How hard is a Diamant to assemble?

On Jun 26, 6:17 am, Spam wrote:
A friend of mine is considering buying a diamant. He was told it's
very hard to rig. He's not a member of this group so I am asking for
him.

Anyone ever tried to assemble one? Or dis-assemble one?

Others have pretty well answered this already...but since I went to
the
trouble of generating this, and my news server was balking earlier,
here's one last attempt to send it!
- - - - - -

I've helped rig all 3 models (though not since the 1980's), including
an
extended-span former-18-meter version.

Rigging varies by the model/span. Disassembly of any model is (or
should
be!) a non-issue.

The 15-meter HBV model uses Libelle (301, I seem to recall)
wings, and rigs like a Libelle, except the Diamant's enclosed fuselage
aft of the canopy, covers what is open and top-accessible beneath
Libelles' removable canopy, and in that sense HBV rigging is less easy
than Libelle rigging. IOW, HBV rigging is just like almost all the
rest
of the 15-meter-span fiberglass fleet out there.

The 16.5 and 18-meter Diamants have (considerably) heavier, single-
piece
wings, which get no lighter if their span has been increased (a not-
rare
modification). Other than the weight at the tip, they never seemed
abbie-normally difficult to rig from this tip-holder's perspective.

As with all ships, alignment matters. If the person at the root
is impatient, unskilled, or - by far the worst! - uninterested in
gaining the (easy-to-gain) visual assessment skills required to
achieve
visual alignment, my Pythonesque advice is: Run Away!!! Run Away!!!
Two
wing stands may be a definite asset to the newer owner, in order to
allow the tip person to rest while the owner ascends the new-owner
alignment & assessment learning curve.

I've yet to encounter a difficult-to-rig ship...IF the root guy
understands alignment!!! For the record, THE worst assembly I was ever
involved in (a half-hour daymare) was a 15-meter glass ship (G-102),
rigged - and evidently aided by! - some absolute idiots. By the time
this tip holder figured this out, it was too late*...

Regards,
Bob - *never again - W.

Yes, on the ADs comments earlier, ... check very carefully that the two
key ADs on the "wing/spar bonding check" and the "spar stub
reinforcement" have been completed (needed for most Diamant models,
except for Diamant18 in the USA which is classed experimental, so ADs are
not mandatory ???).

Yes, it may be hard to resell later, I guess it depends on the price.
Maintenance cost is virtually zero, if flys really well, but yes, it is a
bit odd, and the wings are quite heavy. Probably way over-engineered in
many repsects, and to stop flutter (I believe) lots of lead was added to
the flaps and/oe ailerons.

For me, I got lots or performance and hours of flying at a very low
price. A low hull value keeps the insurance cost down as well? I did see
a "Diamant wanted" ad on this site a year or two ago, but wasn't
tempted to sell then. May be in a few years if I am flushed with cash.

David.
Diamant 18 #33, UK.

At 15:42 27 June 2009, wrote:
On Jun 26, 6:17 am, Spam wrote:
A friend of mine is considering buying a diamant. He was told it's
very hard to rig. He's not a member of this group so I am asking for
him.

Anyone ever tried to assemble one? Or dis-assemble one?

Others have pretty well answered this already...but since I went to
the
trouble of generating this, and my news server was balking earlier,
here's one last attempt to send it!
- - - - - -

I've helped rig all 3 models (though not since the 1980's), including
an
extended-span former-18-meter version.

Rigging varies by the model/span. Disassembly of any model is (or
should
be!) a non-issue.

The 15-meter HBV model uses Libelle (301, I seem to recall)
wings, and rigs like a Libelle, except the Diamant's enclosed fuselage
aft of the canopy, covers what is open and top-accessible beneath
Libelles' removable canopy, and in that sense HBV rigging is less easy
than Libelle rigging. IOW, HBV rigging is just like almost all the
rest
of the 15-meter-span fiberglass fleet out there.

The 16.5 and 18-meter Diamants have (considerably) heavier, single-
piece
wings, which get no lighter if their span has been increased (a not-
rare
modification). Other than the weight at the tip, they never seemed
abbie-normally difficult to rig from this tip-holder's perspective.

As with all ships, alignment matters. If the person at the root
is impatient, unskilled, or - by far the worst! - uninterested in
gaining the (easy-to-gain) visual assessment skills required to
achieve
visual alignment, my Pythonesque advice is: Run Away!!! Run Away!!!
Two
wing stands may be a definite asset to the newer owner, in order to
allow the tip person to rest while the owner ascends the new-owner
alignment & assessment learning curve.

I've yet to encounter a difficult-to-rig ship...IF the root guy
understands alignment!!! For the record, THE worst assembly I was ever
involved in (a half-hour daymare) was a 15-meter glass ship (G-102),
rigged - and evidently aided by! - some absolute idiots. By the time
this tip holder figured this out, it was too late*...

Regards,
Bob - *never again - W.

OK, someone else started it. Here's my worst-ever rigging
story...involving a Diamant. I was just a kid, maybe 14 or 15, and one
of my dad's friends took delivery of a new 16.5. We headed up to the
airport one morning to help him rig it for the first flight. Only one
wingstand. Homemade trailer so no fuselage stand. But there were at
least 4 of us so how bad could it be?

The metal fittings were all covered with some kind of preservative
(Cosmoline?) to inhibit rust on the voyage over from Europe. So we
cleaned that off as best we could (we were in a hurry) and slapped the
wings on. Really heavy, but they went on quickly. But the main pin
wouldn't go in.

Remove wings, stare at everything, insert wings, push, shove, groan,
sweat. It was July, I believe, in Indiana...in full sun...in midday.
Hot. Repeat at least a dozen times. Finally we laid the wings down on
the grass and slid them together without the fuselage. Yup, the pin
went in fine. Nothing wrong there. By now we were convinced it was
just a matter of "persuasion". So back on to the fuselage with the
wings. The main pin had a threaded hole into which you inserted a long
T-shaped handle just for assembly. So two of us got on the T handle
and pushed like crazy. There may have been a hammer involved but I've
repressed that memory. Simultaneously we put our full strength into
rotating the handle, trying to twist the pin into place...and twisted
the handle right off, shearing it where it inserted into the main pin.

Now the main pin was part way in with no good way of removing it. At
that point we gave up. Somehow we propped up the other wingtip
temporarily (hood of a car?). The owner called a couple of mechanics
from his company and we took a well-deserved break. They arrived about
90 minutes later, drilled out the stub of the handle from the pin,
rethreaded it, extracted the pin, and watched as we removed the wings.
Their boss was there so they couldn't say what they really thought,
but the looks were enough. Then we watched as they cleaned off the
REST of the rust inhibitor from all the fittings and made up a new
handle. Late that afternoon, the big ship went together like a dream.
I still have a 35 mm slide or two from that first flight just before
sunset.

It's amazing how many rules we broke that day, which far surpassed in
hours, frustration, and effort the nearly one hour my family spent in
the pouring rain in a plowed field trying to remove the wings from my
Dad's 1-23...before he remembered he hadn't disconnected the ailerons.
But the lessons learned have been valuable my entire soaring
career.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA

Chip Bearden wrote:
OK, someone else started it. Here's my worst-ever rigging
story...involving a Diamant. I was just a kid, maybe 14 or 15, and one
of my dad's friends took delivery of a new 16.5. We headed up to the
airport one morning to help him rig it for the first flight. Only one
wingstand. Homemade trailer so no fuselage stand. But there were at
least 4 of us so how bad could it be?

The metal fittings were all covered with some kind of preservative
(Cosmoline?) to inhibit rust on the voyage over from Europe. So we
cleaned that off as best we could (we were in a hurry) and slapped the
wings on. Really heavy, but they went on quickly. But the main pin
wouldn't go in.

Remove wings, stare at everything, insert wings, push, shove, groan,
sweat. It was July, I believe, in Indiana...in full sun...in midday.
Hot. Repeat at least a dozen times. Finally we laid the wings down on
the grass and slid them together without the fuselage. Yup, the pin
went in fine. Nothing wrong there. By now we were convinced it was
just a matter of "persuasion". So back on to the fuselage with the
wings. The main pin had a threaded hole into which you inserted a long
T-shaped handle just for assembly. So two of us got on the T handle
and pushed like crazy. There may have been a hammer involved but I've
repressed that memory. Simultaneously we put our full strength into
rotating the handle, trying to twist the pin into place...and twisted
the handle right off, shearing it where it inserted into the main pin.

Now the main pin was part way in with no good way of removing it. At
that point we gave up. Somehow we propped up the other wingtip
temporarily (hood of a car?). The owner called a couple of mechanics
from his company and we took a well-deserved break. They arrived about
90 minutes later, drilled out the stub of the handle from the pin,
rethreaded it, extracted the pin, and watched as we removed the wings.
Their boss was there so they couldn't say what they really thought,
but the looks were enough. Then we watched as they cleaned off the
REST of the rust inhibitor from all the fittings and made up a new
handle. Late that afternoon, the big ship went together like a dream.
I still have a 35 mm slide or two from that first flight just before
sunset.

It's amazing how many rules we broke that day, which far surpassed in
hours, frustration, and effort the nearly one hour my family spent in
the pouring rain in a plowed field trying to remove the wings from my
Dad's 1-23...before he remembered he hadn't disconnected the ailerons.
But the lessons learned have been valuable my entire soaring
career.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA


Thanks for that Chip. Your stories remind of the situation with the
LAK-12. Assembling the -12 is matter of knowledge, finesse, and proper
rigging aids. Done correctly the -12 goes together easily and without
strain. I assemble mine by myself. Even though each panel weighs 230
pounds one never comes close to lifting that: the wing dolly carries the
weight. Done incorrectly all of the rumours about the -12 seem to be
true (i.e., it takes 10 strong men, plenty of sledge hammers, and at
least 12 hours of sweaty labor by all). I have done it both incorrectly
(no hammers though) and correctly. There is a world of difference.
Disassembly is trivial and very much like taking apart a 15 meter
because no finesse is required. Again the wing dolly, not the human,
carries the weight - just like for a 15 meter wing.

Regards,

-Doug