Working on right tank and tail kit gets delivered

Been doing some more work on the right tank, and will be closing it up this weekend. I've also been preping the flap and aileron gap fairings getting them ready to install. The big news of the week though is the fact that my tail kit arrived yesterday.

The kit arrived in one box, undamaged this time.

 The tail kit includes the tail cone portion of the fuselage, or everything behind the baggage bulkhead. The kit came in a single crate that didn't really weigh too much. Two of us were able to carry it easily. Once the top was off it was time to look at the new toys. The first thing you see are the two top side fuse skins.

 

Top off the crate and looking at some fuse skins.

There are a lot more small parts in this kit, and it looks like it will be fun building. Plus things are really starting to look like airplane parts as they go together. I'm also looking forward to being done with the tanks and proseal.

One of several bundles of small parts with some stiffeners and longerons in the background.

Another good thing is that I'm going to be home next summer so I'll easily be able to keep progress going instead of falling behind like this year.

 

Back Home and Ready to Work

Well things did not progress as well as I had hoped this summer, but I'm back home for at least the winter and will be back to working on the plane frequently. Over the past few months we got the left tank complete and it tested leakfree so it's hung on the spar. I was also able to get the wiring harness in the left wing as well a tubing for the pitot static and AoA lines. I decided to go with the Safe Air 1 system for the air data tubing since the system seems to offer the best as far as ease of connection and possible future work. I also picked up and will be installing the Safe Air 1 mast for the pitot tube itself. The wing is really starting to look complete with the tank installed.

Left wing with the tank installed.

 

Left wing from bottom showing the wiring for landing light and tip strobes.

Air data lines and ADAHRS wiring.

Now it's time to begin working on the right tank. We started out again by riveting the bottom stiffeners to the skin a couple weeks ago. We were able to get all 5 interior tank ribs installed in one work session over the weekend. We've adopted the opinion that it's better to just cover every joint in a thick layer of proseal and work faster rather than taking a bunch of time to do a super neat job. No one should ever see the inside of the tanks again anyway so all of the masking and such was really just wasted effort. I'm comfortable with the small amount of added weight and the few ounces less fuel capacity.

Right tank with interior ribs sealed and riveted.

 The tail kit is supposed to be shipping the week of October 14th so it's unlikely that we'll have the wing complete prior to it's arrival as hoped, but we'll be pretty close. Hoping to get the right tank completed this week and next weekend.