Fitted right tank inner anti-hangup and fuel sender - 3 hours

I fashioned up a 1/2" wide piece of 0.025" material for the inner anti hangup guide. Using a piece of paper I created a template to test. Once I had the dimensions figured out. I cut the material, bent it, and instantly had a anti-hangup bracket. Not much to write about, it went together as it looks.



Once that was done, all that was needed was to fit the fuel level senders. I bend the float rods according to the dimensions of the plans (also in conjunction with the Van's 'Float Wire Bending Diagram" for the fuel senders). Its a bit difficult to figure this part out as both my tanks are aerobatic and the diagram is for non aerobatic tanks. So I ended up settling on a dimension just a bit over 3" ~ 3 3/16"

Then, I clecoed the side of the sender on the internal rib to find the center point. I checked full travel up and full travel down.



Im slightly more than 1/8" clear top and bottom, but I feel happy with the fitment I have,
I then transferred the center lines to the rear baffle.

Fitting the right tank fuel vent line - 2 hours

One of the things that I should have done before I disassembled the tanks was to fit up the fuel vent line. I was not keen on doing this part as in my mind it was going to be difficult. It actually went fairly well. I had re-cleco'd the tank back up.....again. Next I used my table to roll out the 1/4" soft aluminum tubing. It rolls out fairly well, not straight as it tends to arc a bit. But if you gently work at it, it straightens out. Once it was rolled out. I cut it to rough size and gently polished one end on the deburring wheel. A delicate deburr of the inside and I was ready to flair.

I used the parker roto-flair tool from cleveland tools. Again. thinking it was more tricky than I thought it would be. I flaired the tube. It fit in the hardware very nicely.


Now....The most important part. I made sure the blue collar was on the tube BEFORE I bent the tubing. Bending the tube was guess and test. I picked a couple of random points looking off of other build sites and began the required offset bend. First I started with double 20 deg, very shallow. So again, again again I bent. Test, Check, so on. It finally worked out to a bend just shy of 45deg was the magic number.


I had the tube so it lined up nearly perfectly without connecting it to the fitting.
Next I had marked the opposite end to be cut just short of the end rib.

Now...I was curious how my vent clip would work. I cleco'd it on and the vent clip is just forward of the vent line. But....once the clip is riveted, i can push it back and it will line up perfectly with the vent line.



I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Finished the Right Leading Edge - 3 hours

Well short night in the garage tonight. I completed the riveting on the right leading edge. (well almost...Need help to finish the last row of rivets).

Now that I'm done with that I fell like its time to get those fuel tanks taken care of. I have to finish the inner anti-hangup bracket, the fuel vent line, and the fuel senders. Then its ready to start the proseal.
First order of business. Cleco the right tank back up.

Started riveting the right leading edge - 3.5 hours

I cleco'd the right leading edge together but for some reason, it was a tad more stubborn then the left side. I took my time, cleco'd, uncleco'd, massaged it, recleco'd. Finally it all fell nicely into place. Since I was fresh off the riviting on the left leading edge, I made short work of the right side. I managed to get a good portion of it done, but as it was 10:30 at night and I was getting quite tired. I decided to pull the plug for the evening. (In case your wondering why the two colored primers. The lighter primer is the 2-part epoxy which I am using on parts that I feel are subject to wear and tear, It's so tough compared to the self etching primer)

Priming right leading edge ribs and skin - 1.5 hours

Totally motivated to keep building. I dove into priming the right leading edge ribs and skin. Same process as the left. Scrub, MEK, Aluma-brite, MEK, Prime. it was nice and warm, so of course all the priming was done outside!!


Mike came over later in the evening and we set off to work on his S51 Mustang. But unfortunately we quickly hit a roadblock trying to attach his elevators to his horizontal stabilizer. After 3 hours we drilled two holes. Yup....We are spoiled by the RV kits compared to the old school way of building. (And they built the original mustangs in 120 days!)

Red Deer Fly-in Breakfast

What a beautiful day for a road trip! The sun is shining and its nice a warm. My buddy Mike and I hopped in the car hit Starbucks for a Coffee and drove out to the Red Deer Airport. The Red Deer flying club was hosting their annual Fly-in Breakfast. What a treat. Breakfast was the usual fair. Eggs, Pancakes, Ham and Coffee. We showed up just about 8:30am. We were in for a treat. Mike spotted the F1 rocket straight away. We decided to eat first and then go stroll around. But wouldn't you know, the F1 rocket and an RV7 were soon getting set to leave. Unfortunately mike didn't get a chance to look over the F1 rocket. I know he's burning for having questions answered as he's just getting into his F1 build.


But the disappointment of missing a plane didn't last long as there where so many other great planes around. A very nice Shinn 2150 was at the show, and the pilot was kind enough to let me jump into the cockpit. A tight fit for my 6'-3" frame. But so much fun nonetheless.







There were a good number of RV7A's on hand which I was in heaven. Pilot Jay who I met last year had his out but he has switched his rudder out with the original (RV9?) rudder configuration the RV7 was to have. He was very pleased with the handling of the plane with it. Pilot Eugene was there as well as a few other new folks that I got to meet. I took a ton of pictures of little build details, or differences that I keep for future reference for all those future head scratching moments. Just a wealth of great information. By the time we were ready to head for home, my cheeks were sore from smiling...what a good day.

Prep'd the right leading edge - 4 hours

Now it was on to the right leading edge. The same boring prep work as before. Cleco, match drill, dis assemble, deburr everything, try to deburr the ribs, use the dremmel.

Cleaned up the nose rib tips as much as possible....long process with those. First go over segmented flange with a small round file, then a flat file, then smooth with a dremmel, then finish with maroon scotchbrite. I then dimpled the nose ribs.


It was such a beautiful day out, I threw in the towel and called it a day!