With the fuselage on order and a deadline to get the garage ready, time to get into gear and make progress. Granted we are now in prime holiday season and family is the higher priority over building, so this it’s more of the same get a few mins here and there to keep making progress.
Decided to bundle all of the prep for the right tank into a single video even if that made for a slightly longer wait / longer timelapse. Nothing special or different from the left tank. Deburr edges, install the structure and match drill. once fully assembled, take it all apart and start deburring.
I did make updated tank / leading edge cradle based on the plans finally. It did help a little with getting the ribs to line up. (also needed another cradle anyway).
Got all the parts dimpled and ready to begin final assembly. The only thing I did slightly differently was I didn’t install the nutplates for the Zee’s yet as I’m still deciding on if / how I’m going to prime the tank. I also am waiting to mount any of the shims to the tank attach bracket until I decide on priming. (after I leak test the tank).
Just like the left tank, I also installed a fuel return port. Slow but somewhat steady progress.
With everything primed, I was able to begin assembly of all the components for the right wing landing light. The first steps were to rivet the landing light bracket together. Next I have to but a slight bend in the bracket where the lens will sit. I pull out my bench vise and duck bill pliers to quickly get this done. Next I start to assemble all the parts for the lens brackets.
Once the brackets were assembled and the top bracket was installed on the wing, it was time to take a deep breath and trim the plexi to size. One thing I’ll note is that I probably cut my lens too narrow as I didn’t understand how it was going to fit into the hole. For the other wing, I’ll try to keep the lens near the 6.5″ width if possible. This may not be a huge deal, but worst case I’ll spend the $15 + shipping for another lens.
Lots of small cuts later, I have a lens that is just about the right size. I did end up putting in a small shim to help get a good tight seal, but not sure if that was 100% necessary. I’ll hold off judgement till I begin final assembly at the airport!
With the lens cut, I decide it’s time to move the leading edge onto the wing. The timelapse is amusing to me as I decided not to ask for any help. In the end I was able to slide the leading edge onto the wing spar and cleco into place. Once that was done, I removed the clecos and used the uni-bit to make the hole for the tie-down bolt. I made it 11/16, just like the tail-cone, but that could be too big if you want the bolt to snug to the skin. While I didn’t do it intentionally , that seemed to be just the right size if you use the Cleaveland tie-down bolts. I may 3d print a flange to hold stacked washers or something if I decide to go a different way in the future.
Lastly I take a LONG time to trim the landing light bracket to hold my Baja light. I was MUCH happier with right side vs the left as my first attempt was not as square as I wanted. Oh well.
Well, I’m getting to the point where I was expecting that I would be putting in my fuselage order, however I’m not quite as far along as I wanted to be. Granted, working on the wings is a slog and at points I really need a second set of hands. I was spending a number of weekends working on my IR this year, and spending time with the family. Overall it’s been pretty busy, but I’ve accomplished a lot outside of my -10 build.
So looking at what I still need to get done, and the calendar, I realized I’m running out of opportunities to prime parts. Amazingly there was a forecast day of 60+ degree weather with average humidity. Decided I needed to just knock out a few things including priming.
I revisited the rivets on the outer leading edge that my EAA tech counselor pointed out and marked which ones needed to be drilled out or just get another hit with the rivet gun. Then with the help of the wife moved the wing so I could get access to the skin followed by fixing all the “problem” rivets on the OLE.
Prep for the skin was pretty easy. Verified that all the holes were deburred, edges were deburred and used my orbital sander to give a slight scarf on the skin edge per the plans. (I was not super aggressive so I’m sure the joint will be visible. Honestly don’t think it’s a big deal). Then using a ScotchBright pad and the orbital sander, I lightly scuffed the whole skin.
Next I prep all the landing light parts. Mask off the front of the light housing to be more reflective? Not sure it’s helpful, but I like the way it looks I guess. (Sorry didn’t film the priming, but it’s just a wipedown with acetone followed by AKZO spray primer outside).
Next step is starting to install the landing lights on my right wing. Again this is the Landing light kit by DuckWorks aviation. Just like the last time, I lay out the template on the leading edge, aligning it on the rivet lines, etc. I then drill the four corners using my uni-bit to make some starting holes.
Next I transition to my harbor freight saw to make the rough cuts. I’m still having a little difficulty controlling this saw so I keep things fairly rough and then follow up with the pnumatic nibbler. Next it’s on to the files to get everything even and smooth.
I then fabricate the light bracket and get the angle aluminum trimmed to size and drilled, followed by getting the nutplates installed on the leading edge. Next it’s time to drill the lens attachment points and to get the attachment hardware all set up and preped for priming.
I also mask off the acrylic lens with painters tape and get it marked so I can begin trimming it. (More on that in one of the next videos). I did verify that my metal bandsaw blade cuts the acrylic well!
Ok, so while I’m getting better at the whole Proseal thing, I’m not a fan. Also due to some of my dislike of the whole process I really was not in the frame of mind to start the camera. I’ll attempt to better capture my struggle with the next tank, but no promises!
At this point I have basically finished up everything on the first tank with the exception of the rear baffle. I also have a handful of rivets I need to remove and reset as they didn’t go in flat or the shop head didn’t form correctly. Once that is done, I’m going to put the tank into storage for a month or so to allow the proseal to fully cure.
Some notes on this section. The fuel drain does not fully seat into the flange. At first I thought this was due to some proseal in the threads or something else, but no this is normal and don’t force it to thread in too far. (Snug then just a little more!) Installing the fuel vent line was a little bit of a pain and required some fiddling to assist in getting the fuel float installed. The plans give you an example, but does not really reflect reality! Same goes for the fuel float.
For the fuel float, spend time to understand how everything gets assembled before you cut anything. I originally thought I was completely hosed, but I think I did ok. VANS no longer sells replacement wire / floats as the MFG no longer offers replacements (changed in early 2018). The end of the wire is a “L” and goes through the sender and clips into the arm. That should make sense when you look at the sender.
I initially made the 4-1/8 x 4″ bends per the plans, but then had to make some really funky bends to get the wire and float to clear the vent tube / ribs. I tried to get my float and sender to fully bottom out on the bottom of the tank just before full deflection on the sender. I think I’m basically full deflection with the float against the skin, and I’m against the top of the tank before full deflection in the full position. Double checked with a multi-meter to show 240 Ohm empty and 50 Ohms full.
Last items I need to do before I put the tank into storage is proseal the vent fitting and fuel sender and install the fuel supply fitting and fuel return fitting (no proseal). I’ll then cleco the rear baffle in place and put it away.
After the holidays I’ll probably jump back to the Leading edges to fix a few rivets, finish up the Leading Edge lights and plexiglass. Then maybe the top skin on the Left wing depending on weather and my ability to spray primer.