While I get the testing on the right tank sorted out, I’ve started the left tank. First clecoed together and fitted, I then took the same steps forward, starting by riveting the filler neck and the stiffeners. I’m not very happy with some of the rivets. They appear to be sitting a few thousands of […]
The fuel tank appears to have leaks… or at least something in the system does. The balloon deflates after a few hours. At times it appears to hold but the falls flat. Other times, this happens quicker. I believe the leaks are in the testing system. I.e. the balloon, balloon fitting, or the tape sealing […]
The first tank is completed. I’ve brought it inside in order to help the tank sealant cure fully prior to testing. The garage is cold, and I thought there might be portions of the sealant that don’t fully cure in the minimum 48 hour time they suggest for curing.
Construction on the right tank continues, this time with sealant and riveting. The tank sealant (tank taffy) is pretty nasty stuff. I got the filler neck on, which was a good introduction to riveting with sealant in the mix. It makes everything more difficult. I wound up being able to do two ribs in one […]
The fuel tanks require some meaty brackets on the inboard leading edge. They’re fabricated from angle stock, cutting an airfoil shape one way, and a bell-curve-esque shape the other. Time and care was spent here, and it paid off. However, I wouldn’t have minded taking a bit more off initially, especially where the curves met […]
I wanted to post a bit about the clarity of the instructions in the kit. I’ve run across conflicting information (plan vs. instructions) clarity issues, and vagaries before. It never feels overwhelming, and always seems to conclude with me figuring out why something might be phrased differently in one are or left out of a […]
The tanks were clecoed together and and attached the wing. My videos go into detail, but this was a fairly painless adventure. I created the first tank on the bench, much like the leading edge. While this was a worthwhile adventure, it wasn’t exactly “correct.” The tanks are built on the wing in a few […]
Leading edges went onto the wing–still everything up to now clecoed together with very few rivets placed. The ribs were not hard to get into the skin, so either Van’s made some adjustments to the tooling or all the straightening and deburring really paid off because I heard these can be a real pain. They […]
This is the skin summary post! All skins at this point have been attached, some have been removed. First top skins are clecoed on, then bottom skins. At one point all skins were on both wings. Then it’s the old game of match drill, cleco shuffle, match drill, and then remove parts–except the top skins. […]
Tonight I was able to put the finishing touches on the wing stands. These were tough. There’s a lot of fabrication, measuring, leveling. I did not have proper levels, so I purchased a laser level, torpedo level, and line level. All these were helpful. My 3′ spirit level worked great for some tasks, but there […]