I got a little bit of time today to finish the J stiffener and I got both of the forward mount brackets done too. I now need to let that sit and work on getting the fuel vent lines installed. I’ll get to try out my latest tool for bending pipe that I ordered a month or so ago and so how well it works.
Took a bit to figure out how best to tackle this but I got it done. The longest part was going back and capping over the rivets and getting the underside of the J stiffener sealed up. I think the next one I do I am going to put a little bit more sealant towards the back side so I don’t have to try to add so much back there.
I didn’t get alot of time today as I was busy with work, school (grading), or church stuff. But I did get four ribs installed. Good progress and trying to keep it as neat and tidy as possible.
I got the shims in while we were at Lake Texoma. I got those trimmed and installed. I then got the first two full ribs installed in each tank. I’ve been watching some people on how they keep their installs so clean and they talk about keeping a clean workstation which I try my hardest to keep things wiped off and everything but then it adds so much to the time that the proseal is setting off before I’m completely finished with a single rib. I’ll keep perfecting it I guess and as long as I’m not leaving behind potential pieces that can fall off I guess I can just keep building and improving.
Well I did end up having a little bit of time today before Kate got home to do some work. I got the forward inboard ribs installed because they would be fairly easy with the squeezer and not having to have sealant over the entire rib flange. I double checked with the light that I didn’t see any showing up through the rib so it should be sealed. The image makes it look like I gooped it on but I really didn’t use that much. I’m going to guess it is the reflections off the aluminum that is making it look thicker than it is. At the rate I’m using the sealant I should be able to finish the tanks with one quart, or maybe just a tad over.
Another day that I didn’t get much time to work on the plane as we are prepping to go to my mom’s this weekend and I also needed to do some automotive maintenance on my wife’s car as well as the boys. But I got all of the stiffeners installed and I need to start getting the ribs in next. I’ll start that on Monday next week after we get back.
I didn’t get nearly as much time as I wanted tonight as I had church duties that came up and took two hours of my time away, but I’m still happy with my progress. I hope to wrap the rest of these stiffeners up tomorrow.
I got a little bit of time to work tonight and finished up the left wing tank stiffeners. Not much else to report besides that.
I’ve only got four more stiffeners to complete on this side. It was basically rinse and repeat for each stiffener. I hope to get the other stiffeners done on both sides by Wednesday but I have somethings I’m doing tomorrow night so fingers crossed I get the time.
