing tip had been drilled for the strobe with the strobe light reattached.

The job isn’t finished, of course, because there’s still repainting to do. But at least the structural work is now done. I don’t have the skill or the tools to redress the wing tip leading edge metal perfectly back into shape and I didn’t want to work it too much for fear of stretching it, which would have made re-pop rivetting even more difficult than it already was.

But I’m pleased with the outcome which has actually exceeded my expectations and hope that I’ll be able to make it look even better after respraying it. That will be for later this week, though, and the weather should be very good for it with warm temperatures and only light winds.

And the day ended as well as it started in the form of an evening ‘Marché Gormande’ at Fleurac where I had the pleasure of being with old friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen for a year on account of my illness last year, and eating and drinking local food and wine. It proved once again that simple things are often the source of life’s greatest pleasures and I’m thankful to be among such fine people and living the life here that I am.