RV7-Factory

Time to fess up. I have been a little discouraged and busy and the plane has taken a hit as far as work. I was chugging along with the tanks last year when I read a post on VAF that talked about the #8 screw dimples cracking on tank skins. I thought that was weird as I did not remember that happening on mine. So I went out to the shop to confirm and to my dismay, I was also a victim. I was crushed. I had just Pro Sealed the stiffeners, fuel flange, and drain fitting on one skin and it was all for naught?

I stewed about it, beat my head against the wall, groaned a bit, and overall just was deflated. May seem like an overreaction to some, but it was a little disheartening. It did not help that the number of dimples that seemed to be affected was pretty high by my standards. So I turned out the lights and walked away. That was months ago. Then the holidays hit, weather got cold, life got busy.

I discussed my options with some fellow builders. One even asked his engineering department about it and they had some suggestions. I contemplated ordering new skins and undoing the filler flange (as that part is as much as a skin) and starting over. Other options were presented, so I mulled them all over. Vans said that this can happen, but that they would build on and that they would likely not move…much. They also suggested that the hole could be drilled a few thousandths bigger to catch the crack, but not to really worry about it. Right…do they know who they are talking to here? The friends engineering department agreed with Vans on the enlarging the hole. The bearing and strength is at the dimple shoulder, not the hole, so it was inconsequential to the structure what the hole size was as long as the head of the screw had a good material base to sandwich.

Ultimately, I decided I would give enlarging the holes a shot, and if all else failed, I could always get new skins. One of my builder friends tossed me a 0.2081″ double margin bit and said, “start here.” Now it was a matter of just doing it.

Today, a fellow builder from Colorado posted on VAF that he would be in town and would like to visit another project. Reading that, and thinking what the heck, I tossed out an invitation to visit. This would at least get me out to the shop and talking RV’s. We set up a time and I went out to the shop after work figuring that I would at least clean up the shop for visitors. Once I was out there, I decided to try dressing one hole and see what it looked like. Nicely enough, it actually took the crack out and once I deburred it and cleaned it up, looked OK. So I moved on to the next hole. After an hour, I had dressed and cleaned all of the problem holes. For the most part, they all cleaned up nicely. There a still a few that have a remnant of a crack, but with a needle file, could easily be polished out. The hole would look a little strange, but would never be visible under the screw.

For those that are wondering about the size of the hole still, rest assured, even after drilling out what was originally a 0.166″ hole, that was then stretched bigger by the dimple die, to 0.2081″, the material left is still slightly more than the shoulder of the spar countersink (remember how they knife edge in the spar). So all I removed was the overhanging material from the stack-up of the tank skin, spar web, and nut plate. I also made a test piece from 0.032″ to confirm how it seats in the spar dimples and to confirm the holes and can report that it works and looks great. So perhaps I dodged a bullet here.

What did I learn here?

1. Don’t use a #19 bit for the pilot holes on a #8 screw dimple. Use a #17 or even a #16 bit. The amount of material stretching is too much on the #19 hole. The pilot will still center on the die as you compress them and the hole stretches to a hole bigger than the #19.
2. Make sure to back the holes you are enlarging with a piece of wood behind them. When I enlarged the skin holes, I just let the bit run free in the hole. I think this allowed the bit to wander and chatter.
3. Take your time on larger dimples.

In the end, I think I have good skins and will build on. Other than this confession, you will not know it had to be fixed, and the plane will never see the difference in strength.

After it was all said and done, my visitor, rockwoodrv9a, stopped by and we chatted for an hour or so. Real nice Nice guy! I hope he found the visit worth while. I did, as it got me working again. Now to keep the momentum going.

 

Anyone who is anyone in Aviation knows that at some point, you have to make the trip to Airventure. Oshkosh, Wisconsin hosts the biggest General Aviation Fly-in/Airshow every year. If you are a home builder, the requirement is increased as it is hosted by the EAA and draws many “experimental” aircraft and pilots to it. I have always wanted to attend since I was young, but more so since deciding to build a plane myself. I figured someday it would happen but never this soon.

A fellow CAP pilot and RV-6 owner Kent and I were chatting early one morning in July after he had just finished a check ride. He asked me if I was going this year. Turns out this was a big year for RV guys as the RV-1 was being flown in and donated to the EAA museum. Additionally, the EAA was going to have some special events to recognize Richard VanGrunsven, the owner and designer of RV aircraft, due to it being the 40th anniversary of Vans Aircraft. Needless to say, it was the year for an RV builder to go.

I responded to Kent that I was not sure as I had no real way of getting there. He then said the magic words, “I have an extra seat, why don’t you come along?” Say WHAT?!? I told him that I would need to check with the wife first, but I was all for it. There were several reasons I was really excited at the prospect. 1. I get to go to Airventure 2012. 2. I get to fly in a RV-6 which is the predecessor of the plane I am building. 3. His plane is a tail dragger, and I need to get some familiarity with it to better make a decision as to the configuration of my landing gear. I figured I could get some serious time and education. It was a heck of a deal for me. Kent on the other hand would have to deal with a guy that would be geeking out the whole time. Poor Sucker!

After a conversation with my lovely bride, we decided I could go. (More like she relented and I ran with it!) I do love my wife! So it was settled, I was going to Oshkosh in style. It was decided that we would go for as much of the week as possible. We would also camp at the Home Built Camping area. Talk about a full immersion, I was going to be in Mecca, in a RV, camping in the middle of many other RV’s for a whole week. This is going to be SWEET!

I nearly could not stand the next 2 1/2 weeks left due to the anticipation of the trip. We decided that we would head out Saturday the 21st as early as we were able. We started chatting about weight and balance, routes, fuel requirements, etc. It became clear that me and Kent, full fuel, and day bag would be all we could carry and stay at gross for his RV-6. (I guess I am a big boy…translation…fat.) This meant that we needed to ship our clothes and camping gear to KOSH a week in advance. Apparently this is a common thing for participants/attendees because Airventure has a system set up that takes care of this very situation. So I packed a 34 pound box with my tent, sleeping bag, bed roll, clothes, and toiletries and shipped them off on the 17th. Kent did the same. We were committed now. If we did not go, we would have to work with Airventure to return our gear as soon as it arrived. Not a fun prospect either of us were planning on.

The weather looked to be good for the weekend out of KOGD. At this point, it was painful to go to work. After all, I was going to be having a blast in a few days. Saturday rolled around and I got up around 0400. I showered, kissed my wife goodbye and headed out the door attempting to drive the 45 minutes or so to KOGD to meet my ride and pilot. It is amazing how quiet Utah is at 0430. I arrived at about 0545 and there was the plane on the ramp with no pilot. Kent apparently was talking with some other guys that we were going to head to KOSH as well. He showed up and we quickly jumped in N216KW and started our adventure.

Wheels up was shortly after 0600. Kent had me follow along on the takeoff on the stick. Admittedly, I was more excited than paying attention, so I cannot say I learned anything on that one. 😉 We started out as a 2 ship flight. Phil in his RV-4 was in tight tow as we took off RWY21 and departed to the east. I was able to borrow a Spot ® to use for our trip. This way friends and family could track us on our way. Additionally, I set up the alerts so that at fuel stops and destinations, the device would notify our wives we were OK. As you can see from the map above, it works really well.

The sun was just coming up as we left. It made for a really nice view as we headed east. Fortunately we had some cloud cover to keep it out of our eyes. The Mountains of Utah are beautiful in the morning. Kent told me I had the plane shortly after takeoff and simply advised, via his Garmin 496, where I should point the nose. Phil tucked in nicely under the wing of Kent’s RV for a good portion of our first leg. I had never flown formation before, it was neat to be in that close proximity to another airplane and see just how pretty these birds are. Flying lead was fun. This was my second time flying an RV. I do not have a lot of center stick time, but I can tell you, it is soooo natural feeling. It was not long before I had a feel for the inputs required to control the plane. Kent’s RV-6 and the prior RV-6A I have flown are very neutral on the stick and very responsive. Already…I was in love with the way these planes fly. The other thing I immediately noticed is the speed. These planes can move.

We were on our way. There was another flight of two, a RV-6a and a RV-7 that took off about 10 minutes behind us. Eventually we all gathered up together and became a flight of four. Our first fuel stop was planned to be Torrington, WY (KTOR) which was 357 nm or just over 2 hours as fast as these RV’s can move. The flight over Wyoming was uneventful. We stayed at about 7500 MSL for this leg to find cool air. There is a lot of barren land and not much to see. Fortunately, the formation flying was entertaining enough. Winds were out of the west and air was smooth. I was on the stick the entire time and was getting a good feel for the plane.

We arrived into KTOR and set up for a RWY28 downwind. Once established, I gave the plane back to Kent to land. He got us down with a nice landing. I watched and observed as this was officially my first landing in a tail dragger. He made it look easy. We taxied in and got fuel.

We hopped out, and introductions were made with all the other plane crews in our flight. We also picked up two more planes in the flight. Roland and Al in RV-6’s. We got organized, paid for fuel, took a bathroom break and then piled in and departed. KTOR is a nice place. Nice FBO, nice facilities, nice dog. It was starting to warm up. It was time to get flying again. Kent had me on the stick a bit more on this takeoff. With the tail on the ground, it is different on the takeoff. You cannot see down the runway over the nose. So you get the plane rolling, push the stick forward to get the tail up, then it feels the same as the tricycles. The pushing the nose forward will be something I will need to work on as I am so used to just holding a little back pressure to start. We were off and forming up again.

This time Phil took lead. This gave me a chance to fly formation on him. That is a LOT of work. I gave it a good try for about 5 minutes and then backed off some. I loved the challenge, but I can see it making one tired really fast. So I stayed in loose trail for most of the flight over Nebraska and South Dakota. That was very educational. I love learning all this new type of flying. Kent got a seat full of excitement next to him.

We flew past some large fires in SD. The smoke was pretty thick in places, but we avoided it. There is a whole lot of prairie out there. Ripe for burning. Next stop planned was Quentin Aanenson Airport in Luverne, MN (KLYV) which was another 362 nm away. After another 2+ hours we lined up for a nice arrival on RWY18. Kent had me follow along with the stick to get a feel for the view angle and power management. He set it down nicely and we taxied over to fuel. To our surprise, the fuel was $4.85 a gallon. However, nothing is cheap in aviation, as the pump kept having issues while all six planes were trying to fill up. The FBO building was very nice and well air-conditioned. At this point the humidity was starting to become noticeable. We were now hitting mid day and it was clear, we were no longer in the west. After briefing the arrival into KOSH and getting some water and using the facilities, we jumped back into the planes for the last leg. Kent really had me on the stick this time for the take-off. Again that whole muscle memory of holding back on the stick was hard to overcome. Kent gently reminded me to push forward and let the tail come up and we were flying in no time.

We took lead again. It was decided since Kent had flown to KOSH several times before, that he would take lead and bring us all in. We stayed a bit lower as a cloud layer was above. Minnesota and Wisconsin are much greener than South Dakota. We dodged radio towers and windmill farms as we chugged along. We did have some patches of rain that cleaned a few bugs off, but other than that…it was a nice scenic flight. We crossed the Great Mississippi River at LaCrosse MN. I had forgotten how green the Mid West was. Staying low was nice, I liked the sense of speed it gave the flight.

KOSH is 333 nm from KLYV. With the tail wind, that put us about 2 hours until arrival. The time was close to entering what can aptly be described as “The Hornets Nest.” For those that have done it before, it seems they handle it like old hats. For newbies like me, it seems like orchestrated chaos. Basically the fun begins at the town of Ripon, WI. Prior to arriving at Ripon, I pulled out the NOTAM describing the procedure for arrivals so I could stay ahead of the tasks. Just before Ripon, I turned the controls back to Kent and began looking for the called out visual points. That is when it became clear, this approach was going to be fun.

We arrived at Ripon and found the requisite railroad tracks. At this point you are monitoring a frequency and acknowledging calls with wing rocks. We got slowed down to 90 KIAS and followed in behind a high wing. My head was on a swivel as airplanes were sneaking inside of the conga line and then realizing they were too close, exiting. Planes were starting to converge from all directions. Our flight of six were trying to stay in line together with our required 1/2 nm spacing and planes just appeared in between. Apparently, there are controllers that are sitting in a field with binoculars and a radio calling out planes as we entered the procedure. Occasionally, they would tell an offending plane to move out and start over. It gave the feeling of some level of order, but it felt much different.

So there we were, a flight of 6 RV’s aligned along the tracks heading for FISKE, a nav fix just outside KOSH Class D airspace. At this point you should be monitoring the Tower at KOSH and getting ready to enter the pattern to land. You still are only acknowledging calls from the controllers with wing rocks. They don’t have time to listen to your call backs. A basic controller instruction set goes something like “RV, red and white tail, rock your wings. Good, now make right close traffic RWY27, keep behind aircraft in front of you.” You simply do, not reply. Interestingly enough, we had planes trying to sneak in at FISKE. Tower would call them on it and tell them to get out and start at RIPON. It does not pay to cheat.

Now, we were in the pattern and getting ready to land. You would think at this point the end is near…Oh No. As we were getting ready to get the call for cleared to land, something happened on the runway. The controllers called it an “incident” yet from my vantage point, I could not see anything. The call was simply “All aircraft in the pattern for RWY27, go around.” So we did. I think we had 10 airplanes at least in the pattern at this point with others still trying to enter from FISKE or sneaking elsewhere. The concept of following the guy in front appeared to be a suggestion to some pilots as they would turn tighter patterns than others and the line would become a mess.

We lined up again and settled in for another attempt at landing. As we got our second clearance to land, someone did not make his assigned spot and the call came again, “All aircraft in the pattern for RWY27, go around.” Around we went. More airplanes entered the pattern at this point. We were really stacking up. I was calling out planes to Kent left and right, up and down. I could not believe what I was seeing. Kent meanwhile was cool and calm…flying like a pro. He seemed like it was all normal…I think. Let’s see if 3rd time really is a charm. We lined up behind a Cessna and made a little wider pattern to allow room for all the other planes that had snuck in. At this point the flight of six RV’s was just a bunch of RV’s blended in with the rest. We were cleared to land…again.

Now here is the real beauty of KOSH arrivals. They land 3 planes at once…on the same runway! They have painted large dots on the surface and as they clear you to land, they call your landing spot. Talk about pressure. Here you have 3 planes descending at the same time for the same runway cleared to land at the same time with enough separation to let you roll out and clear the runway at nearly the same time. Say WHAT? You spend most of your flying time waiting for runways to clear before you are cleared and they are clearing 3 at time…wow! We got our call….again…”RV, red and white tail, cleared to land on the numbers!” The Cessna ahead was cleared for the spot ahead of us. Well, here we go. Kent got settled in on final nice and stable. We kept the speed on target and watched the Cessna ahead. Cessna appeared to be lower and not heading for his assigned dot. “Oh no…are we going to have to go around again?” Cessna get the call to continue to his spot and then land but does not quite make it. At this point Kent is nearly about to flare right over the numbers. A go around at this point would be bad, but we may have too. Fortunately the Cessna kept his roll out speed up and we were able to get on the ground and off the runway in good time for the folks behind.

We had arrived. Kent popped the canopy open and immediately it was clear, it was hot and it was VERY humid. Welcome to Oshkosh. We pulled out our “HBC” sign and the flag men started to direct us to Home Built Camping. We taxied for what felt like 20 minutes and finally got to home for the next week. Eventually all the other guys in our flight made it too. We shut down, hopped out, and stretched. Immediately I was geeking out. Look at all these RV’s. And we were early! That was the way to arrive at Airventure 2012.

As you can see above, this was home for the week. First things first, we tied N216KW down. Remember how we had to ship our gear? Well, Kent and I had to trek across the airport grounds to the location where the shipped goods were stored and waiting for us. Apparently, we made it just in time as the gal guarding the boxes said they closed at 1700 hours. It was 1705. We were sure it was 1730 when they closed up, but no matter, we got our gear and hauled it back. It did not seem like a long walk to get there, but the walk back was sure long. Once we hit our site again we set up camp. About this time a RV-9a out of Florida, flown by a former Utah resident showed up. Steve was planning on getting there before us and picking up our stuff. Thankfully we got there first or we would have had to snuggle with him for the night until we could get our own. 😉 He got lucky. Once all the guys got settled, we headed out for dinner. Time to sit back, relax and get ready for the weeks adventure.

I did not take too many pictures this trip. I suppose I could have, but I was just too busy seeing the show. Below is the list of highlights I found interesting from the show.

1. Vendor Displays
   1. Garmin (G3X, GNS 750, GNS 650)
   2. Stein Air (All the pretty panels)
   3. Advance Flight Systems (AFS5600)
   4. TruTrak (Auto Pilots)
   5. AeroLeds (Lights)
   6. Vertical Power (VX-Pro)
   7. Aerosport Products (Carbon Panels)
   8. Lycoming (IO-390)
   9. ECI (Engines)
   10. EMAG (Electronic Ignitions)
   11. Trio (Autopilots)
   12. Beechcraft (Had to get a shirt)
   13. Vans (RV-14)
   14. AnywhereMap (Flight software for Android)
   15. Click Bond (Nifty way to install fasteners)
2. Forums
   1. Mountain Flying
   2. Rod Machado
   3. Proper Leaning
3. Meeting people I have chatted with on Vans Air Force, especially Paul Dye.
4. All the static planes on display I could see.
5. The Museum
6. The Weather
7. My blistered feet
8. My terrible allergies

Needless to say, it would be hard to summarize all the things I took in at the show, but all of it was great. I snagged some freebies. Chatted with some folks about products I wanted to see and possibly put in my plane someday, and watched some good airshow performances. There was simply too much to take in all at once, I was glad we had a week to get through it all.

For the most part, the weather was HOT and HUMID. There was some reprieve for a day from the heat, but the muggy persisted. We had one day where it rained pretty heavily. That same day a micro burst of wind made a mess of the forum pavilions and tossed a plane on top of another. As you can see above, the planes in question are not your average aircraft. One was a replica of a German Fokker and the other was a 2/3 scale Mustang that was a real jewel. Once they separated the planes, the Mustang actually fared OK compared to the Fokker. Needless to say, good tie-downs in the grass are a must. The same micro burst tore tents to shreds and had them all over camp. Kent’s tent had a broken tent pole that tore through his rain fly. We were able to repair the pole and tape up the fly, but he still had a lot of water in the tent. He was able to dry out and even his soaked camera began working again. There were plenty others heading to Target to get a new tent. It also rained pretty good Wednesday and Thursday nights. I think Kent was found in a different location in his tent then where he started. Thanks to his air mattress, he was able to float it out.

Here is a shot Wednesday morning after the storm had passed. Sunrise was pretty. The planes were prettier. You can also see my little 2 man tent I took. For $35.00, this little tent was a great performer. While other tents were getting tossed, bent, torn, etc. this little tent just sat there and took the beating. I was dry and sturdy all week.

By Friday, we had seen most of the show, seen all the vendors, gone to most of the sights, so Kent and I decided we should head home and be hero’s for our wives. We woke up early, packed up camp, ran our now soggy boxes over to FedEx to ship, and packed into the RV.

Kent however tossed a cookie my way and as we were getting ready to jump in said, “You take left seat.” Really?!? Don’t have to tell me twice! We jumped, started up and got in line with the other departures heading out. They lined us up in a staggered formation on RWY36. Four aircraft at a time in a box-like setup. Once ready, the controllers, sitting right on the side of the runway call out the plane and release you for departure. Seemed like a pretty slick setup all in all.

I put in the power, waited some, then gave the stick a little nose down to raise the tail and we rolled right off. We then made a right turn out and reversed course and once clear of the airspace, pointed westward.

We decided to simply reverse our course that got us to KOSH with the same fuel stops. I could have been told to go anywhere, I was flying Kent’s RV left seat!

We crossed the Mississippi at La Crosse, WI again and Kent snapped the above photo. We simply do not see this kind of water in Utah. The Tower Controller both on our way there and returning, was a real nice guy.

We had to stay low again with the cloud deck, and the turbulence was a little more on the way home, but really, I did not notice it much, I was having fun. Above you see the “RV Grin” that so commonly happens when you fly an RV Airplane. I have heard about it, almost as if it where mythical, but Kent snapped this picture somewhere over Minnesota to prove it does in fact exist. Notice all the green outside? Beautiful.

We stopped again for fuel in Luverne, MN (KLYV). This was my first official tail dragger landing. I got it stable and Kent talked me through it (He’s a darn good CFI BTW). I felt I did a decent job getting it on the ground. We hopped out and checked the fuel price again. They must have caught on to the low price, because it was much higher now. As we walked into the FBO to take a stretch/pee break, the Airport Manager met us and informed us that they were serving a BBQ sandwich lunch and to help ourselves. Apparently they do this for KOSH attendees as it must be a popular stop along the way. We told them that we were leaving rather than going, but no matter, we got a nice free lunch. Nice people, nice airport. After the break, I looked over at Kent to see if I still had left seat privileges. To my delight, he climbed into the right seat so I took my place in the left again. I did another decent job of getting us off the ground and pointed west once more.

It was becoming clear we were heading home about half way to Torrington, WY. The landscape was changing from a lush green to a lovely (yah right) brown. Southern SD/Northern NE, and WY are pretty…bleh. We stopped, as we did on the trip out, in Torrington, WY. My landing there was not as clean as the previous. I let the plane get a little ahead of me and Kent stepped in and calmed it down. In then end, I carried a little too much speed. We’ll chalk it up to learning. He looked the plane over as we topped off and said all was well. Thinking I had lost my left seat privileges for sure, I again waited to see where Kent was heading as we strapped in. Looks like Kent is also a generous CFI and he again jumped into the right seat. One more leg to go and we’d be back in Utah.

Kent snapped this photo shortly after we departed. As you can see, we were clearly getting close to home. I could not believe the vast open area we were flying over. Then once I realized what it looked like, my disbelief changed to understanding. Who in their right mind would want to live out here. Occasionally you could see a rancher or two, maybe a head of cattle, but that was all. I spent most of this final leg trying to assess the last landing in WY. I was determined to do better upon arriving in Utah.

Near Rock Springs, we hit some weather. Rain was falling and there were a couple of cells around. Thank goodness Kent pays for the XM weather for his Garmin 496. I also own one, but have not used the XM Weather feature. It is very nice and a great tool for assessing the situation. We were able to find a path that kept us out of the big stuff with little deviation from our course. The turbulence was pretty good however and both of us had to tighten our harnesses. We hit a few rain showers, but nothing major.

Next up was the Wasatch Mountains and on to home. Having spent two hours analyzing the last landing, I had a plan to grease this bird onto the runway at KOGD. We took a route that nearly put us on a straight in for RWY21. Fortunately for me, that is what we got. I got it stable, on glide path, slowed down, flaps in, and wind correction set up. There was a slight cross wind, but nothing drastic. I was set to cap this trip off with a high note….

It was a great 3rd tail wheel landing and Kent confirmed it. 🙂

Airventure 2012 was a great trip. I can’t say enough about Kent’s generosity for offering to take a newbie along, let him hang out with his group of friends, fly his bird, and instruct the whole time flying. It was certainly a trip I would love to repeat…and repeat soon. It certainly was a shot in the arm for me to get more done on my build. Kent and I flying to Airventure in formation with the other guys is now on the list of to do’s once my RV is done.

Thanks Kent!

 

So…the time came to break out the ProSeal and start gooping up parts. I can now see why people do not like this stage of the build. I pulled out my digital scale and the rest of my supplies and started going to town.

First things first. I swished some rivets in MEK to get the manufacturing oils, etc. off them. Then I taped both stiffener rivet lines in using my back rivet tape. Then I set each stiffener in place to use as a guide for the electrical tape masking I did on either side and then in between. Don’t make the mistake I made next. I re-wiped the lines clean with MEK. Not a big deal, but it does soften the adhesive on the tape a little. I only noticed it after I peeled it off once the sealant was on.

With the stiffener locations masked off, it was time to mix up a batch and get going. I mixed up 40 gram of white and 4 grams of black to start (10:1). Turns out it was not enough, so I will try 60/6 next tank.

With it mixed up, I slathered the stiffener bottom with a tongue depressor and then pushed over the rivets. I then used my back rivet set/plate and started smashing away. Once the matching pair of stiffeners at each location was riveted on, I smoothed out the excess with a popsicle stick to form fillets. I noticed that on the backside of the stiffener, there was not enough that squeezed out to make a nice fillet, so I tried to add some with the popsicle stick which ended up making a heck of a mess instead.

The trick I then used was to grab one of the free oral syringes I acquired and after cleaning it with MEK, I filled it with ProSeal and was able to apply a bead along the back of the stiffener to make a really nice fillet. The front and sides were fine as is.

As for adding the bit over the shop heads, I also ended up using the syringe here. It made it easy to put sealant where it needed to be.

This took some time to complete…almost to an embarrassing degree. I think now that I have a “method” it should go faster.

Next up I tackled the drain flange. I smeared the ProSeal on the face and clecoed it on. I was able to get to all these rivets with a squeezer. You need to cover the shop heads here too. Just insure that you do no block the path for water to get around the blobs. I think mine are just fine.

Here is a shot of the external side of the flange after A LOT of cleaning up.

The last item I wanted to attack today was the filler neck. I gooped it up nicely and clecoed it on. I was able to get to the four outboard rivets with a squeezer, but the rest are too far away. I decided to back rivet them and they turned out OK. Do not forget the vent line clip and make sure you put it on the leading edge side of the flange. Since these are the deluxe caps, I had to use various different size rivets for the perimeter. This is because the flange is a machined part that is flat on the bottom and curved for the contour of the tank. You can see my callouts above on the lengths.

Here is a shot of the Filler Neck from the exterior after some significant clean up. Looks good to me. For some reason the dimples on at the 0230 and 0830 positions look weird in this picture, but they are just right. The picture is playing weird with the lights.

Once all this was done, I was cooked for the day. I cleaned up the shop, threw away what seemed like 20 pairs of nitrile gloves and all the gooped up cups, plates, sticks and etc. I was surprised how clean I really was after it was all said and done, but I have plenty more sealing to do that will likely prove messy in the end. 🙂

 

Boss sent me home from work. I guess I was not well enough. On the way, I picked up my tank assembly supplies.

1. 9 oz. Plastic Cups for mixing
2. Tongue Depressors for spreading
3. Popsicle Sticks for mixing and filleting
4. Electrical Tape for masking
5. Paper Plates for placing messy tools on
6. MEK for cleaning parts
7. Syringes for squirting sealant where needed
8. ProSeal to seal

Looks like I am ready to start. I may this weekend, but my wife will be out of town, so I may have to wait.

I spent the day resting once I got home.

I called in sick today…and trust me…I was. I have been on the decline for a few days with a cold and figured it was not a good idea to get everyone else sick at the office. However, I rarely can sit still for too long and by afternoon I figured I would see what little tasks I could knock out on the here’s and there’s of the tanks. I swear, I really was sick…ask my wife.

Next up on the to do list was to fabricate the small clips that get installed with the fuel filler flange that hold the outboard end of the vent line. They are simply made out of some scrap 0.025″ sheet laying around. I think they turned out OK.

Next I drilled the outboard T-410 reinforcement plates to the outboard tank ribs. The instructions say that three or four AD4 rivets are OK, but I opted to use 6 like the inboard T-410’s just to keep the nose of the ribs really flat.

I also cut the wire for the capacitive senders and attached the BNC connectors and the terminals per the directions. They seem really secure. I did solder the terminals as well.

Then I deburred and dimpled all the ribs for both tanks and scuffed the faying surfaces that will eventually get sealant. I did the same to the stiffeners.

By the end of the night, I was still feeling lousy, but was able to feel like the day was not a complete waste. I was left with the pile of parts above ready for assembly. At this point, it is ProSeal time. I think I will wait until feeling better to start working with that stuff.

After mowing the lawn for the last time this year…I hope, I headed out to the shop to knock out some more work. End result, tank skins are all dimpled and scuffed and ready for ProSeal. It may not seem like a lot done, but it did take a lot of work. I had to remove the exterior vinyl from the rivet lines, deburr all the holes, dimple, scuff and clean them up with MEK. All in all a multi hour adventure.

These tanks have a LOT of holes. I had a blister in the palm of my hand from the DRDT-2 handle by the second skin. The time is drawing near for ProSeal….yippy! 🙁

Originally when I thought out my wing stands, I thought that I would paint them red and green corresponding to the NAV lights on each, to differentiate between the 2 wings. Since my neighbor graciously painted them for free at his shop…I took what I got and was happy to do so.

So to get the same effect, I had my other neighbor with a vinyl cutter, make me some placards that could be used instead of paint.

Nerd question of the day…what is the font from? 🙂

After giving some (OK, too much) thought to where I wanted to run the vapor return fitting, I finally settled on the upper part of the forward stamped stiffening ring. I opted for simplicity, so I also drilled a hole in each interior tank rib in the same location as the bulkhead fitting. This way the return fuel will dump into the most outboard tank bay and get cooled down by the rest of the fuel before being picked up again. Additionally, the return line will simply be a straight piece of tubing through the tank.

The holes were all 7/16ths for the vent and vapor return lines. The BNC hole for the capacitive senders are 3/8ths.

At this point I am ready to deburr all the rib holes, skin holes, dimple, scuff, and generally get ready to break out the sealant and get to final assembly of the tanks. Here you can see the penetrations from the exterior of the tank.

After getting this prep done, I cleaned up the shop and basically got things in order. It may be a couple of days until the next build session. Hopefully I will be done sealing tanks by Thanksgiving.

Spent yesterday at my Grandmothers funeral. She truly was a great lady in life. Family was still in town, but had not arrived at the house yet so I snuck out to the shop to see what could be done.

I was able to countersink the flanges of the fuel caps to accept the skin dimples. If you look at the full size photo (just click it) you can see the varying thickness of the flange that I mentioned in the last log entry. This was pretty painless. I love having a countersink cage for each size. I can set and forget for a certain setting. These are now ready for sealing and installation onto the tanks.

Next I was able to locate the vent and capacitive sender connection locations on the Left Tank. I still need to figure out where I want to put the vapor return line for the possible EFI setup. The washer you see in this picture is likely the location I will use. I also thought about putting it where the mark is on the rib inside the stiffening circle you see there. I do not know…but will decide in the next few days.

That was all that I had time for, so I closed up shop for the weekend.

This week has been a little hectic as my Grandmother passed away last Friday. With all the ramping up to the funeral and family coming into town, time is short. I was able to get out to the shop and at least get the fuel cap flanges clamped into place and drilled. As you can see, I am using the “deluxe” locking caps. I have heard, and experienced, the stock caps. They are tough to open. These however are very nice and smooth in operation. I think they look nicer too.

The stock cap flanges are bent to match the curvature of the tank skin. These deluxe caps are machined to the curvature. The difference in the build is that you have to use all different length rivets on the deluxe where the same rivet length is used on the stock.

I centered the cap in the hole, clamped it in place and drilled each rivet hole. As I drilled one, I clecoed it, then went 180° and drilled that and clecoed. I followed a star pattern like you would when installing lug nuts on a wheel. Once complete, I checked the alignment again. Not that I could do anything about it, but for sanity sake. The look good to me. That was all I could get done for the day.

I set a goal tonight to get through a bunch of tasks and completed them all. First up was to get the capacitive sender plates prepped and ready. I started by laying out the positions of the plates on one set of ribs for one tank. Once match drilled, I then clecoed the corresponding rib from the other tank to the rib just drilled using the tooling holes. I then match drilled the ribs together. The accuracy of the parts to one another meant that my alignment should match the other rib just fine…and it did. I then modified the outboard plates to clear the stiffeners that are on the bottom of the tank. I did this all at once, filing both plates at the same time.

Next up was to countersink the plates for the platenuts. If I had really thought about it, I would have dimpled these and the platenuts rather than countersink. They really are too thin to effectively countersink. I was going to use “Oops Rivets” but that is a longer, boring story. Needless to say, dimple these, not countersink. I made it work however.

Once that was done, I cut the tubing that insulates the screw from the plates so as to not create an electrical path from the plate to the rib. I then deburred all the spacers as there was a lot of molding flash on them around the edges. I figured I would clean this off and eliminate possible contaminates to the fuel. I also cleaned out the inside of the spacer holes with a razor knife for the same reason.

I attached the platenuts and then proceeded to test fit the plates to the ribs.

As I was grabbing screws blindly from the parts bin I put all the hardware in, I inserted one screw in the stack and tried to tighten it. I could not figure out why it was not threading. Everything was lined up just fine, but it simply spun. I decided to take a look at it and to my surprise, this screw did not have any threads. I chuckled a bit and then realized that I was now short the screw I needed to fit the plate on. Oh well, I will run to the FBO later tomorrow and likely have them comp me one to replace this one.

Once the capacitive plates were prepped, I test fit the pre-made fuel pickups to the now drilled blank plates. Everything looks like it should and the pickups appear to be in the right position relative to the tank for me to get the most fuel out of them. Granted, with a reserve, you should never have to worry about starving the engine…but it is good to know that you can get the maximum out of the tanks if needed. The pre-made pickups are nice and save a little time. I think worth the money and reduction of hassle.

Next up was to catch up on some other tasks I had neglected. I needed to cut out the stiffeners and match drill them on the left tank. I knocked these out pretty quick. I thought about calling it quits here, but was on a roll, so I kept going.

I centered the sump flanges on the skin by eye. I have seen some elaborate setups to do this task, but I guess I got lucky…mine look spot on. I did take some time to line up the flange as straight as I could, but in reality, if you are looking that close to my plane…you better be buying it. I knocked out both pretty quick and they are actually spot on.

I could have called it a night again, but instead, I decided to debur all the holes on the inside of both tank skins. By then, I was dead tired. So I finally called it a night…or at least early morning 🙂

Next up, I plan to finish prepping the inboard tank ribs with the capacitive BNC hole, vent fitting hole, and vapor return hole. I will also be drilling the fuel cap flanges to the skins. Then it will be time to debur, dimple, and scuff the parts. After that, time to start the dreaded sealing of the tanks. Yipeee! 🙁

 

I was able to get the T-405-R fabricated, drilled, and match drilled to the right rib and T-410. I then cut the access hole with my fly-cutter and riveted on the platenuts and T-407 to the T-703-R. I also drilled the anti-rotation bracket holes and the holes for the fuel pickups. Not a lot of description, but basically a repeat of the last time I was in the shop.

At this point, it is time to fit the capacitive fuel level senders and the other fittings for the vents and fuel return lines for the fuel injection and these ribs will be prepped.

With the T-405-L fabricated, it was time to drill it to the rib. I laid out the rivets as close to the drawing provided since there really is not a list of dimensions for each rivet anywhere, so it really is an “eyeball it” or best guess anyway. I simply worked it to insure good pitch and edge distance and drilled away. Once that was done, I inserted the bracket into the nose of the inboard rib of the left tank to prep it for match drilling to the rib.

On the other side of the rib is the T-410 that also gets match drilled to the rib with the T-405. It creates a sandwich and also helps reinforce the nose of the rib. I also think it helps later in the sealing the nose of the rib with sealant by closing the gaps where all the tabs are. Here you can see the rivet holes drilled to the rib and the T-410-L.

Once the nose was done, I moved on to cutting out the access port hole. It is a good size hole and I had to use my Fly Cutter. I have had this tool for some time [aka long before thinking about building a plane] since it works will to cut centering rings for large rockets. It was nice to have on hand to complete this task. It is actually a pretty quality tool. Some have used ones from Harbor Freight, that look as cheap as they are. Mine worked well. You can see here the center of the hole after I was able to finish the cut. Took longer to set up then it took to cut the hole in the rib.

After deburring the new large hole in the rib, I located the position of the T-407-L reinforcement ring and match drilled it to the rib. This went pretty quick since I had deburred the T-407 some time earlier. I then countersunk the ring and dimpled the rib and used my pneumatic squeezer to attach the platenuts to the rib and ring. I really felt like I was moving along tonight.

Here is the backside of the rib with the ring and platenuts. Looks pretty good to me. Since the plate is on the inside of the rib, there is no real need to seal it to the rib. Any leak path would simply return to the inside of the tank. The screws and rivets will be sealed by sealant when the access cover is attached.

By the time the night was spent, I was able to slip the cover over the access hole and hand thread some screws to hold the cover in place. You can see here I have some markings on the cover. Since I am not using the float senders for fuel level, the stock covers can be tossed. However, the covers supplied with the capacitive senders are not pre-drilled for the fuel pickup. Some builders install flop tube pickups, so Van’s ships the covers blank. I simply used the stock cover and marked the location of the pickup tube and anti-rotation bracket holes for reference. I will eventually use the stock cover to match drill for the anti-rotation bracket. Then I will use a step drill to open the hole for the fuel pickup.

The time has arrived to decide if I intend to install a flop tube in one or both of my tanks. Short answer, I am not in either. I have read where they can stiffen up. I’d rather avoid maintenance issues inside my tanks. Additionally, in order to truly take full advantage of inverted fuel, you have to install fuel injection (which I am planning on) and an inverted oil system (which I do not intend to do) in order to enjoy sustained inverted flight. I just do not think that I will do any extended negative G maneuvers. Others report that they get 20+ seconds of good fuel flow without a flop. Again, do not think it will be something I want to add to my flying. So, I feel that I will get all the excitement out of my plane with standard fuel pickups and be just fine. I will still have good ability to do “gentlemen” aerobatics without the hassles of possible maintenance issues. That, and it conforms to the KISS [Keep It Simple Stupid] principles.

All in all, it was a great work session for an “after work” day in the shop. Next up is fabricating the T-405-R and repeating the above completed work on the right tank rib.