Left tank on wing!
This morning I finished cleco'ng the ribs in the left tank and cleco'd in the rear baffle. Rearranged the wings in the wing stand and then set the tank onto the spar. BEAUTIFUL!! Sandi and I were both very excited. It looks like a wing! It even fit great!

Wing 1
Wing 2
Wing 3
Shop 1
Shop 2

Ok.. now what about this darn right tank skin. I put it back in the cradles and attempted to get everything to go together. I did get some of the ribs cleco'd in but it was really tough. I've decided to trash this skin and start over with a fresh piece. It actually works out OK because this was the first skin I started on and made a few mistakes. This will allow me to do a better job.

Ok.. so back to the left tank. I pulled it off the wing and put it back in the cradles. Started contemplating how to handle the rear baffle. My thought is to somehow use the stock baffles and 'splice' some extra onto the end of the stock to extend it out as far as I need. I don't think this is going to work because in order to provide some strength, I need to overlap the pieces and I can't do that because the z-bracket sits right there and that would make it stick up too far. I have the material to bend my own, so I'll try that first.

I started working on the z-brackets by drilling the #30 hole using the hole guide Van's provides and then enlarging it to 3/16". I'm going to follow Dan Checkoway's procedure for mounting the tanks.

Drilling the z-brackets

I'm heading out to visist a new RV-7 builder, Bill Gill. He's getting close to starting his first batch of riveting on his tail.

Back from Bill's and I hid out in the garage for an other hour or so. (4 teenage girls running around the house.) I put the z-brackets on the spar and back drilled the other two holes. I need to figure out the placement for the extra z-brackets.

TIP: Don't forget NOT to drill 2 of the z-brackets. The two inboard brackets get slight different spacing. The directions state this clearly but as usual I got into a rythm of drilling the brackets and forgot to hold back two. I"ll have to order 2 replacements.

(Time: 5 hours)


- posted by Matthew @ 10/11/2003 02:34:18 PM