Starting Right Fuel Tank
Since I have all the fuel tank build steps fresh in my mind, I’m building the other one now. It took me about 14 hours to build the first one, not including leak testing and remediation (if needed). Let’s see how long it takes the second time?...
Closing up the fuel tank
This weekend I made it my goal to close up the left fuel tank. After one last inspection of the tank’s inside for debris, a final cleaning of all the mating surfaces, and staging all the rivets, screws, brackets, and tools, I mixed up a 66g batch of sealant...
Misc Fiddling with Fuel Tank
I’m back at it with the fuel tank. I was fiddling with the fuel sender cover and decided to add a ground terminal by drilling out one of the closed rivets, and then putting it back in but also adding a little metal tab. My concern is that with...
Misc Fuel tank tasks
I spent Sunday and Monday prepping a few miscellaneous parts: fuel tank cap, fuel drain, and brackets that attach the tank the the main wing spar. My kit was missing one of the brackets, but Jean D sent me replacements a few weeks ago. Here’s the replacement part with...
Fuel tank ribs sealed
The five ribs that make up the fuel tank are now installed and sealed for the left tank. Very messy, stinky work! By far, my least-favorite part of this build so far. And there’s still more to do on this tank. And I still have a whole other tank...
Slowly building the fuel tank
I guess I’ve been distracted a lot lately, as I’m making very slow progress on this fuel tank! I think it’s partially because I’m afraid to work with the sealant, which is messy and has a 2 hour working time once mixed. I’ve also been doing a lot of...
Fuel tank breather lines
Today’s task was to create the breather lines for the fuel tank. I’ve had the tubing and some of the tools for a while, but I needed a smaller tubing bender, which I just recently received. Here’s what I used: 6061T6 TUBE 1/4″ X .049 4FT from Aircraft Spruce...
Sealing Day #1
The instructions say to attach and seal all the various fittings to rib 101 before sealing up the main tank, so I did that today. I mixed up a very small batch of sealant, enough to put into a syringe for dispensing. I used a digital scale accurate to...
Readying to Seal Fuel Tank
I am getting ready to start sealing up the fuel tank. There are a number of fittings that get attached to the skin and ribs, and all these fittings need to be sealed. For the fuel level sender, which is attached to rib 101 via an access cover, I...
Left Fuel tank started
I created a jig for assembling the fuel tank using the templates included with the plans. After transferring the profiles to a sheet of 1/2″ MDF, I cut the shape by hand with a rotozip-style tool, then filed and sanded as needed to smooth it out. Next I followed...