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Quick Build Wing Tanks

drone_pilot

Well Known Member
Hello All,

I am nearing the end of the RV-10 empennage build. I am considering quickbuild wings as a way to avoid the fuel tank assembly (at least one of my reasons). How has the quality of the fuel tanks been for those of you who went with the Quickbuild wings? Has any of you had issues with weeping rivets etc?

Ben
 
No issues

I had no issues with the QB wings.

I actually removed the tanks from the QB wings to install some the ER tanks and to pressure check them. I found no leaks. I also checked the vent B nut and it was tight.
 
Hello All,

I am nearing the end of the RV-10 empennage build. I am considering quickbuild wings as a way to avoid the fuel tank assembly (at least one of my reasons). How has the quality of the fuel tanks been for those of you who went with the Quickbuild wings? Has any of you had issues with weeping rivets etc?

Ben

I have the quick build tanks on my 10. Pressure checks came out OK, but after about 45 hours of flight I started seeing a leak on my right wing most inboard bulkhead bottom. From looking inside the tank, it appears that there was no prep of the AL before adding the sealant. I would think that it would have been scotch-brighted and solvent cleaned for a good bond. I called Van's and they said to "send us the tank and we will repair it", but I do not want to cut the paint on all the mounting screws on my 30 K+ paint job!! I will this week try to clean, etch, and reseal the spot from the outside (since it's accessible without removing the tank, and see if that holds).

I love my 10, but I think the QB folks need to step up the QC process of doing the tanks.
 
The QB wing tanks quality control leaves a lot to be desired IMHO. Search the forum and your will find numerous reports of QB tanks developing a leak after a short period of time. I decided to do a preemptive strike on my -9A QB tanks and opened every bay up. Not happy with what I found but know for sure they will not leak now. You can read my thread on what I found here along with pictures. Glad I did it! I think it’s not if the tanks will leak, but when. http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=158234
 
I had to remove both my QB tanks to fix leaks in the vent line due to poor workmanship. These leaks don't show up with standard leak testing methods.
 
One thing that I did find about the QB tanks is that the screws holding them on were a bear to get out with many needing screw extractors to remove. I only did one side and and after all the pain I decided he other was not worth it. The bolts holding the z-brackets also were overtorqued.

The tanks did test free of leaks however. I?ll see what happens when it starts flying.
 
Hello All,

How has the quality of the fuel tanks been for those of you who went with the Quickbuild wings? Has any of you had issues with weeping rivets etc?

Ben

Horrible construction on the tanks. Maybe you could remove them from the order and build your own. I doubt yours would be worse...

-Marc
 
My QB wing tanks look fantastic. They are still hanging on the QB wings as arrived and I have not done anything with them yet.
 
My -10 has QB wings.
I've replaced one weeping rivet on the top inboard R tank (under the wing walk, thankfully!). I have another that is starting to weep a tiny bit.

Also, the outboard end of the vent tube in the R tank isn't optimally placed, it overflows fuel much sooner than the L one.

I am glad I built my own tanks on the -8, but it isn't flying yet so whether I did any better remains to be seen!!
 
Pretty shocked by how bad the tank quality seems. You would think Van?s would have taken some big QC measures to get the tanks right. The QB wings are a lot of $$$$ and surprises me that as a purchaser, you have to take whatever quality you get. With $15K and up paint jobs, one leaking rivet can cost a builder a lot of cash in paint repair. Hearing about the misplaced vent lines is disappointing also.

It?s not that I can?t build the tanks, it?s that I really didn?t want to. This thread is changing my mind to suck it up and build the tanks. I know mine will be high quality because if I?m putting the labor in to do it, I?ll make sure they?re built right. I was just hoping to save the time and regular tool cleanup.
 
interesting

It is interesting to see the number of QB complaints there are.

It would also be interesting to hear from those that have been satisfied with them.

A reasonable conclusion may then be reached; without all the data, there is no reasonable conclusion possible...

I hope my QB tanks don't leak when fueled...
 
Mine were OK

I bought the QB tanks for the -10 back in 2007?ish and mine turned out fine while others had issues. Fast fwd I am building a -14 now and built the tanks my self. Now semi retired, I have more time than money so it made more sense. I was more worried in my capabilities at that time. Having built mine this time I am confident that they will not leak (not flying yet...).

I haven?t seen any statistics on good vs bad but suspect that the problems are called out more and the successes are not heard from. Just my thoughts..
 
I haven’t seen any statistics on good vs bad but suspect that the problems are called out more and the successes are not heard from. Just my thoughts..

You know, when a company puts out a product where part of the work is already accomplished, I expect that part to be perfect! There shouldn't be any missed rivets, cases where wrong rivets were used, or other flaws such as leaking tanks.

The QB's are supposed to save work; I feel you shouldn't even have to verify that the tanks don't leak. They shouldn't leak, they are "Pro" built! You aren't paying an amateur to do the work so you have to do it over again. I'm a licensed Plumbing Contractor, and I would never tell a customer to leak check my work. My work can't leak, period.

I didn't build my -10, but a good friend did, and he told me that the QB tanks leaked from the first. Van's said that my current top rivet leaks are caused by walking on the wing walk area, and recommended I mix up some sealant and put it ON TOP of the leaking rivets. Paul at Weep no more said he offered to build the tanks for the QB wings but couldn't work out a deal with Vans.

So yes, you hear about the failures, but there are too many of the same complaints to be acceptable IMHO. You sure wouldn't accept that from other businesses. Stepping down from the soap box now...

-Marc
 
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Add me to the list of leaks.
QB wings built in 2012. Leak checked okay. 200 hrs on the plane.
I have a very small pinhole leak coming through a rivet on my upper surface of the tank.
I'll build the wings on my next plane. Just like many things throughout the build, it was intimidating, but in hindsight I don't think it would've been bad.
 
I really didn't find the tank build so terrible. If that was the only reason to buy the quick build wings, I would suggest biting the bullet and building them.

Go slow. Have several rolls of paper towels handy, clean the gun and each cleco as you use them. Have a box of disposable gloves handy and change them each time you get messy.

For mixing the Proseal, I use a pad of paper. Mix the Proseal on the top sheet, then toss it or set it aside (to check curing later) and you have a clean sheet to mix your next batch. I have a box of tongue depressors for mixing and spreading sticks.

One other comment, after testing the tanks using the balloon method, I used air and a little (very little) more air to lightly pressurize the tank. (Using the tank pick up and a valve to add air, with the vent sealed and the cap in place, until a slight bulge of the skin appears ) With soap bubbles I found a leak at the corner of the rear bulkhead that did not leak with the balloon test. After fixing that I purchased 2 gallons of AV Gas and put it in each tank sequentially and sloshed around, to ?test? and to clean out any debris. I found that sealing the vent and fuel pick up, the tank would develop an internal vapor pressure from the gas (similar to the air test I did) confirming a good seal.

This might give a high level of confidence that the fast build tanks are well sealed.
 
Everyone is thinking it, but I'll say it.
Maybe Vans should reconsider in house quick building. I know it's cheaper for them to outsource out of the country but obviously quality on the very important tanks is lacking. Building them in house in would at least give them QC on the internal portions of the QB where problems rear their ugly head down the road. Alot of things can get covered up on the quick builds. I had some issues with a couple weeping rivets on a older set of QB wings that I'm dealing with, on painted wings. Not fun at this point as they passed a leak test done by me. Luckily most were under the wing walk so far. Several thousand dollar price points should result in quality work.
 
On inspecting my 2008 QB wings, I found the fuel tanks attached with bolts that had multiple washers under their heads. I pulled one; the bolt was one size longer than called for. Evidently the QB factory had run out of the proper bolts, and this was the solution. I replaced them all with the correct bolts, for a few dollars and a few hours of work. But this was not exactly up to my expectations.
 
"You know, when a company puts out a product where part of the work is already accomplished, I expect that part to be perfect! There shouldn't be any missed rivets, cases where wrong rivets were used, or other flaws such as leaking tanks."


I'd have to say that I agree with Marc on this one!

I used to be a Quality Engineer in my past life. I don't understand why IF you know there are quality issues in the product you're building and selling, THEN why don't you solve the problems whether it takes some additional engineering or more ProSeal? ELSE don't sell assembled fuel tanks on the Quickbuild wings. Oh yeah, I was a programmer too. :D

Seems like some of you saved no time on the Quickbuild wings after you had to go drill rivets and fix, test two already built fuel tanks. That sounds worse than just building the tanks.

Disappointed to hear this Vans! Step it up!!
 
expecting QB wings/ tanks

I also should receive my QB kit soon,
has Van's taken any responsibility on such occurrences? reimbursement? or sending new ones? replacing?

Oren
 
I'll chime in here as one with QB wings, and no issues (so far - 60 hours/6 months) with the QB fuel tanks. They tested fine and and have had fuel in them for more than 6 months. I've inspected repeatedly and painter has it now - no evidence of leaks.

I'm guessing that this thread is more reflective of those with problems and that the majority of QB tanks are leak-free. I would be interested in hearing what the QB/leak test process from Van's looks like.
 
I'll chime in here as one with QB wings, and no issues (so far - 60 hours/6 months) with the QB fuel tanks. They tested fine and and have had fuel in them for more than 6 months. I've inspected repeatedly and painter has it now - no evidence of leaks.

I'm guessing that this thread is more reflective of those with problems and that the majority of QB tanks are leak-free. I would be interested in hearing what the QB/leak test process from Van's looks like.

Hopefully yours does not leak but sometimes it takes a while. I was at the 7 month mark when I noticed mine. I think the issue is prep done or not done at the proseal application areas. There was little to no prep done on mine that I could tell. I little scuff and clean could go a long way.
 
I also should receive my QB kit soon,
has Van's taken any responsibility on such occurrences? reimbursement? or sending new ones? replacing?

Oren

When I called on mine, they said "send it in and we will repair". Great, but I would have to cut the paint on how many screws on a 30K paint job !! Next I would want to cut the other tank mounting screws and replace with unpainted screws to match. Lesson is to paint the tank with no externally visible screws in place, so that a possible later removal would not change the appearance (attachment screws unpainted still).
 
I also should receive my QB kit soon,
has Van's taken any responsibility on such occurrences? reimbursement? or sending new ones? replacing?

Oren

When I called on mine, they said "send it in and we will repair". Great, but I would have to cut the paint on how many screws on a $30K paint job !! Next I would want to cut the other tank mounting screws and replace with unpainted screws to match. Lesson here is to paint the tank with no externally visible screws in place, so that a possible later removal would not change the appearance (attachment screws unpainted still).
 
Has anyone checked into the process of hiring someone to build the tanks here? The gentleman who's hangar is across from mine suggested the Panther kit people for me, as they are just up the road in Green Cove Springs.
 
Add me to the list of leaky QB tanks !!

Add me to the list of quick build tank woes.

I have personally built 2 RV10 tanks from scratch and never had a leak.

The set of quickbuild tanks I got from vans have multiple leaking rivets.

I think there are 17 distinct bubbles appearing under the paintjob and one has broken through the paint.

Very dissapointing given the premium paid to get things done by the experts

Would not recommend anyone go with QB tanks in the future.
 
QB arrival dates

Would responders please provide the arrival date of your QB wings? I’m hopeful Vans saw an opportunity to step up their QC process after the corrosion issue they went through but hope is not a plan. I built and managed 5 factories in Asia and know first hand you need boots on the ground to insure QC processes are followed 100% of the time. Periodic kicking the tires is not enough. Thanks
 
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