Wow! It’s been almost 5 months since I last worked on the project. I really need to have a word with myself or this project will never get finished!
To get back into the swing of things I decided to tackle the static system. The static system is a series of tubes that connects to the instruments so they know the outside air pressure and therefore the altitude.
I already decided I was going with the Vans large rivet solution so I practiced setting it 3/4 of the way on some scrap and knocking out the central mandral. It wasn’t that hard but it sure was scarier on the actual plane than on the scrap piece.
But after setting it 3/4 of the way and then giving it a gentle ‘thwack’ with the hammer and a support block behind the skin the mandrel was soon out and a rivet set in place on each side of the plane.
Next I ran some tubing between both rivets and sealed them in place with RTV sealant and a cable tie. Along the top I was worried about chaffing so I reinforced the tubing there with a larger piece of tubing.
The important thing routing the tubing is that none of the it is lower than the rivet otherwise water may collect and block the air pressure.
A close up of the tubing routing and the t-piece that allows the tube to go to the front of the aircraft and ultimately connect to the instruments in the future.
That’s all for this week. I’m definitely going to try and be more regular with the visits to the workshop or I’ll be too old to fly by the time it’s done!