I got all of the top portion of the riveting done. Took a bit as I didn’t measure the shank of the rivets I put in which were the 3.5 size. I did one rivet and realized it was too short. I had to pull all of the ones I Read more
I went ahead and verified that the right tank is 100% good. It held air for 24 hours so that tank is solid and sealed. I went ahead and had my wonderful wife help me reinstall a few bolts. I’ll get the rest of them tomorrow as I get time Read more
I haven’t gotten out to the garage yet today, but I will when I get home from work. That said I did go look at the left tank and the balloon was still inflated by it was 1/2″ shorter. That could be from cooling of the air so I’ll see Read more
I tested the tank this afternoon and one of the leaks is fixed and the second one is much better but still there. I don’t know what to do at this point as I thoroughly sealed that rear side of the baffle and even shoved sealant around the rib that Read more
I got all of the parts primed today and I assembled the nose ribs. I realized one of the ribs I drilled the nut plates holes when I didn’t need it. Not a huge deal but I just assumed since I was drilling the bolt holes I needed the nut Read more
Now I’ve not pressure tested it (boy I hope I got it all…) but I’ve sealed up the tank again, sanded the outside of the tank and primed it. Took a bit today but I got it all done. I really really hope it is sealed now. I put quite Read more
Aside from the tank work today, I spent a little bit of time getting everything cleaned and ready for primer. Not much else to say here as most of the work was done on the tanks today.
I decided to go ahead and prime the outside of the tanks just to make sure to keep the oxidation to a minimum on the plane but it looks like it beat me to it. I’m going to guess something in that soapy water mixture was corrosive to the aluminum Read more
I completely forgot to do the edge bending so that it doesn’t pillow out on the trailing edge as well as on the skin overlaps. I took the edging tool and ran it between each of the dimples. It seemed to work as I had previously done it for the Read more
I got everything for the left flap done and ready for priming. I’ll try to get some time to do it tomorrow but I have both church and a work thing happening so I might not get much opportunity.