Sling Pilots Forum

I have heard or read somewhere that the Sling TSi instructions are getting better. (as of Nov 2019)
Can anyone comment on this? Is it true? If so, what improvements have you seen, etc?

The Empennage and Wings instructions are great. Full color, almost no mistakes at all. The only things I remember as mistakes from these kits are the wings say to use 6 core wire for both the strobes and the landing lights. I did this and had no 6 core wire left! Use the regular 16 guage wire for the landing lights and the 6 core for the strobes. There are a few spots where the exploded view shows parts that aren't fully detailed in the step by step parts along the way, so always cross reference the exploded views on the first page of a new section with your final assembly before riveting.

Now, the harsh reality. The Fuselage build manual is almost worthless. It's very incomplete, out of order, and zooms in to "note the orientation" and has the orientation wrong! There are some short stringers on the bottom of the rear fueselage that are backwards, and the aileron stops are backwards, and the TSi build manual does not clearly show how to mount the cowling fastener strip (inside the firewall, not outside!) and a few other things that are slipping my mind right now. I ended up mostly following other builders logs and some factory photos from Craig's Sling 4 build were very very helpful. Daily emails to technical and Jean were a huge help. TAF says they're working on the new fuselage build manual right now to be released third quarter of 2020.

The finishing kit instructions are somewhat in between, mostly not all that great either. For the fuselage and finishing, its very important to have BOTH kits, as there are several parts that overlap between them so make sure to have both of these kits before starting the fuselage build.

I've got some videos on youtube that I tried to mention issues along the way with the fuselage build, the first video is here-

Hope this helps!

They are improving and the Empennage instructions are pretty good now, with only a few small errors left (which should get fixed in upcoming version as the builders are letting the factory know).

As Evan mentioned below, the Fuselage instructions are still a little bare, which stems from the fact that they started with the Sling 4 instruction manuals and then supplemented specifics to the TSi, but they haven't completely re-written that instruction part yet (as opposed to the Empennage for example, which is basically new for the TSi) - which you can see from the Black-and-white, which is how the pre-TSi manuals used to be.

You can check out the build manuals here on the TAF dropbox (in some of the folders they left old and newer versions, so you can see some of the improvements).

I’m sure the TAF crew will be reading this post so here is my recommendation.....since your using SolidWorks, get their “Composer” add on package which is designed to make manuals easy using you CAD model. I own a similar sized manufacturing company and just purchased this so our engineers don’t have to do manuals or exploded view....it allows anyone to do them and update and modifications are much easier. Composer doesn’t modify the original CAD model either and then it the original CAD model does change, the updates to the manual and instruction are almost automatic.

You can thank me later....it isn’t cheap, but...well worth it. It does dynamic assembly instruction too which would be totally next level if you went that level with your instructions.

On this topic...

As builders discover errors or omissions in the KAI (or.... "I shouldda done it this way...") could there be a model specific topic page that would match up with the KAI chapters?

These pioneering builders have so far been a huge wealth of information already and it would be nice to consolidate this knowledge base.

Matt

MTJ wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 2:40 pm On this topic...

As builders discover errors or omissions in the KAI (or.... "I shouldda done it this way...") could there be a model specific topic page that would match up with the KAI chapters?

These pioneering builders have so far been a huge wealth of information already and it would be nice to consolidate this knowledge base.

Matt

I've started a new thread here with some of the known gotchas that come to mind, I hope other builders will chime in, so we can truly make this a good resource for future builders as well.

It being almost August 2020 - What is the status on an updated KAI for the TSi?
#slingsupport

Good day

Unfortunately we had some delays due to lock down restrictions and resources.
We are working still working on the manuals and making good progress. The plan is the have the updated TSI manuals ready for release by the end of 2020.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any technical advise or assistance on technical@slingaircraft.com during this time.

Hello all..

I had a conversation with TAF about the Apple app and the manuals. I have had problems figuring out some differences between the app and PDF manuals and here is the answer

"The App was created in USA and is out of R&D’s hands. We will look into it and may be part of the App in the future. Never the less, the Dropbox Firewall Forward Construction Manual is the latest revision."

Short answer.. don't use the app.