As expected the consignment arrived from Vans while I was busy "gooping", so it will have to wait awhile. I mixed up another consignment of Proseal (2.5/25 grams) and tackled the Forward Tank Bracket. This gets two nutplates, which live outside the tank. The bracket is then riveted to the Forward Bulkhead with a mixture of flush and ordinary pop rivets. In fact the rivets are not ordinary, they have solid bottoms, so that fuel cannot leak up through the stem of the rivet. It can still sneak up the sides of the rivet, however, so these need to be daubed in goop. After yesterday's experience I elected to try to clean up surplus Proseal on the outside after pulling each rivet. I needed one or two pieces of paper to clean up every single rivet, so I ended up with a mountain of dirty paper. Meanwhile the outside surface of the tank is getting blacker and blacker. See Picture 1.
Picture 2 shows the two baffles inserted into the tank bottom. I guess these attempt to ensure that fuel still gets to the engine when the fuel level is low, even in attitudes where the fuel exit isn't the lowest part of the overall tank. There are four small holes in the baffles to allow fuel to slowly transfer from one chamber to another. These must not get blocked up with goop.
Having tired of the mess I turned my attention to the stuff that arrived from Vans, and prepped and primed the four rudder cable attachment brackets (Picture 3) and the replacement flaperon torque tube. In the remaining time I added bearings to the flaperon tube and bolted it to the structure. I now have a fully functioning flaperon mixer unit.
