even though we aren't quite finished on the second tank(install the rear baffle) i'm onto the ailerons now. here i'm aligning all the pieces for the left aileron and drilling the stainless steel tube.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

match drilling the flap brackets to the main spar and skins. this scrap piece of aluminum i used to simulate the bottom skin so i could match drill the bracket on the bottom.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

time to seal up the tank by installing the rear baffle along with the z-brackets(attachment to the main spar). before installing the baffle we setup and prepared the van's sending units.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

putting the tank assembly back into the jig, bead of proseal is applied(thanks to Tad's idea of applying this, worked better than we thought:)... just a matter of dropping in the baffle now.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

next step in the building of the tanks was to finish the interior, fuel inlet, drain, vent and fuel pick-up.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

now the tanks have been drilled and prepped we moved onto riveting the ribs and stiffeners in place. there is as much prep to get the tank ready as there is to do the riveting. all surfaces where the proseal touches must be CLEAN so that is where most time is spent. here we are partially through back-riveting the stiffeners on.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

we managed to get the stiffeners done then moved onto the ribs.. doing 2 ribs on the first session then doing 3 on the next one.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

method to mix proseal for the tanks

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

applying proseal to the ribs before inserting them into the tank skin, then each cleaned rivet is put in place and riveted.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build