Fuel tanks tested and attached

Before moving, we wanted to put the wing parts together, such as attaching the tanks back in place - for that, we had to leak-test them.

We used a product called Snoop (thanks once again VAF!).

Applying snoop to the rivet lines
Applying Snoop to the sealed baffle
We weren't finding any leaks and I kept wondering if we were doing it right, but then Snoop proved that it really works - there was a tiny bit of air leaking from the return line cap (which was temporary and thus not sealed), and it produced a lot of bubbles:

Bubbles from the fuel return cap (underneath it)

We're looking forward to those camping trips, sleeping under the airplane :)
We then attached the tanks and moved both wings onto the same wing stand:

Attaching the left fuel tank

Attaching the right fuel tank

Tanks attached
We then realized that there was some skin overlap between the tank and the other skins which was making them buckle:

Buckled skin which needs to be trimmed down to match the inboard skin

Buckled skin which needs to be trimmed down to match the leading edge skin
This was just a couple of days before moving, though, and we didn't have the time to fix it then. The only remaining step is to fix that, but it involves removing the tanks, filing down the skin edges, and then attaching them again.

Time lapse:



Total fuel tank time: 14.2h
Total fuel tank rivets: 30 

We're back (some bottom wing skin progress)

I've finally made some small progress on the bottom wing skins at the new house :) That said, I'll likely spend some time posting progress that happened before we moved that I hadn't had the time to upload yet.

The new workshop is set up, full with a new compressor:

New workshop
New compressor
I spent some time deburring the outboard bottom wing skins at the old place and started preparing the inboard nutplate holes - more than 6 months later, at the new place, I finally finished those and installed the nutplates:

Inboard nutplates installed
Dimpling the aftmost screw hole was a challenge, since the dimple die wouldn't fit there - I took a #8 screw dimple die and simply ground down the side until it fit:

Customized #8 dimple die which will fit to dimple the aftmost inboard nutplate screw hole

Small progress, but I'm back to work nonetheless.

Time lapse:


Total bottom wing skin time: 40h
Total bottom wing skin rivets: 430