I'm catching up on some of the past work with this post as the video was done a about a week ago (yeah past-date availability on blog postings!!)

The later half of October we got moving on the fuel tanks.  There aren't many stages of this project that I somewhat dread, but the fuel tanks were definitely one of them.  In following the videos from Sling (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQcGDbAAIZb00QsNn6om0xTirTiVaLn3h) put out through Evan Brunye who finished his sling earlier this year.  His hints, tips and suggestions make a lot of the prep work and assembly go so much smoother.  Quite often I just sit down, watch and re-watch the given task video I'm working on so I know the steps well.  Then leveraging the documentation in the build kit and then the online updated PDF's from the Sling Factory.

The assembly of the fuel tanks is a big messy project - or at least it can be.  I didn't find it too bad as it was an "all hands on deck" day with myself, Laurie, her dad Harold and then recently joined by my nephew Nathan for the second tank.  

We could only go as far as assembling the lower section of the tank as I'm going to go with a non-stock fuel sender.  For those of you who aren't familiar with what a fuel sender is (which I can't say I was until a few years ago), it effectively is the device which sits in your fuel tank with a float and tells you how much gas is in the tank.  So why go with a non-stock (and thus added extra cost) fuel sender?  Well, when I was a partner in the T210 we put in a whole new modern panel which required upgrades to the fuel senders as well.  Cies makes a fuel sender which is very modern and provides accuracy to within 1/10th of a gallon of gas in the tank.  To read more about the differences, check out their site at ciescorp.net/documentation/comparative-fuel-sensor-technology/. 

This is the nice part about building an experimental kit in that I can upgrade where it makes sense in the process.  I have a few other upgrades planned, but this is the first one where I am deviating from the basic plans - and it makes sense.  I think it's rather important to know how much gas is in the tank.  Although I have to say, my general rule/habit of flying is to always land with an hour of fuel left in the tank.  Given the SlingTsi burns around 8gph, that's not a lot of fuel to be sensed.

The other part of the build that I'm kind of amazed by is how fast it's going together.  Granted building an airplane is an exercise in you're 90% of the way done with 90% more to go, but the timeline in my head didn't fit it was going to be at this stage by now.  I'm waiting on some parts for the wings still and have been assured by TAF in Torrence and Sling proper in South Africa that the parts have been shipped.  They aren't coming by boat, but by air.  By air doesn't mean a direct flight from SA to CA, but it does go cargo.  So it may make a few stops in-between.  I probably have about a months worth of work to do on the wings to get them wrapped up.  The next few days are going to be spent finishing up the other control surfaces I have left to work on and the ones I can work on.  If we don't have any new parts before then, it'll be time to crack open the main fuselage box and get working on that.

The other news that has evolved the later half of October is the finishing kit has shipped as well.  Now I'm nowhere near ready for that to arrive yet, but it's good to know it's "expected" arrival is the first week in December.  Given they have a bunch of cargo ships sitting off the coast of LA waiting to be unloaded, even if it takes an extra month I'll still be in fine shape.

Before the end of the year I expect to pull the trigger on getting the engine and avionics ordered.  Timing is definitely the bigger challenge on this project as with the upset delivery schedules around the globe and manufacturing bottlenecks it's tough to gage when things may arrive.  Sadly, engine and avionics warranties start when they are bought, not when they go into service.  So even though I may have an expected tight timeline on this project, it could be six months before either the engine or avionics get turned on after they are received - and that is even i I take them out of the box and install them on the day they arrive.  That wouldn't be the case.  It's more likely the materials would arrive and they get worked into the build cycle somewhere.  Possibly a few weeks or months.  The idea is to just minimize the exposure to the warranty slowly drifting away.

Anyway - the next video likely will be a few minor parts being tidied up and the fuselage start to take shape.  let me know if you have any questions.

Building an airplane is an interesting experience.  It's been a month since my last update and it feels like I've accomplished little to nothing, when in reality I've got a good chunk of the wings together.  Having a week off at a time has helped a lot and the coming week is no exception.  What is slowing me down is parts.  For the wings, as I mention in the video, I am missing one very key part to be able to close out the bottom skin on the wings which will allow me to work on getting the wiring installed on both wings and the pitot tube on the left wing.  Apparently this part is very constrained because even the kits arriving now in Torrence are missing this part.

Thinks I need to get better on are working in the evenings (as I had planned) and taking more pictures.  I do continue to make progress as time goes by, but with the weather getting cooler and the days getting shorter it's harder to go out and spend time working on it.

At this time I have most, if not all parts for getting the fuel tanks at least underway.  I am looking at using a CEIS fuel sender vs. the stock one that came with the airplane as the CEIS has a much more modern way of sending fuel information to the Garmin system (think digital vs. analog).  I had these CEIS installed in the T210 I was part owner in for a while and I think we had an accuracy down to a half a gallon of what was actually in the tanks.  Another owners of a Tsi has reported some "stickiness" of the fuel level information and a need to "bang on the wing" to get it to read correctly, or in other words, loosen up the sensor so it takes a good reading.  Obviously something I want to avoid if I can.  I don't know if CEIS makes a sender for the Tsi, but I have reached out to them to find out at this time.  If they don't, no biggie, I'll use the stock ones that came with it and work with the issues as they come along.

Unfortunately this change may add several weeks in allowing me to close out the fuel tanks completely, but I think the time involved in going this route will be worth it, even if it is an added cost.

At this time I'm still hopeful that I can get all of the control surfaces finished before the end of 2021.  If I can meet that goal, then I feel like I'm on track to a 2 year build.  That is of course baring any delays in other shipments.  Instrument panels can take between 6 and 10 months as well as the engine delivery.  Those aren't small windows of guesswork delivery, so I'm inclined to order these very big ticket items sooner vs. later as I'd rather have them on-site waiting on me vs. weeks or months waiting on them.

I've been talking with Midwest Panels to do my panel and wiring work.  I haven't had much engagement with them other than in passing, but even at that level, their customer service makes going any other route other than to use them a no brainer.  I've experience nothing but responsiveness and clarity in all of my engagements, so I'm certain I'll be happy with that process.

Oh - and we did settle on a color for the plane and interior.  As for the paint scheme - that's a whole other level of "what should we do".  We needed paint schemes so we can pick interior colors and get that process going as well.

Anyway - enjoy the pictures that I have and the video.  Hopefully in a month you'll see fuel tanks!  :D