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RV-7 Andrew Z #73658

It was soooo light without all of those clecos.
Here's the top side...
20110523-015-large.jpg

...and the bottom side.
20110523-016-large.jpg


Then, I started pulling out the blue plastic. I only pulled out the sections where I didn't need more riveting or where the leading edge landing light is going to go.
Pulling off plastic.
20110523-017-large.jpg

Shiny.
20110523-018-large.jpg


Sometimes, I worry that my careful devinyling lines are a little overboard, but then I see these primer edges, and it makes the extra time worth it.
Nice clean lines.
20110523-019-large.jpg


One hour today, and 87 perfect rivets.

(Honesty alert: I did have two small dings, both on the top surface. I hate it when I forget to start with the bottom, where no one will see any mistakes.)
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Post Title: Prepped and Clecoed Right Tank Ribs to Tank Skin
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Thu, 26 May 2011 01:24:26 +0000
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Well, tonight was fairly interesting. I pulled the right tank skin off of the spar (where I had been storing it using a few screws) and set it in the cradle.

Then, I fished out the right tank ribs from under my workbench and started fluting and edge-straightening them. (Luckily, I had remembered to edge-finish them on the scotchbrite wheel with the others a long time ago.)

Anyway, after fluting ribs 1 and 2 (the two inboardmost ribs)...
Not too exciting. 5 more to go.
20110525-002-large.jpg


While I was working, I kept thinking, "I should stop to take a picture...no...they'll be okay with only a final picture."
All 7 ribs ready to be matchdrilled.
20110525-003-large.jpg

Another shot.
20110525-004-large.jpg


Tomorrow, I'll try to get this thing matchdrilled.
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Post Title: Matchdrilled Right Tank Ribs and Baffle
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Thu, 26 May 2011 11:00:07 +0000
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Not many pictures tonight, but I did get the tank matchdrilled.

But first, I got some things ordered from Van's today in preparation for the tank sealing process:
<div id="_mcePaste">
<ul>
?60 x BUSHING SB375-4 Snap Bushings, 3/8 (1/4)
?1 x DUCT NT 5/8-25 Nylon Conduit
?30 x BUSHING SB437-4 Snap Bushings 7/16 (1/4)
?2 x IF-4/6 RV-4/6/6A/7/7A/8/8A Wing tank flop tube
?1 x MC-236-B2 Tank sealant with accelerator QUART KIT
?1 x FUEL TANK TEST KIT Fuel Tank Test Kit
</ul>
</div>
Of course, once I placed the order, I remembered that I buggered up the inboardmost rib of the right leading edge and needed a new one. I need to remember to order that one, and BEG Van's to send it in the same shipment.

I decided to go with 2 flop tubes. (Flop tubes allow the fuel pickups to flop around in the tank, and therefore sustained inverted flight.)

One school of thought is that if you have two flop tubes and they get stiff, you could increase your unusable fuel (they don't flop good no more) in either the upright or inverted attitudes. People therefore put one flop tube in and one rigid pickup. This means you have to switch tanks to your "aerobatic" tank before doing negative-g aerobatics. (How often will I do sustained inverted flight? Probably not very much.)

Anyway, I weighed the pros and cons, and came to the conclusion that the aesthetics of not having a single tank for aerobatics, and therefore a checklist item or a special placard, outweighed the possibility that after 10 years, my tube wouldn't flop as floppily as it did when it was young.

Every couple years, I'll open up the tanks and verify adequate flopitude. They are only $38, so it's probably worth replacing them every 5 years anyway.

So, now that I've settled on duel flopicity, let's get back to building.

I decided while matchdirlling, it would be easiest for me to do it while it was on the spar, so up on the spar the tank went.

(Be careful though, Van's notes to matchdrill off the spar to avoid damaging the spar. This is really only a concern with the baffle holes (about the 10 most inboard ones). Take the tank back off the spar do matchdrill those.)
No action shots today, but much cleco-moving.
20110526-002-large.jpg

Back off the spar for baffle drilling.
20110526-003-large.jpg


Next up is fuel tank stiffeners, then a lot of prep before assembly of the fuel tanks.

1 hour.
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Post Title: Right Tank Stiffeners, Z-Brackets, and Countersinking
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Sat, 28 May 2011 03:00:42 +0000
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First thing, I have to give some mad props to Van's.

If you remember from yesterday, I put in a web order with Van's for some stuff. At the top of my list was that leading edge rib I messed up a few posts ago, and I FORGOT TO ORDER THE RIB!!!

Anyway, here's how a short interaction with Van's (e-mail):
<blockquotespan style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: Good morning, Barb...[snip]...Is there any way you can add an item to my order? I need one of the following, copied from "the list": </span>W-408-1R, NOTCHED NOSE RIB 032, $23.80. <span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;white-space:pre;">If not, I understand...it was my error. But if so, thank you so much!</span/blockquote>
Within an hour (and definitely before normal business hours in OR):
<blockquotespan style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Barb: Andrew, I have forwarded this on to our parts department who will download
</spanspan style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">the web orders this morning and get it added to your order. Barb</span/blockquote>
Then, after about another hour:
<blockquote>Dear Andrew,

The part was added to your order as you requested. I just caught it
rior to being shipped this morning.

Pam
Van's order dept.</blockquote>
Oh man, Van's is awesome. Also, I figured out from the charge that shipping (UPS ground) and handling from Van's was about $15. Not bad.

Anyway, being a Friday, I was looking for something relatively painless to do tonight. I pulled out the T-711 bundle and started in on the stiffeners.
Here's the bundle.
20110527-001-large.jpg


I ended up getting all of the stiffeners ready, for both tanks. I'll put the ones for the left tank away until I'm ready to do that tank.

Below you can see 3 of the four sizes of stiffeners. The fourth size is pretty small, and I left them out of the picture.
Three sets of long, one set of kinda long, one set of kinda short.
20110527-004-large.jpg


Lastly, I took off all of the vinyl. If I were smarter, I would have pulled the vinyl off before cutting them. It would have been a lot easier.
Pile-o'-vinyl.
20110527-006-large.jpg


It was a little late to fire up the scotchbrite wheel, so I pulled out the right z-brackets and clecoed them to the spar. I spent a good five minutes staring at the plans to make sure I had them in the right orientation.
I'm doing this because I never matchdrilled the rear flanges of the interior ribs. The z-brackets and baffle are full-size holes, so I just need to run the drill through them with the flanges in place.
20110527-007-large.jpg

Drilling some holes.
20110527-008-large.jpg

Moved the clecos, drilled the other three.
20110527-009-large.jpg


Then, since I wasn't too tired yet, I broke out the microstop countersink and started countersinking the skin-to-baffle holes. You do this so the baffle is easy to slide in place with the all pro-seal flying around. If it were dimpled, it would be harder.

Countersinking a skin this thin definitely leaves a knife-edge, but that's what Van's calls for here.

I'm planning on using the thicker tank dimple dies everywhere else, which should leave a little extra room for proseal underneath the rivet head, but I couldn't bring myself to deepen these countersinks at all. We'll see if it works out.
Looks good to me.
20110527-011-large.jpg

Much countersinking ensued...
20110527-013-large.jpg

A closeup, for those of you who are interested.
20110527-014-large.jpg


Anyway, it as a nice night in the garage. 1 hour, and getting closer to the black death.
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Post Title: Drilled Right Tank Drain and Cap
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Sat, 28 May 2011 21:00:56 +0000
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Well, admist going to work, running some errands, and doing a MILLION things in the yard, I managed to do two really fun things today.

First, I drilled the VA-112 (Drain Flange) to the lower inboard part of the right tank, and also drilled my fancy new deluxe fuel caps to the upper outboard part of the tank.

The actual quick drain will screw into the drain flange, but for now, I'm just using a rod end bearing lightly threaded in the flange to make sure it's centered in the drain hole already in the skin.

The drain flange is pre drilled and pre countersunk, so I'll use that to matchdrill holes in the skin.
The drain flange and quick drain. I don't need the quick drain, so it went back in the storage bin.
20110528-001-large.jpg

VA-112 and CAV-110.
20110528-002-large.jpg


You can just barely see the tip of a rod end bearing being useful to me here.
Once I had two clecos in, I removed the rod end bearing.
20110528-003-large.jpg

All six holes drilled.
20110528-004-large.jpg


Next, I pulled out my deluxe fuel caps. (This is where you go "oooooooh, ahhhhh.")
Van's even underlined the name to signify how AWESOME they are.

I had to pull off the outboard right tank rib for good clamping access. Looks like I already made a vinyl-removal circle.
I love it when I've already done stuff.
20110528-008-large.jpg


For the cap, the skin is already drilled, so you have to align the cap, then clamp, and use the holes in the skin to matchdrill the cap.

After a good 10 minutes of clamping, checking, reclamping, girlfriend helping to hold, clamping, checking, rechecking, I finally got an alignment I (WE!!!) was (were) happy with.
That's about as good as I'll ever get it.
20110528-011-large.jpg


Finally, I got all...(counting)...10 holes drilled.
20110528-014-large.jpg

A closeup of the alignment (looks like I have some aluminum shavings to clean up).
20110528-015-large.jpg

So, wouldn't it be funny if I hadn't edited this picture, you could see my key number on the lock, you made a copy of the key, and then stole all my Avgas? That wouldn't be funny, so I made sure to edit the picture.
20110528-016-large1.jpg

I'm very happy with how this turned out.
20110528-017-large.jpg


It was only 30 minutes worth of work, but having the deluxe fuel caps in there made it look really good.

Possibly more tonight.
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Post Title: Right Tank Stiffener Prep
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Tue, 31 May 2011 01:16:05 +0000
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So, among other horrible things that happened to me today (leaky toilet, Sopranos DVD that kept skipping, ground turkey burgers, which were delicious, except it was actually chicken), and dogs that are freaking out at the neighborhood fireworks, I managed to drop my ONLY set of cleco pliers behind my workbenches.

"But Andrew, you have both your workbenches on wheels," you say?

Yes, except I still have the spar box, and it's lengthwise under both workbenches, so I really can't move either.

After a few minutes of maneuvering, I gathered up a few things I found under the workbenches.
I was wondering where my first-aid kit went.
20110530-012-large.jpg


Anyway, I spent about 30 minutes at the scotchbrite wheel edge-finishing my stiffeners.

After that, I got them clecoed into the skins (yes, I know I'm not doing them the same way as the elevators, I don't think I need to drill them into wood this time).

I labeled them before continuing so I could get them back to the same spot when ready for final assembly.
Here, you can see 6A (aft) and 6F (forward).
20110530-013-large.jpg

5A anf 5F.
20110530-014-large.jpg

1A and 1F. I only show these because Van's cautions everyone to have enough room to the left of these stiffeners for water (contamination) to flow to the drain to the lower left. I think I've got plenty of room.
20110530-015-large.jpg


Then, I got to drilling. I went a little different route and drilled from the outside-in.
Lot's of clecos.
20110530-016-large.jpg


After drilling, I spent the last 30 minutes of my work session tonight deburring the holes, then scuffing just the bottom side (becuase that's where the pro-seal will go), and finally dimpling the holes in the stiffeners using my tank dimple dies from Avery.
1st one done.
20110530-019-large.jpg


Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
All 12 complete.
20110530-020-large.jpg

Here's the scuffed skin, ready for dimpling.
20110603-003-large.jpg
 
I still needed to remove some vinyl from a few places, so I clecoed the drain flange on the wrong side and used it as a guide for the soldering iron.
This is on the inside of the skin, where this normally goes on the outside.
20110603-004-large.jpg

After soldering.
20110603-005-large.jpg


I did the same with the fill cap and flange. Clecoed them on the outside so I could get a nice round hole.
You can see where I've marked the flange for future positioning.
20110603-006-large.jpg

After devinyling with the soldering iron...
20110603-007-large.jpg


I don't know what this picture is showing.
Another picture of the skin?
20110603-008-large.jpg


Oh, while the soldering iron was cooling down, I didn't want to just abandon it to start a fire or anything, so I kept the fill cap flange out and decided to do some countersinking.

First, though, I found some 0.32" and made a #40 hole, then dimpled with the deeper tank dimple dies.
A tank dimple to test countersinks.
20110603-010-large.jpg


After some countersinking...
After testing, I don't think these were deep enough.
20110603-011-large.jpg


I turned it a few clicks deeper and went back around.
Much better.
20110603-012-large.jpg

With the test dimple in place...now I'm happy.
20110603-014-large.jpg


Hmm. Soldering iron is still hot. Maybe I'll fool around with some AN hardware since that stuff is coming up.

I fished out the AN hardware, both -4D and -6D sizes and screwed some pieces together based on the plans. -4 is four sixteenths, or for 1/4" tubing and -6 is six sixteenths, or 3/8" tubing.

On the RV airplanes, fuel vent lines are 1/4" tubing (-4D hardware, in the background), and fuel feed lines are 3/8" tubing (-6D hardware, in the foreground).
-4D and -6 D hardware.
20110603-017-large.jpg


1.5 hours. Proseal soon...
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Post Title: Dimpled Right Tank Skin
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Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:14:23 +0000
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Well, Andrew went shopping today!

It's been brutal in the shop, so I put up the electric heater I had on the bench and put in its place this new VORNADO. For such a small package, it does a pretty good job of moving air. You have to have it pointed right at yourself though.
The VORNADO. (insert ominous music here)
20110604-001-large.jpg


Also, I bought the craftsman circle cutter for the large 6" holes I need in the fuel tank inboard ribs.
Time to cheat death.
20110604-002-large.jpg

These pliers weigh 155 grams.
20110604-005-large.jpg


Okay, back to work, Andrew!

I broke out the c-frame again and loaded in my tank dimple dies. On all of the other skins, I'd been putting the male die on the bottom, putting the hole in the skin over the die, lowering the female die, and then holding it in place while I struck it with the hammer.

On these skins, I'm flipping the skin over (so the other half of the skin hangs off the front of the workbench toward the ground).

This means I have to have the female die on the bottom, and the male die on top. To avoid my figure-8 dimple from the leading edge, I removed the return spring from the c-frame so any fidgety hands won't cause anything to move.
Here I am about halfway through with the bottom half of the right tank skin.
20110604-009-large.jpg


(Whiny voice:) My hand got really tired (the hammer is sooo heavy, sissy boy!), so I took a break.

Not sure why I weighed a cleco, but I was curious.
13 g. Hmm.
20110604-010-large.jpg


Back to work again. Here's the bottom half of the right tank skin.
Since there are more holes on the bottom than on the top, I am more than halfway done!
20110604-011-large.jpg

A closeup of the top skin dimpled.
20110604-012-large.jpg

The hole (get it?) thing dimpled.
20110604-013-large.jpg


At this point, I had been working for 1 hour and 20 minutes, so I felt like I should find something to do for 10 minutes just so I can log 1.5 in the build log. I broke out the #8 dimple dies and dimpled the #19 holes in the outboard edge of the tank skin.
You can see the size difference between the #40 and #8 dimples (The numbered comparison is not right here. #8 screws require #19 holes, so you are comparing #40 to #19).
20110604-014-large.jpg


With a few minutes left, and a new tool just itching to be used, I broke out the 7/16" drill bit and drilled the vent fitting hole in the inboard rib.

I've been following a few threads on VAF recently, and some people are really freaking about about an exact location for this. I followed Van's directions explicitly, which say "approximate location."
 
Ha. I didn't even give myself a starting mark!
Looks good.
20110604-015-large.jpg


Then, I pulled out the -4 fittings and screwed them in, just to see what they would look like.
The plans show this pointed foward. Okay.
20110604-016-large.jpg

The VORNADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
20110604-017-large.jpg


1.5 hours. Proseal arrives on Monday. Next week is the black death!
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Post Title: Right Tank Inboard Rib Work
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Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:07:16 +0000
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After another full weekend of housework, errands, etc., I managed to fit in some work on the right tank's inboard rib.

First thing, I fished out some parts. Here, Vans has punched out three parts, T-407 and T-410.
Hmm...where are my snips?
20110605-001-large.jpg


I decided to pull both assemblies(?) out and get them all deburred at the same time.

Here are the two access hole doubler rings and four rib reinforcement plates after deburring.
I put two of the reinforcements and one of the rings away until needing them on the other tank.
20110605-003-large.jpg


Then, I took one of the rings, centered it over the stiffener bump on the inboard rib, and used a straightedge to find the center of the circle.
"x" marks the spot.
20110605-004-large.jpg


I know I'm not really working on the left tank right now, but I decided that since I KNOW the circle cutter is going to be a PITA, I'll just go ahead and do the left rib, too.

I fished out the two end ribs for the left tank and marked them so I knew which is which.
L1 and L7.
20110605-005-large.jpg


Before mounting the ribs up on the drill press, I needed to find some wood backing. How's this tank-rib-shaped piece right here?
Pepsi should pay me for the product placement.
20110605-006-large.jpg


Whoa. That sucked. It sucked so bad, I didn't even take any pictures. Among other things, the circle cutter 1) wouldn't stay in one diameter, 2) shook so badly I thought my workbench was going to fall over, 3) almost killed me twice.

But, I finally managed to get a decent looking hole.
Phew, I'm glad that's over.
20110605-007-large.jpg

See? Nice hole.
20110605-008-large.jpg


Oops, looks like the hole was a little big. No worries, edge distance for the rivets is just fine.
The hole in the rib is a little big...
20110605-009-large.jpg


After some more cursing, cheating death, and general unhappiness, I managed to get a better (appropriately sized) hole on the left inboard rib.
I think I'm going to throw away the fly cutter now. Stupid piece of ****.
20110605-010-large.jpg
 
Okay, I'm straying from the instructions a little here. Normally, they want you to take this access cover, hold it against the rib, and use the prepunched #19 holes to drill holes in the rib. Then, hold the stiffener right aligned with those holes, and drill the nutplate attach rivet holes. Clear?

Instead, I'm going to eyeball the clocking of the access cover (so the flat part doesn't interfere with the indentation in the rib), then just use the stiffener ring for all the drilling. (I need to order a new access cover with no holes in it because I'm using flop tubes (don't need the small hole), which means I need to move the float sender to the second bay (don't need the large hole).)

You can see in this picture, the stiffener ring is laid in place, and it looks like the access cover is clocked correctly.
Access cover in the foreground, stiffener ring in the background.
20110605-011-large.jpg

Clamped.
20110605-012-large.jpg

Drilled.
20110605-017-large.jpg

Dimpled the rib, and countersunk the ring.
20110605-019-large.jpg

clecoed some K1000-8 nutplates in place.
20110605-020-large.jpg


Here's where things got frustrating. Because I wasn't paying attention, I just started riveting the nutplates in place.
Clearly I didn't countersink enough.
20110605-021-large.jpg

Another view. Yikes.
20110605-022-large.jpg


I drilled out six nutplates (didn't enlarge any holes in the rib or stiffener), but couldn't get the rivets out of the nutplates. They got THROWED AWAY!
Sorry, nutplates. You are going in the trash. It's not worth my time to fix you.
20110605-023-large.jpg


Okay, more countersinking, then try again. Still not deep enough? Ugh, more countersinking again, and finally, they were deep enough.

I got frustrated, so I stopped taking pictures. Sorry.

After much cursing and angry mumbling, I got all 24 rivets in for the 12 nutplates.

I had to drill out two more rivets because they were sitting a little proud. In the end though, I'm happy with the results.
These didn't need sealant because the access cover will be sealed over them.
20110605-024-large.jpg

A shop head shot.
20110605-025-large.jpg


24 rivets, 8 drilled out. (one third!? Ugh.)

2.0 glorious hours today.
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Post Title: Inboard Tank Attach Bracket
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Tue, 07 Jun 2011 03:00:20 +0000
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Well, my order came in from Van's today. Here are the goods.
It's like Christmas, but in June.
20110606-001-large.jpg


First up, a W-408-1R, NOTCHED NOSE RIB. Turns out, I ruined the other one by not making sure it was all lined up prior to drilling. I have a good idea on how to make this one work out, so stay tuned.

Also included in this order, my flop tubes, and some snap bushings, which I needed to order due to all of the holes I drilled in the wing ribs. (Oh man, now I want a steak.)
Leading edge rib, flop tubes, and snap bushings.
20110606-002-large.jpg


Then, the proseal (black death!), fuel tank leak test kit, and 25' of black corrugated tubing that should fit nicely in the holes I drilled in the ribs (see steaky link above).
Black tubing, proseal, and test kit.
20110606-003-large.jpg


Even though I REALLY WANTED to break out the proseal and start slathering it all over my workbench, airplane, hands, clothes, and face, I decided to wait until my popsicle sticks and syringes come in from amazon.

So tonight, I decided to work on the right inboard attach bracket.

After studying the plans, I grabbed the AA6...I'm not going to type out the part number. See the picture below.
Yup. That's it.
20110606-005-large.jpg

(Insert silence here where I tried for 10 minutes to figure out what R1 is.)
20110606-006-large.jpg


I'm really sorry to admit this, but I started scouring the internet. Googled "VAF R1 TANK ATTACH BRACKET" and "R1 NOTE DWG 16A VANS RV-7."

To no avail.

Then, someone's build site (can't remember who), admitted that they spent 10 minutes and some google searches trying to find out what the R1 stood for before they realized that it wasn't a note, it was RADIUS=1 inch.

Duh.

Okay, I've got some lines drawn.
Whose cute toes are those?
20110606-007-large.jpg

I think that is T-410 on the top of the picture. I used that to trace mirror images on the 2" side.
20110606-008-large.jpg

Then, I pulled a can of OFF from the shelf and used it to make a 1" radius circle. Then, connected the tangents after drawing a 1/2" line along each side of the bottom. (The drawing is half scale, and it was 1.4" on the drawing.)
20110606-009-large.jpg
 
After some sawing, I for some reason lost interest and broke out some of the snap bushings.

Two of the smaller size (SB375-4), and one of the bigger size (SB437-4).
Sweet. These will work perfectly.
20110606-011-large.jpg

Nice.
20110606-013-large.jpg

Umm, who took this redundant picture?
20110606-014-large.jpg


Okay, back to sawing.
Hmm. This turned out to be annoying with the jigsaw. Maybe I need a bandsaw.
20110606-015-large.jpg

Done.
20110606-016-large.jpg


Insert about 30 minutes of deburring on the scotchbrite wheel....
Deburred.
20110606-017-large.jpg


So, then I put it in the nose of the inboard rib, and admired how nicely it fit. (Actually, it still needs a little trimming around the edges.)
Looks good.
20110606-018-large.jpg


Okay, I didn't do a good job of taking pictures here, but basically, I drew a line 1 and 1/16" back from the tip of the rib, and then drew a line parallel to the front edge, but 2 diameters of the final rivet size (1/8") away.
Here's where I got the 1 and 1/16" from.
20110606-019-large.jpg


Then, I marked and drilled 5 of the 6 rivet holes, along with the center hole, which is the pilot hole for the 9/16" hole that the flop tube fitting will fit through.
confused?
20110606-020-large.jpg

Here's a better picture. 5 plus the pilot drilled, and I've laid in the AN nut to see where I can put the sixth (marked) without rivet head interference.
20110606-021-large.jpg
 
This is me trying to figure out what size hole I'll need for the fitting.
0.563? What fraction gives me 0.563?
20110606-023-large.jpg


Obviously 8/16" is 0.5 and 5/8" is 0.625. Let's try 9 divided by 16.
Wuhoo!
20110606-024-large.jpg


Apparently I don't have a 9/16" bit, but I did work my way up to 1/2" and then lay in some AN470AD4-7 rivets so I could show you my good spacing.
How's it look?
20110606-025-large.jpg

Here's the other side.
20110606-026-large.jpg


1.5 hours. Still need a 9/16" bit, but that won't stop me from getting into the tank stiffeners, drain flange, and filler cap soon.

I'm actually looking forward to it. Maybe this week.
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Post Title: Riveted Right Tank Stiffeners
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Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:00:30 +0000
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Well, tonight was the big night. I finally got started sealing up the right tank.

The general order is as follows:

?Backrivet stiffeners
?Rivet drain flange and fuel cap flange (don't forget the vent clip!)
?Cleco all ribs into tank (to maintain assembly straightness)
?Starting with second-to outboardmost rib (the smallest area to work for bucking), seal and rivet each inboard rib. Assuming 7 ribs, from inboard to outboard, my order will be 6,3,5,2,4,7,1. That way, there's always ribs on either side of the one I'm working on. This may be a waste of time, but it will make me feel better.
?Oh, before the inboardmost rib, I need to make sure I get the vent line in there, with the AN fitting, before bending and flaring the tubing to fit over the AN male fitting in the inboard rib.
?Install anti-hangup brackets, trap door, float sender (have to move this to 2nd bay) and flop tubes.
?Close tank.
?Have beer in celebration.
</ol>
Oops, looks like number 8 will occur after each step (but only at the end of each night.)

Okay, let's get to the pictures. I got out my new kitchen scale, the small and large popsicle sticks, rubber gloves (snap!), MEK, electrical tape, and paper towels out. Let's see, what am I forgetting?

Oh YEAH, the Proseal. I guess it's really called FlameMaster tank sealant, but I'm going to continue to call it proseal.

Also, I have 900 or so solo cups from my earlier partying days, and I thought those would be great for mixing proseal. (Caveat: when the directions tell you to swirl some rivets in MEK to remove the manufacturing oils, don't use solo cups, the MEK burns through the white coating and the whole mixture becomes milky. Ask me how I know...at least I did a test before throwing in some rivets.)

First thing, I laid the stiffeners in place without rivets just to see where I needed to protect the rib lines with electrical tape.
Okay, let's start getting messy.
20110608-002-large.jpg


Anyway, I got some rivets soaked in MEK and then dumped them out on the paper towel.
asdf
20110608-003-large.jpg


I did a THOROUGH cleaning of both the skin and the stiffeners, then said a little prayer and got to proseal mixing.

I started with 2 oz. of white stuff and then added 0.2 oz of black stuff. (The picture reads 2.3 because I kept the popsicle stick.)
Oh, and I barely caught myself before using the white-stuff-soaked stick to scoop out some black stuff. That was close.
20110608-004-large.jpg


Anyway, I did my first batch in a solo cup, and I've decided to immediately switch to something wider and lower-lipped. In mixing the proseal, you basically push all the proseal up on the walls of the cup, and now you really only have an ounce or so to work with, because you've done a great job of sealing your cup. I feel like I wasted a whole bunch of proseal tonight having left most of it on the walls of the cup. Grrr.)
My first batch was the messiest because while stirring, all my gloved knuckles kept hitting the walls of the cup and gathering proseal.
20110608-005-large.jpg


Moving on, I grabbed a....****...I don't have anything to dab proseal into the dimples of the skin! Umm....Umm...

This cable tie will work! (It actually worked great, very similar to a toothpick that others use.)

Just to test out the process, I dabbed 4 holes of one of the outboard stiffeners, put some rivets in, spread sealant on the stiffener, laid it in place, and backriveted the heck out of it!
Looks okay, but why didn't you clean up the skin (you'll find out later).
20110608-006-large.jpg


Oh man, this stuff is MESSY. After reading a ton of build sites (Bullock's, Oliver's, Beaver's), I was convinced I would make mine really neat compared to their's.

By the end of the night, I felt like I was "arbitrarily slopped all over the place as a sort of voodoo talisman employed to ward off leak demons." (Quote from Rick Galati.)

Anyway, I flipped the skin back over, put a dab of sealant in the rest of the dimples, taped over them all, flipped the skin back over, laid the stiffeners in place and got to backriveting.
Taped, ready to backrivet.
20110608-007-large.jpg

You can see how messy the outside of the skin is going to be.
20110608-008-large.jpg


It went well. The worst part is that by wet setting the rivets (sealant in dimple before inserting rivet), there is proseal all over the rivet on the other side. That means the proseal gets all over your rivet set, and therefore my hands as I steady the set during shooting (watch for my fingerprints later).

After getting all the rivets set, I grabbed more sealant and created fillets around each of the stiffeners.
Yikes, this is not very pretty.
20110608-009-large.jpg


Finally, I filled a little 20cc syringe I got from Target with sealant and encapsulated each rivet. This part worked REALLY well.
Tomorrow, the encapsulations look even better.
20110608-010-large.jpg


As a final note, I followed Bill Repucci's advice and resisted ALL TEMPTATION to wipe off the skin of the tank with MEK after backriveting. Apparently, some MEK might soak under the rivet head and work its way into a leak path. (No Leaks!). I'll try the razor blade trick later, but just so you know, that's why these skins don't look as pretty as Bullock's and Oliver's.
Bill suggests using a razor blade to clean after a week or so.
20110608-012-large.jpg
 
In the end, it was about 2 hours and 78 rivets. not bad for a day's work. It was wicked hot in the garage, and I was in desparate need of some refreshment once inside.
That'll do the trick.
20110608-014-large.jpg


During this whole ordeal, there was proseal everywhere, so I had to get an MEK-soaked towel out and start cleaning up. It broke my rule about not cleaning with MEK until it's cured, but I couldn't leave it the way it was. After cleaning everything up, I made sure I had fresh MEK down on both sides to prevent leaks.

Oh, remember yesterday when I promised you my rivet encapsulation was improving? Check these out!
How awesome are those!?
20110609-003-large.jpg


Wash, rinse, repeat on the fuel cap flange (except I went back to backriveting).

I had to remember to use different sized rivets on different thickness areas of the flange, but I copied Brad Oliver.

On the top and bottom rivets, 2 total, (skinniest part of the flange), I used AN426AD3-4, the adjacent ones (4 total), I used -4.5 rivets, and on the middle 4, I used -5 rivets.
Easy as pie!
20110609-004-large.jpg


UPDATE: Notice anything missing? like the VENT CLIP THAT EVERYONE ALWAYS FORGETS AND I SPENT A WEEK REMINDING MYSELF TO <span style="text-decoration:underline;">NOT FORGET</span>!?

Ugh.

Of course, I had already broken my rule once, so I went ahead and cleaned the top of the skin up.
Looks sooooo good!
20110609-005-large.jpg


The drain flange ended up being okay, too.
Not the prettiest, but you'll never notice while I'm flying.
20110609-008-large.jpg


1.0 hour. 16 rivets. 6 drilled out. (boo!)

Oh, and how great is my girlfriend!? While I was outside slapping sealant all over the garage, she was inside making spaghetti with meat sauce (and fresh basil!).

Life is good.
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Post Title: Fixed Right Vent Clip Omission
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Sat, 11 Jun 2011 15:00:13 +0000
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By the title, you can tell that I totally forgot the vent clip on the right tank's fuel cap flange.

I spent a week preparing myself, reading everyone's posts on VAF and their build logs, all of which said, "don't forget the vent clip."

Of course, I forgot the vent clip.

Before we get into the proseal again, I got a tool order in from the Yard.

Boelube, safety wire (0.032"), safety wire pliers, a few clecos, a new flush set, and a whole bunch of drill bits.
New toys!
20110609-009-large.jpg


Okay, let's get to fixing that forgotten vent clip.

Surprisingly, after a day or so, it was pretty easy to just pull off the proseal dab I had on the rivet.
The uncovered rivet is on the upper right.
20110609-011-large.jpg


Oh, someone mentioned on VAF that I shouldn't use the blue stuff as electrical tape. I pulled off a few sections to see how it went, and I actually like the way it works. I'll stick with the blue stuff.
Worked okay for me.
20110609-014-large.jpg


Okay, this paragraph represents the 3 times I had to drill out and reinstall the rivet.

Here's the first try. When it set, it was a little proud, and I just couldn't stand for that.
The rivet in question is the lower left one.
20110609-015-large.jpg


After trying two more times, I ended up with this one.

It's pretty great, except for the fact that it's differently colored. (I think that particular rivet came with the practice kit.
I can live with that (barely).
20110609-016-large.jpg


Here's the vent clip side. After reading more, some people who forget this just leave it off, as the next inboard rib is so close.

I figured that Van put it there for a reason.
My clip is a little tall (which means it will be lower), but everyone just bends the very tip up anyway.
20110609-017-large.jpg

The rivet in question is the bottom one. If I still decide to polish the airplane, the rivets will all turn to the same polished color. I just need to remember to get rid of that tiny sliver of proseal sticking out from beneath the head.
20110609-018-large.jpg


Overall, today was a REALLY frustrating day. Didn't set any new rivets, but drilled 3 times.

I guess I have to have days like this so that the other days can be good ones. Onwards and upwards.
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I STRONGLY recommend putting in anti-rotation brackets towards the front of the flop tube exit inside the tank. It caused me problems and I had to assess the inside again after I was all finished. See my blog here for info (post 69). Looking good btw, aren't the tanks oh so fun?!? :D
 
I STRONGLY recommend putting in anti-rotation brackets towards the front of the flop tube exit inside the tank.

Hi Jereme. I?ve been posting here from my website from back in the day. That last post was from 2011! I?m going to look tonight to see what I did with them. Thanks for the heads up. (Still have the left tank to build anyway.)
 
Hi Jereme. I?ve been posting here from my website from back in the day. That last post was from 2011! I?m going to look tonight to see what I did with them. Thanks for the heads up. (Still have the left tank to build anyway.)

Oh wow! Well at any rate if you have to access the inside for this task it wasn't all that difficult, just took time.
 
Oh wow! Well at any rate if you have to access the inside for this task it wasn't all that difficult, just took time.

I looked again at my pictures and of course couldn't tell. Then i looked back at DWG 16A and I think I omitted the anti-rotation bracket because it's not needed. On the standard pickup, there is no internal safety wire to precent rotation (and hence the needed bracket). Because the flop tub installation has the safety wire, the bracket isn't needed.

Is this incorrect?
 
Post Title: Right Tank Rib Prep
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Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:59:20 +0000
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Not much today, but here goes anyway.

I had approximately half a syringe full of proseal in the freezer from Saturday (I think), and it was going to go past its 4 days of freezer goodness, so I pulled it out and made my rivet encapsulation dollops (umm, spelling?) a little bigger.
I still have good pathways for water, but just wanted to be sure I sealed those puppies well.
20110614-001-large.jpg

Same thing on the cap flange, except these don't look as pretty.
20110614-002-large.jpg


Then, I spent some time deburring and dimpling tank ribs.
Two done.
20110614-003-large.jpg


Dinner time!!!
For extra credit, this picture has Jack and Ginger, too!
20110614-007-large.jpg


After some more rib prep, I have 6 of the 7 ribs clecoed in place.
(Still working on the inboard rib.)
20110614-008-large.jpg


My gameplan from here onwards will be to finish up the first rib, then work on the outboard rib (there's a reinforcement plate I have to drill), then pull one (or two) ribs out at a time, clean judiciously, put sealant on the flanges, 100% cleco in place, then rivet.

Then, make fillets, do some rivet encapsulation, and celebrate with beer.

I'm planning on one rib per night, but might get in two. Just a few more nights of miscellaneous work, then I can get started.

1.0 hour.
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Post Title: One Right Tank Rib Done
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Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:00:32 +0000
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Well, instead of working on the two end ribs, I decided to bite the bullet and get started on the interior ribs. First step was to remove the target rib (I'm choosing #6 as the first one), get the skin and rib perfectly clean, and get the proseal ready.

Here's the skin, ready to receive its first rib.
I left the blue vinyl on because it's been good mess control for me. YMMV.
20110615-001-large.jpg


After mixing 1.0 oz of white stuff with 0.1 oz black stuff, you get some goopy grey stuff!
All buttered up, ready to go in the skin.
20110615-002-large.jpg


Okay, this paragraph represents about 45 minutes worth of work with gloves on, and therefore no pictures. I clecoed the rib in, then removed a cleco, inserted a clean (MEK soaked) rivet, covered it in tape, then riveted.
This is the bottom of the tank after getting all of those shot and bucked.
You can see the squeezeout, and I'm trying to leave it alone until later.
20110615-003-large.jpg


After drilling out carefully, finding the shop head in the tank, and cleaning up again, I came out with this:
All fixed..
20110615-007-large.jpg

Nice.
20110615-008-large.jpg


Here's a shot of my fillets (but no rivet encapsulation yet). I have to get a syringe out for that, and I don't want to waste a syringe unless I know I can do a few ribs at a time. I may just wait until I can do all the ribs at once.
From the right...
20110615-009-large.jpg

From the left...
20110615-010-large.jpg


And, during final cleanup of my tools tonight,
All gone.
20110615-011-large.jpg


1.0 hour, 34 rivets, 1 SUCCESSFULLY drilled out.
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Post Title: Right Leading Edge Inboard Rib Redux
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Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:00:31 +0000
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Since I'm out of MEK and I didn't get a chance to stop by the store on the way home, I decided to work on the new inboard leading edge rib I ordered for the right side. If you remember back on May 13, 2011, I discovered that by having the inboard face of the rib lined up with the edge of the leading edge skin, the drilled holes ended up being too close to the web of the rib. (See this picture specifically.)

Anyway, let's see if we can't get a better alignment.

First thing, I kinda-sorta set the rib in place and just made some small marks where the holes would be. This is so I could pull the rib back out and flute it appropriately before drilling.
Marks made.
20110617-001-large.jpg


I still need to tidy it up a little, and probably go to 7/16" instead of 3/8" (the tiedown ring is 3/8"), but I'll leave that for another day.

0.5 hour.
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Post Title: Two More Right Tank Ribs Sealed
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Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:07:55 +0000
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Today was a busy day! Even though I'm logging all the time today as on the fuel tanks, I did spend just a couple minutes on the leading edge.

First thing, I deburred and dimpled the inboard leading edge rib, then fit it back in place on the leading edge, this time WITH the joint plate.
Looking good.
20110618-001-large.jpg


First, let's get this thing cut in half.
Not bad. Needs deburring, though.
20110618-004-large.jpg


Then, let's uncrimp the other side so the thing will fit into the cutter (I want a fresh cut on both ends).
Yikes.
20110618-005-large.jpg


Of course, I made a fresh cut on this end too, then deburred both sides, and promptly put the tubes away before taking any more pictures. Sorry.

On to some tank ribs.

After the usual cleaning and preparations, I buttered up rib #5 and clecoed it in place. Here are some undriven rivets with tape on the heads, ready to be set.
Ready for riveting.
20110618-008-large.jpg


Then, I repeated the whole process for rib #3.
...and my trusty rivet gun.
20110618-010-large.jpg


A picture of the top side.
Nice, except for the very last rivet I shot, which is on the lower right corner. Ding city.
20110618-011-large.jpg

Starting from the (invisible) rib all the way to the left, I did ribs 2 and 5 today.?
20110618-012-large.jpg


Still need some rivet encapsulation, but overall, a really good day. 34 rivets times 2, none drilled out.

Oh, and 3 hours. (It really only took me one hour per rib, but I was messing around with the leading edge and the fuel tube stuff.
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Post Title: Riveted Right Inboard Leading Edge Rib
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Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:02:10 +0000
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Now much to report tonight. I riveted the right leading edge inboard rib to the skin, along with the W-423 (?) joint plate.
15 perfectly set rivets here (on the bottom side of the skin)...
20110620-001-large.jpg


29 rivets, 0.5 hours. It don't get no better than this.
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Post Title: Outboard Right Tank Rib Sealed
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Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:00:27 +0000
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<blockquote>Me: "Alright, baby. I'm going to go try to build us a good airplane."</blockquote>
(a few minutes pass...the the girlfriend peeks her head out the door.)
<blockquote>GF: "What do you mean you're going to TRY to build us a good airplane. You're going to take me thousands of feet in the air..."

Me: "MILES into the air!" (I interjected, just being a smartass.)

GF: "...and you're going to TRY!?"

Me: "Okay, okay. I'll build you a good airplane."</blockquote>
Well, I guess I better concentrate then, shouldn't I. First thing tonight, I wanted to work a little on the inboard rib assembly.

Because I don't have a 9/16" drill bit (and neither does Northern Tool and Equipment, Lowe's, or Home Depot), I broke out the Unibit and taped off the 9/16" level.

I know I can't punch all the way through the three pieces near the nose of the inboard rib, but if I at least start the three, I can disassemble, then get the last layer by itself.
I love this unibit. I need to use it more.
20110621-001-large.jpg


After chucking it into the drill press and working a little magic, I ended up with this.
This hole was 1/2", and you can see that I was able to get through the first two layers and start into the third with the 9/16."
20110621-002-large.jpg


Apparently I didn't take a picture of the finished product, so this will have to do.

I quickly mocked up the flop tube just to see where I stand.
This is upright.
20110621-008-large.jpg

This is inverted. Looks like I'll have good fuel flow while upside down.
20110621-009-large.jpg


$10 says my mom reads this and adds a comment: "INVERTED!?"
Here's the other side, and my amazing edge distances. Booyeah.
20110621-010-large.jpg


Okay, I was planning on sealing rib #4 tonight, but I think I heard snoring from upstairs, so I better stick with something less noisy.

How about the end rib? Well. Van's says to do all the interior ribs, then the inboard rib, then...well, they don't really say when to do the outboard rib. The only reason I wouldn't be able to do this now would be something about the vent line, but I can feed that in from the inboard side and then bend the tip up while it's in place.

Let's get to it!

First thing, since the outboard side screws into the joint plate on the leading edge, I carefully applied electrical tape where I didn't want any sealant.
Hard to see here, I know.
20110621-013-large.jpg


Oh, then I started making sure I had a nice fillet of proseal on the interior side of the rib, and it just kept getting messier and messier, so I finally just buttered up the whole surface of the reinforcement plate.
The reinforcement plate is under all of that proseal.
20110622-006-large.jpg


Yikes. I came back to the exterior side and put dollaps on each of the rivet heads.
Messy. I need to stick with the syringe for rivet encapsulation.
20110622-010-large.jpg


0.5 hour. 3 Rivets.
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Post Title: Last of the Interior Right Tank Ribs
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Sun, 26 Jun 2011 20:00:49 +0000
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Well, between a puppy run, mowing the lawn, and a run to Lowe's to get some house-related stuff, I managed to fit in a good three hours on the right tank.

First up, I unfurled some of the -4 tubing that's provided (the tape said the roll from Vans was 19') and tried to bend it as straight as I could. I notice in other's pictures, it looks perfectly straight, but I couldn't get mine that good. When you actually see a picture of it, let me know if you think it's straigh.

Anyway, slid it in the installed ribs (after putting in some snap bushings), and cut it about an inch too long. Right before I install the last rib for good, I'll final cut this, and flare appropriately.

Today's goal, though, was to get ribs #2 and #4 done.

Here is rib #4 after being lathered in proseal, clecoed in, rivets inserted and taped over.
I like this part, because it means I'm about to set some rivets.
20110626-001-large.jpg


Here's a shot from the other side showing some fillets. On this rib, I did the fillets before I set any rivets. Hopefully, getting those done now will prevent some of the proseal from getting on my bucking bar.
Nice fillets.
20110626-002-large.jpg

…and the bottom of rib #4.
20110626-004-large.jpg


Before starting in on rib #2, I need to fabricate a little trap door. Basically, it will all fuel to flow from outboard to inboard, but when I roll one way or the other, the door will close and not allow fuel back outboard. (Fuel will still trickle out through some of the smaller holes, but enough should stay in the first bay to prevent fuel starvation for the short time it will take me to roll back upright.

The anti-hangup strips can be added later, but the trap door would be hard to do later.
I'm making the door from the bottom of the picture.
20110626-006-large.jpg

Then, I bent the hinge pin and triangle piece (which stops the door from opening all the way).
20110626-008-large.jpg


After some drilling, deburring, and dimpling, I set some flush rivets (so the door would close) in the bottom half.
3 rivets here.
20110626-009-large.jpg


Since I didn't want to up the rivet size just so I could use a universal head rivet, I drilled the upper half of the hinge along with the rib to #40, then deburred and dimpled both.
3 more here. Trap door closed…
20110626-010-large.jpg

…trap door open.
20110626-011-large.jpg


Then, after having a HECK of a time getting the inboard rib clecoed in place (because you want to have the rib on either side of the one you are working on installed to firm everything up while you are riveting), I realized I was trying to cleco a dimpled skin into an undimpled rib.

Dumb.

So, deburred, dimpled, then tried again.

Much better. Here's a shot after getting rib #2 cleaned, lathered up, clecoed, rivets inserted, and ready to rivet.
It actually wasn't too hot out today. Having the garage door open was nice, although I'm pretty sure the neighbors think I'm crazy with the hearing protection, respirator, and gloves.
20110626-012-large.jpg
 
Speaking of gloves. This is the last one.


Don't mess up, you only get one shot at this one.
20110626-013-large.jpg


Okay, half the rivets set, insert new (cleaned) rivets, move the tape…
The grass on the other side of the driveway is nice healthy grass, I promise.
20110626-014-large.jpg

All done on the top of #2.
20110626-015-large.jpg

Bottom is done, too.
20110626-016-large.jpg


After taking a short break (to breathe fresh, instead of respirated, air), I pulled off the blue vinyl from inside the tank. This worked perfectly for me, even though some guys on VAF were skeptical and insisted everyone use electrical tape.

Baloney! (Is that how you spell that? I'm not talking about the meat “bologna,” I'm talking about the “you're full of it” exclamation.)
Well, I didn't pull the first bay's vinyl off yet. I'll wait till the inboard rib is attached.
20110626-017-large.jpg


3.0 hours. 34 rivets on each of the ribs, plus 6 rivets for the trap door. None drilled out. I am a riveting all-star. (Only one rivet drilled out in the last 8 building sessions. Nice.)
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Post Title: Rivet Encapsulation on Right Tank Ribs
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Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:23:33 +0000
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Well, not much tonight. I mixed a pretty big batch (55g) of sealant and stuffed it into one of the 30 cc syringes I bought from amazon.

After an hour of painfully reaching into the tank to do some rivet encapsulation, I ended up with all rivets encapsulated. (Well, except for the inboard rib…haven't even riveted that one in place yet.
Some of these aren't the prettiest, roundest globs, but I made sure I didn't have any (obvious) paths to the rivet.
20110629-001-large.jpg


The 55g of sealant in the 30 cc syringe did 6 of the 7 ribs in the tank.
There was a little bit left in my cup, but I'm calling it 55g for 30cc for 6 ribs.
20110629-005-large.jpg


1.0 boring hour.
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Post Title: Right Tank Plumbing
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Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:00:51 +0000
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Okay, so a little of my work this evening was actually done AT WORK today. (Don't tell my boss.)

Since I don't have a Parker Rolo-Flair (shouldn't it be “flare”?), but we have a few at work, I asked one of my RV buddies from work to show me how he does it. So, I brought my prebent -4 tube into him, and he, well, showed me how to do it.

(I was going to buy a rolo-flair tool, but at $80, I don't want to buy one until I really need one. I need this flare (see?) now, the one for the left tank in a month or so (more like 3 or 4), and then I won't need one until working on the fuse and running fuel, brake, and vent lines. I don't want an $80 tool gathering dust until then.)

Anyway, he showed me how to do it, with a little cutting oil on the flaring (see!?) cone.

Back home, this is what I ended up with.

(He also showed me how to roll the straight portion of the vent line, which I was having a heck of a time getting perfectly straight, on a countertop or flat piece of door. You roll it like a roller between your fingers and the countertop. I was inside doing it on the granite countertop while the girlfriend was making dinner. She said “Get your fuel line off my counter!”)

No, she didn't. But it would have been funny if she did, right?
FLARE!
20110630-001-large.jpg


Next, I fed the vent line through all the snap bushings and slid the inboard rib with the -4 bulkhead fitting in place.
Looks good here.
20110630-003-large.jpg

How perfect were my measurements! Now I just have to bent the end up a little to get to the highest portion of the tank.
20110630-004-large.jpg


I copied Prev | Next
 
I copied Mike Bullock here, and used a wrench and another lever to bend it slowly upward.
Nice trick, Mike.
20110630-008-large.jpg

After repositioning the inboard rib, this sucker is at the very highest point.
20110630-009-large.jpg


Oh, I also did a little safety wiring. Then, thinking that I could unscrew the nut, and re-clock it to have a shorter, more sturdy safety wire run, I figured out that the nut only has one “entrance” for the threads, so the clocking is as shown only.
First try, which was perfectly acceptable.
20110630-010-large.jpg

Second try, after reciting the famous quote ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough.'
20110630-011-large.jpg

Alright, Andrew, stop messing with it.
20110630-012-large.jpg


0.5 hours. Time to start thinking about closing this bad boy up.
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Post Title: Sealed Right Tank's Inboard Rib
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Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:20:04 +0000
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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

Well, after stopping by Lowe's today to pick up some latex gloves (I picked up latex instead of nitrile...I like the latext better), I got to work on sealing the inboard rib in.

For this rib, things were a little different. First, I can squeeze all of the skin to rib rivets (which is nice). Second, I have to pay attention to the reinforcement plates that need to go in place, and third, I have some fittings that can be installed once the rib is in place.

After buttering up the rib and riveting the 43 inboard AN426AD3-3.5 rivets, I ended up with this.
The clever readers will see the uppermost rivet on the right side is NOT SET. I caught it when I ran back outside later to count how many rivets I had set. (I knew counting rivets was a good idea.)
20110704-003-large.jpg


Fast forward a few minutes and some loud noises, and I had 6 AN470AD4-8 rivets set in the nose reinforcement area.
Perfect. (Well. Not perfect, but once I cover those smileys with proseal, you will never know.)
20110704-006-large.jpg


Fast forward another few minutes, and I got the flop tube installed with the -6 fitting on the inside and the nut on the outside, then I installed the vent tube (just flared) to the -4 fitting on the outside, you can see the aluminum washer and nut on the inside here. I made sure everything had a good bead of proseal around it before torquing everything down.
Nice.
20110704-009-large.jpg


All that's left to do on the right tank is installed the anti-hangup brackets, rivet a An470AD6- rivet in the tooling hole of the outboard rib, and then close that bad boy up.

Oh, and fit the access plate with some stainless cap screws, instead of machine screws. More on that later.

2.0 hours. 43 rivets on the inboard rib. 6 rivets for the reinforcement plates. 1 drilled out (Easy as PIE!) Hope everyone had a good fourth. (It's storming here. Boo.)
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Post Title: Right Tank Baffle and Skin Finishing
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Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:36:35 +0000
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Well, I went outside tonight after dinner, not really having a plan,
and it showed. I got some stuff done, but I only spent an hour out
there, and I don't feel like I got a lot done.
On a good note, though, my order from McMaster Carr
(http://www.mcmaster.com/) showed up. 3 boxes of 10 each stainless
steel cap screws. (8-32 by ½”) and a 1” long bushing. 0.098” (#40)
inner diameter, ¼” outer diameter.
That bushing was almost $15. Sheesh.
20110706-001-large.jpg

This is where the cap screws are going. They'll help me open
the tank access plate if I need to while the tank is still
mounted.
20110706-002-large.jpg


Coming soon, I need to seal up this tank, so I fished out the rear
baffle, and started into edge finishing and deburring. Turns out, on
the top and bottom holes of the interior rib holes, I had never
drilled them to final size. (Nor on the tank…I'll need to figure out
how to do that without leaving aluminum shavings in the tank later…)
Baffling baffle, right?
20110706-003-large.jpg


Ginger came out to say hello, but I was making loud noises, so no Jack tonight.
This wing smells funny.
20110706-005-large.jpg


After edge finishing the baffle (and then more edge finishing on the
tank), I decided to fish out my float fuel level senders and have a
look.
I decided to stick with the float senders based on all the commotion
in the news about the future of aviation fuels. If you switch fuel
types, you have to recalibrate them. The float senders don't care what
liquid they're floating in. More flexibility.
Here they are. Dusty enough?
20110706-012-large.jpg

Okay, B for the left, C for the right.
20110706-014-large.jpg


I got out the sender and held it up in the access panel. (I'm not
using the access panel for my airplane due to the flop tubes, but I am
just trying to understand how it works.)
Hmmm.
20110706-015-large.jpg

From the side.
20110706-016-large.jpg


Also, I checked out the included directions. Not much help, as they
describe a sender mounted vertically.
I'm going to recycle this piece of paper.
20110706-017-large.jpg


1.0 hour today, and not much done. Boo. I need to go research some
logs to see how they did this.
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Post Title: Right Tank Float Sender
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Fri, 08 Jul 2011 01:30:53 +0000
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Turns out, I spent 1.5 hours in the shop tonight, but it felt a lot shorter, and I feel like things are going really slowly. I passed 40 hours on the tanks (right tank) today, and while I know the left weill take significantly less time, I'm
still nervous that by the time I finish the right and then start and finish the left, it'll be 100 hours.

Yikes.

Okay, before dinner, I pulled out the baffle, the spare access cover, and the hardware called out for the sender attachment.
K100-8 nutplates and AN515-8R8 machine screws.
20110707-001-large.jpg


I final-eyeballed the center of the tank and a vertical alignment (same eyeballing you would have done on the inboard rib, so I'm safe here), and put some #40 holes in the baffle.
#40s drilled.
20110707-002-large.jpg



This is still a little confusing to me. I don't have any of these drill sizes. I stuck a #19 drill in the prepunched spare access cover, and it was pretty much what I would call a loose fit. Also, I can oversize the hole a little, because the hole in the baffle doesn't matter, The hole in the nutplate does. So
confusing.

And ANOTHER thing. I remember drilling some of the "to-be-dimpled"
skins to #19 for a #8 dimple die (which kind of makes sense given the dimple opening up the hole a little.)

Next, I used a 1 inch hole saw to cut an undersized hole (didn't have a closer size) and spent a good 20 minutes with the dremel and a rotary file to get a nice round hole for the sender.
Nice.
20110707-003-large.jpg

Nice, part deux.
20110707-005-large.jpg


Then, a few turns with the countersink, and I used some oops rivets to attach the K1000-8 nutplates in place. Oh, one more thing. Make sure you don't just blindly use the same rivet callouts they tell you to for the plate in this location. They said AN426AD3-4, so I used the Oops rivet -4s. Too long. I bent a couple rivet heads over and they cracked.

Had to (successfully) drill two out. (Why can't I get my average above 7%!?)
Anyway, they look good now.
20110707-006-large.jpg

Good. Not great.
20110707-008-large.jpg

Just for kicks, I bolted the sender in (without the supplied
gasket).
20110707-009-large.jpg


And then I set it on the tank so you could see that I installed it in the second bay (so it doesn't interfere with the flop tube in the first bay).
Floats and flop tubes don't mix.
20110707-011-large.jpg


I should have named the post "floats and flop tubes don't mix."

1.5 hours, 10 rivets set. Three drilled out.
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Post Title: Right Leading Edge Landing Light
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Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:19:31 +0000
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Whew. Tonight was a good night. While I'm waiting for a Van's shipment to show up, I decided to knock something out that I had been sitting on for a little. The next step on the wing (once the right tank is finished) is to get the leading edge riveted to the wing.

It turns out that I would have been fine to do the leading edge landing light stuff later, but I decided to tackle it now.

Previously, I had gotten a lot of the prep work done, so tonight, I wanted to focus on getting the lens in there.

Repeat after me.

"When seeing 'bandsaw' in the instructions. Do not think that means 'jigsaw.'"

I got about two inches around my first lens' trace line and .

Nice big crack, all the way through the lens. I broke out the dremel on the next one, and pretty much held my breath all the way through it.

Here's a picture after getting the second lens cut out, then smoothed on the scotchbrite wheel (which worked suprisingly well).
I set it on the other lens so you can see what I had to remove.
20110710-002-large.jpg


Since I didn't take any pictures before, here's the finished cut. I basically traced between 5/8" and 3/4" all the way around the hole, then used the dremel.
I'm glad that part is done.
20110710-003-large.jpg


Now, for the infamous "tape handle." It's funny, the instructions make very clear that this is the BEST way to drill the holes. Some people get cute and try to push the lens in from behind, and they end up getting the lens too tight in the leading edge, then the resulting holes are spaced such that they can never get the screws in.

A little finesse goes a long way.
Here, I've drilled the bottom three holes.
20110710-004-large.jpg


After drilling the top three (now all six are drilled to #40), I enlarged them all to #30. Then, I removed the lens, drilled the skin to 9/32" (I think that was it. It was whatever the #6 die fits into), and tested with a #6 screw.
Looking good.
20110710-005-large.jpg


Then, I used a #30 countersink bit to countersink the lens to accept a #6 dimple, and put the lens up next to the dimple so you could compare.
The countersink in the lens should accept the dimple on the skin.
20110710-006-large.jpg


Finally, I fished out the two nutplate strips and put some of the provided double sided tape on them.
Double Double sided tape.
20110710-007-large.jpg


Fast forward a few minutes, and I had it screwed in.
This picture is actually upside down.
20110710-010-large.jpg

Nice.
20110710-011-large.jpg

I'm very happy with how this turned out.
20110710-012-large.jpg
 
My only issue is that there is a little gap right at the leading edge. The lens is not quite the same contour of the leading edge, but after looking at some old pictures I have of some other leading edge landing light installations, this is pretty much how everyone's looks.
Now I need to clean that lens.
20110710-013-large.jpg

Big picture view.
20110710-015-large.jpg


Again, I'm very happy with how this turned out, and now when the tank is finished, I can move forward with getting the leading edge riveted on and start on those wing skins.

1.5 hours today. Glad this is behind me.
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Post Title: Right Leading Edge Joint Plate Nutplates
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Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:34:49 +0000
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Wuhoo! Got my latest Van's order. Below, you can see my two T-411 tank access plates, two tiedown rings, a tenth of a pound of AN470AD6-10 rivets, and the left inboard leading edge rib.
I love getting orders in.
20110713-001-large.jpg


First thing, I ran over and screwed in the tiedown ring.

Uh Oh.

It was way loose. Hmm. I know I did the 1/2 turn in, 1/4 turn out with the tap.

After some thought (and a trip to work), some of the guys were convinced that 1) I didn't ruin the part, especially since I had only tapped the 1" shown on the plans (and the rings are like 1 1/2" long), and 2) it must be the tap quality.

They lent me a really nice tap (as opposed to the $7.99 tap and die set from Harbor Freight.)

I screwed in the nice new tap, and once I got past the first inch, I immediately felt a difference. When I turned 1/2" in, the tap felt like it was cutting, instead of just pushing material out of the way. There was significant resistance at the end of the 1/2" turn. Once you start the 1/4" back out, there is some more resistance, then a "release." I could tell immediately that the release was the cutting of little chips from the material.

It was like I heard angels. This is what tapping is supposed to feel like.

(The old one was just steady increase in resistance in, then decreasing resistance out.)

Just one more reason why I should have bought the $80 tap and die set, instead of the $8 tap and die set.

Lesson learned.

From the following picture, you should be able to tell that the thread cutters on the left are nice and sharp, and the apex of each blade comes to a point. The one on the right is not sharp, and the apex is kind of rounded.
The nice tap on the left, the crappy one on the right.
20110713-003-large.jpg


So now, I have about 1" of loose threads, and 1/2" of perfect threads. I am okay with at least four threads perfectly engaged, and 16 threads mostly engaged. If I'm worried about 10,000 lbs of holding power versus 5,000 lbs of holding power, I have more to worry about than my tiedowns pulling out.

Let's build on.
Here's the tiedown installed.?
20110713-004-large.jpg


It was subsequently removed, and will be stored in my storage box until, I don't know, a few years from now.

Next up, I needed a nice little project.

How does the leading edge joint plate nutplates sound. Good?

Good. I'll work on those. A quick check on the plans showed some hardware needs.
Some #8 screws and nutplates.
20110713-005-large.jpg


Then, some riveting.
All done.
20110713-014-large.jpg


After cutting it to a more reasonable (1.5 times diameter) length, I went ahead and shot this rivet in. I think I used 70 psi. Worked well.
Not terribly exciting, but I better not forget to cover this one with proseal before closing up.
20110717-003-large.jpg


Only two things left before I can close up. The two anti-hangup brackets. Here's one, made out of some 0.025."
With clecos...
20110717-004-large.jpg

With some blind rivets.
20110717-005-large.jpg


This one is the access plate anti-hangup bracket. I had originally thought about making these removeable with screws and nutplates, but I don't think I'll ever take this out, so blind rivets it is!
Nice, right?
20110717-006-large.jpg
 
When I couldn't think of anything else to do before closing, I took a final picture (then stared for a few minutes just to be positive).
Almost forgot, I wiped the whole inside of the tank down as well as I could and then vacuumed everything out.
20110717-008-large.jpg


Here goes nothing...

I cleaned every mating surface I could find with MEK then mixed up some proseal and filled a few of my 30cc syringes. I put a glob of proseal over the manufactured and shop heads of the AD6- rivet I just set, then put a bead just forward of the baffle rivet holes, and on each of the flanges of the ribs. I also left 4 big globs in each of the corners.
No turning back now.
20110717-009-large.jpg

Before dropping the baffle in, I smoothed some of the beads to a single layer.
20110717-010-large.jpg


Then, instead of letting my single bead on the skin act as my baffle seal, I also smeared some onto the baffle flange, and dropped that bad boy in place.
Pretty good bead just forward of the baffle.
20110717-012-large.jpg


Now, having read about all the trouble with proud rivets on some other build sites, I decided that instead of 100% clecoing, I'd 50% cleco, but only after I'd gotten some unset rivets into some of the holes. (The rivets fill the holes better than the clecos do, if it's jut clecos, things can get a little misaligned).

This shot is after getting everything 50% clecoed with rivets in every other hole.
Whew. I
20110717-013-large.jpg


Before getting to the skin rivets, I threw the z-brackets in place with a layer of sealant and got them blind riveted in place. (This single sentence represents about 30 minutes of checking, rechecking, aligning, etc. with the z-brackets to ABSOLUTELY be sure they are in the right orientation. My final check was that the inner and outer brackets have their aft flange pointing inboard, all others point outboard.)
After getting the AD-41H and -42H blind rivets in place.
20110717-014-large.jpg

Solid rivets on the inboard and outboard brackets/ribs.
20110717-015-large.jpg

More solid rivets.
20110717-016-large.jpg


At this point, I set all 132 rivets on the skin to baffle joint. No pictures, though. Sorry. I have one rivet that is slightly proud, but there is NO WAY IN HECK that I am going to drill it out right now. I challenge you to come find it when my airplane is flying. (Ha. All of you reading this will have forgotten by the time I'm flying.)

Okay, time for a little clean...OMG! I'm out of MEK.

Pause for an hour...run out to Home Depot....NO MEK!?...run out to Lowe's...stop by Target...
Little MEK, meet big MEK.
20110717-017-large.jpg

More proseal here.
20110717-019-large.jpg


Then after putting the access plate in place...
 
(Don't accidentally drop the access plate a hole-width or so away from your target, because then you have to kind of move the plate around with proseal everywhere while you try to find one hole to line up, then stick a screw in, and find another one...ask me how I know.)

Anyway, I twirled the very bottom of the screws in some proseal, then threaded them partway in. Once partway in, I took my syringe of proseal and put a glob on one side of the screw (see the right side of the following picture). As you tighten the screw, it drags around the screw head and makes a nice little bead (see left side of the picture.)
Perfect little bead.
20110717-020-large.jpg

I
20110717-021-large.jpg


Finally, I stuck the filler cap in place and stuck that bad boy on the wing.
WUHOO! It looks like an airplane.
20110717-022-large.jpg


"So," you ask. "Why is this 'almost' closed up."

Well, I'm not sure if you saw, but I didn't install the float sender yet. Once I get that in, I'll head to OSH, then come back in 10 days or so and leak test. (Although why should I leak test. I already KNOW that I have NO LEAKS.) It always helps to stay positive.

11:45am to 3:45pm, then another hour between 5pm and 6pm (after the Lowe's run). What is that? 5 hours? Oh, and 185 rivets.

SWEET. Did everyone see my new charts? How come I'm not getting any emails with inflammatory engineer jokes in them?

I need a much-deserved adult beverage.
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Post Title: New Progress Charts
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Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:55:07 +0000
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Well. After more closely examining the progress charts I've been keeping up on the right side of the page, I figured out that the time-domain charts that google uses (in google charts) is NOT REALLY TIME DOMAIN!!!!

WHAT!?

So after a little engineering magic, I've now calculated (based on my last ten entries and last 100 rivets set), my expected completion date, and converted a series of points from date to percentage of that number. Google CAN plot things based on a normal non-time based x-axis, so now you can see the real shape of my progress in both regimes.

(Before, you were seeing how many hours or rivets for each additional entry. Now, you are seeing them in a time-domain represented by percent of expected completion.)

I'm assuming 2000 hours and 16,000 rivets. As I learn more (or blow through those numbers), I'll update the targets and the charts should auto-update.

Also, as I speed up or slow down, the algorithms should auto-update the slopes of the lines. See how the rivets projection is pretty steep? That's cause I set more than 100 rivets in the last 24 hours (post coming soon). While you won't see the end date change (it would be depressing to see the absolute date), you will see the blue ticks climb the line.

It's like watching grass grow.

Now. On to the pretty pictures.
Hours complete/remaining.
20110723-003-large.jpg


To install in the sender, you line up the plastic piece with the slot in the metal housing, and slide the float wire in.
Can't get any easier than that.
20110723-004-large.jpg


Now, let's clean up and get this thing sealed in there.
Five #8 screws after swishing in some MEK.
20110723-005-large.jpg


After cleaning up a whole bunch, I put the rubber gasket in place with some sealant (couldn't decide if I needed some or not), then put the float in, then more sealant around the edges, and some sealant for the screws.
Looks good to me.
20110723-006-large.jpg


I retested the sender and noticed 240 Ohms to 80 Ohms (I think I saw something lower before). That's okay, my EFIS (Electronic Flight Information System) will calibrate the range of fuel levels based on resistance later.

Okay, that was about a half hour, and there are plenty of hours left in the day, so let's move on. I think the next thing on the docket is to get the leading edge on the spar permanently. I have the leading edge landing light installed, and the tiendown bracket is good to go.

A changing of the plans picture...to the wing rivets and skins page.
Always fun to change plans.
20110723-011-large.jpg


After a few long minutes of getting the spar holes countersunk, I rubbed the scotchbrite pad over the length of the flange, cleaned up with MEK, then taped off to get some primer on there.
Ready for primer.
20110723-007-large.jpg

Sorry the light kind of precludes the primer from showing.
20110723-008-large.jpg


Okay, before I just start riveting the leading edge to the spar, I want to make sure everything lines up again. So, I want to put the tank on the spar, and the opposite skin from where I'm working.

Before I can get the tank on, I need to grab some nutplate for the inboard tank z-brackets.
 
Looks like AD3-4 and K1000-3 nutplates.
20110723-010-large.jpg

Here they are.
20110723-009-large.jpg


Then I grabbed the outboard lower skin, and got it clecoed on.
Here's just the leading edge clecoed.
20110723-014-large.jpg


Then, I grabbed the tank and put screws in every 5th hole.
And a screw in every hole along the tank/leading edge joint. Everything lines up great and looks awesome.
20110723-015-large.jpg


With the leading edge 50% clecoed, I decided it was finally time to show the FAA I'm really building this airplane. Sorry this awesome picture of a pre-squeezed rivet blocked the shot.
My visor says "Foxy's" on it. Anyone? Oh, and that rivet size looks appropriate, let's get to squeezing.
20110723-019-large.jpg


After 65 rivet squeezings, I had the upper leading edge skin riveted to the spar.
The leading edge looks so cool with no clecos in it.
20110723-023-large.jpg


After 65 more rivet squeezings, I had the lower leading edge skin riveted to the spar.
Oh man, I'm so excited.?
20110723-024-large.jpg


GOOD DAY IN THE SHOP, high fives all around.

So....0.5 hours toward the tank. 2.5 hours toward the wings.

6 rivets for the spar nutplates, and 65 rivets each on the top and bottom of the leading edge. That makes 136.

Wuhoo!
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