It was a great few days at Oshkosh!!  Met with all the TAF guys and came away totally recharged (not that it was very low!) to get moving on the wing.

"My" airplane!!  World's Best 4-Seater!  :-)

Another view.  Is there any bad angle?  No, there isn't.

Selfie from the front seat, with a TAF guy in the back.

Back seat view.  So much room!

I stuck the camera under the panel to see how that looks.  No problem! :-)

And I got to take a picture with Ariel Tweto of Flying Wild Alaska!

During her very entertaining talk.

And I got to hear Dick Rutan talk about his round the world flight.

Off to Oshkosh tomorrow!!!  I've extensively updated my Fuel Tank Building page, so check it out.  I've refined my technique, so I updated that page.

I also found that the nitrile gloves I was using for the MEK and sealing is a terrible choice.  They melted after 20 minutes of using MEK...  I did more research and found that nitrile gets a "Not Recommended" rating for use with MEK...  See my build page for what I'll use moving forward.

I'll post some pictures from Oshkosh here once I get back.

3.5 hrs. riveting the right fuel tank.

Decided using popsicle sticks was way better than spatulas and syringes for mixing, dabbing on and fileting ProSeal.  Use them a few times and throw them out!

Better to use small paper plates to measure out the two components of the ProSeal.  Use them once and throw them out!  10 to 1 by weight of Part A to Part B.

Every other cleco removed and dabbed with sealant using a popsicle stick.

 

After riveting all the rivets on one side of a rib it was cleaned up with a MEK soaked rag.

 All done!  Tomorrow I'll go over all the internal mating edges and rivet heads with sealant to seal the deal! ;-)

3 hrs. ProSealing....  Well, I can't say what I did today was fun....  Mostly frustrating.  Using ProSeal is like trying to paint a portrait with your thumb using Salt Water Taffy...

Trying to use syringes for measuring and laying down a line of sealant was a total fail.  I found using spatulas much easier.

You go into this thinking your work will be all easy and neat.  Forget it.  It's a mess doing this.

Made my syringes (so hopeful...)

For my first rib I put a line of sealant on the skin (and rib flange), which I found difficult, so I abandoned that approach and just spread the sealant on the skin side of the rib flanges and that was much easier.  Kind of like icing a cake.  After I put that on I put the rib in place and cleco'ed it in.  All holes cleco'ed.

Close-up view.  I used my finger to create the filet, but using a popsicle type stick will be easier.  I will rivet the holes on Sunday.

It's a mess dealing with ProSeal...  Once I had my procedure down, it wasn't so bad, but still not fun...

All cleco'ed up.  Still need to apply sealant around all the places where the flanges meet the skin.

Hoping to get to ProSealing tomorrow, but I just wanted to tell people that I've put together a "Building Fuel Tanks" page based on all the best practice info I've gathered around the net on the process.  You should note that I have not done many of the steps yet, so it's still subject to change and I'll certainly be adding pictures and a video of the whole process when I'm done.

I also updated my "Tips & Hints" page with updated info on various things like what size reamer to use for different rivets.

2 hrs. today doing the next step in building the fuel tanks.  Cleaning the internal contact areas (around all the holes) with MEK, abrading with ScotchBrite and cleaning again.  Since MEK is nasty I did it outdoors with a respirator and a fan.  Didn't get a whiff. ;-)

My setup.

Since I'd like to still be a pilot when my Sling is finished I've returned to the air.  Here flying a C-172RG.

Some nice views flying up to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

 Lake Winnipesaukee just before landing at Laconia (KLCI).

1.5 hrs cleaning the fuel tank parts with Extreme Simple Green solution.  I've started videoing all the steps of the fuel tank build, and I'm hoping to have that done in about a week (Keep in mind I'm an optimist...).

Next up will be cleaning the mating surfaces with MEK, abrading them with ScotchBrite and then re-cleaning with MEK.  Then the fun begins with the Prosealing...  MEK is really nasty stuff so I'll only do that outside with my P100 Class respirator firmly attached...

Spent most of today cleaning, clearing and re-organizing my garage.  It had gotten to be too messy for me and when that happens my productivity goes down.  Did spend half an hour completing the floats for the fuel tanks.

All set!  I found the best way to bend it was to put all of the rod up close to the bend point in a vise (horizontally) and use a wood block to bend it to the required angle.  There may be a better way, but I don't know it. ;-)