May 23, 2020
So, unfortunately, there are no quick build specific plans set. Van’s sent the standard plans and instructions and it is on us to go through them and figure out what’s been done and what hasn’t. Van’s suggests that builders start with the empennage, then go through the wings, and finally tackle the fuselage. This makes sense from a scope of project aspect, starting small and working up. It also becomes obvious that the empennage plans are more detailed than the wing plans. Van’s accounts for a learning curve as the builder moves through components, and it makes sense but it’s also somewhat frustrating.
Before we could get very far into anything, we needed to make more space in the garage. Paul made a quick shelf under the fuselage out of the finishing kit crate to store the flaps and ailerons and it’s been super useful.
We pulled out the wing drawings and instructions and started identifying part numbers and crossing off completed steps. The first incomplete step we came upon was to cut a slot for the stall warner system. It was stressful cutting into the finished wing skin but the hole turned out just fine.
The next incomplete step was installing the fuel level senders into the tanks. The tanks arrive 90% sealed and mounted on the wing. We started with the left fuel tank since we decided a while ago that it would be the one tank with all of the inverted modifications on top of needing a fuel level sender.
The inverted fuel mods include a one-way barn door, an extra hole cover, and a flop tube. We started with the barn door because it seemed like a simple little piece to fabricate and we could put off pulling the tank off the wing for another day.
The barn door consists of some scrap hinge connected to some scrap aluminum just big enough to cover the low leading edge hole in the most inboard fuel tank rib. This allows fuel to flow into the most inboard bay where the fuel pick-up is but doesn’t allow it to flow back out, ensuring your fuel supply during acrobatic maneuvers.
It should have been a pretty quick part to make, however we had laid the fuel tank upside down on the table. There’s only room for the bent stop on the hinge to be on one side of the hole and we got it backwards the first time. This turns into an ongoing issue for us, parts being upside down and thinking they’re right-side up. So we made a new hinge and all was well.
Cheers,
-Kacy
(Total Build Time: 191.5 hrs)