Thursday, February 01, 2007
F-463 Tank Brackets - read this before you make yours!
One day this week when I was putting off the day when I had to drill the rear spar, I decided to cut out the brackets that attach the fuel tank to the fuse. I diligently marked out two, according to the plans, and worked away with my hacksaw. (Yes, I still haven't bought a band saw..its a hacksaw and file for me!)When I had one roughed out almost to size I offered it up against the side of the fuse. It bears little relationship to what is needed.
I quickly reworked the other one to see if I had already gone too far to salvage it. The answer is probably 'yes' but it illustrates how wrong the plan is.
The bracket on the right is to plan, and bears no relationship to the relative positions of where the bolt holes need to go. The one on the left is to my design, but will probably have to be remade since it might be marginally short.
I am also advised that you need to take great care that they do not displace the wing fairing. Interestingly, in different places in the plans they are shown bolted to both the back and front of the 'ear' coming from the tank. The logical way, and I think VANS intent, is that they sit behind the 'ear'. If you have a flop tube it is probably essential in view of where the fuel exits the tank.
Labels: tanks wings
