Day 85

Some exciting stuff today!

We heard back from Sling technical about our cabin air ductwork and long-range tank line. As for the cabin air they refured us to the most recent fuselage kai, as well as informing us that the t-piece is to fit inside the existing port. Not sure how that is to be accomplished yet, but we’ll take a look at it when we get to that part.

On the long-range line they said that as far as they could tell, the amount of the line that we cut removed shouldn’t pose much issue. They did suggest bending it and getting the tank set up on the wing to make sure it would still be long enough. We can make the rubber hose line coming off of it longer later. So this we did. This side proved slightly more complicated to get the bends correct to fit into the long-range tank fitting. But after taking it on and off a few time, we were able to get it to fit along the wing just right. Next we bent the end that goes come out at the root of the wing.

When we went to place the last tank on the wing, it was a bit cumbersome trying to feed the line through the last root rib, so on this one we drilled it back off. (It will easily slid back in once the tank is riveted on. It was just too much work trying to take it on and off multiple times for fitting with it riveted on.) This time we also taped the line against the main spar so that it wouldn’t move when trying to set the tank up on the wing. It fits perfectly along the spar now. Once it was on we were happy to see that there was sufficient length at the end, and will not cause issues for us later.

As soon as the 3M fuel tank sealant shows up this week we will be able to seal up the two leaks and put the tank back on and get it riveted in place.

Speaking of rivets, our 4.8 x 10mm rivets arrived today, as well as two of our wheel hubs. We were very excited about these! We were able to finish riveting the right wing tank onto the wing! It looks so good! It will be awesome when we have the left one done soon and will be able to align the flaps and ailerons and have the wings completed.