Build your own

I would second that. The proseal is a little messy, but the basic construction is not all that different from the leading edge. Part 2, you will be able to custom fit them to your wing. See Dan Checkaway's website for some good tips. Part 3, you will feel good about it once it is done.

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Wings (closing)
 
Evans Aviation

I had Evans Aviation make mine and was very impressed with them. However, after having completed the wings to the stage that I would have started the tanks, I felt like I could have done them myself after all without any bother. If I build again then I'll do the tanks myself. Evan does do good work though. He also fitted delux caps, capacitive fuel senders and flop tubes. No problem.
 
You should be able to match the completed tanks to your spar even easier than the Dan way. All you have to do (Jeff correct me if I'm wrong) is cleco the completed tank on you wing spar with the LE in place and back drill the Z's through the back side of the spar. Then remove the tank and do the nutplates. Theres nothing wrong with having your tanks done for you. I think it will save a ton of time but they aren't that bad just time consuming. Like someone here said before "it gets you close to the $4100.00 QB stage for only $1000".
 
That's somewaht true. But, if the alignment is not REAL close, you may not be able to put a nutplate on the Z-bracket, at least not without some nutplate surgery. You would also need to be sure that your LE is not permanantly attached yet.

FWIW, I built mine and found it no more difficult thatn anything else on the plane. Riveting is a bit trickey as the sealant acts like a bit of lubricant, but other than that, no problems. Another fact is that I start thinking of all the other uses for proseal, and have plenty of it! Search the forums for "fay sealing" and you can avoid most of the mess.

briand said:
You should be able to match the completed tanks to your spar even easier than the Dan way. All you have to do (Jeff correct me if I'm wrong) is cleco the completed tank on you wing spar with the LE in place and back drill the Z's through the back side of the spar. Then remove the tank and do the nutplates. Theres nothing wrong with having your tanks done for you. I think it will save a ton of time but they aren't that bad just time consuming. Like someone here said before "it gets you close to the $4100.00 QB stage for only $1000".
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Evans did the 1st set, I'll probably do the next ones!

briand said:
You should be able to match the completed tanks to your spar even easier than the Dan way. All you have to do (Jeff correct me if I'm wrong) is cleco the completed tank on you wing spar with the LE in place and back drill the Z's through the back side of the spar. Then remove the tank and do the nutplates.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much all I did. The only snag I hit was edge distance for some of the outer nutplate rivets on the Z-brackets. A sent a couple of photos to Vans and they said forget about it or put a single leg nutplate there instead. Alignment on the whole was good. I just pushed it up tight against the already fixed leading edge, pulled it down tight, back drilled through the spar clecoing every hole as I went, then match drilled the leading edge joint plate & skin/spar rivets. Off it came, nutplates went on, etc and we're done.

Would I do it again? Probably not: building and prosealing a tank would not hold fear for me now like it did before I started the wings. Having said that, if I had time issues and plenty of money then perhaps I would, but I certainly wouldn't be scared of doing them now.
 
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