Today's session began with a rebuild of the leading edge cradle to make it more stable. After finishing that, I began the final stages of preparation necessary to begin sealing the tank. First I removed the vinyl along the rivet lines, then deburred and dimpled the top and bottom of the tank skin. Next I dimpled all of the tank stiffeners, then went to work with a ScotchBrite pad to roughen all of the mating surfaces. After a good cleaning, I used MEK to remove all traces of oil on the surfaces--I also soaked the rivets in MEK to ensure they were clean. Then I broke out the sealant...the fun part.Early on I decided to ditch any idea of mixing this stuff by hand and applying it with a Ziploc bag...so far, I think I made the right choice! This is messy stuff! Following the directions faithfully, I promptly had it all over the place...fortunately, it cleans up fairly easily before it sets, so all-in-all not too bad for a start. I've heard it gets worse as you go--we shall see.Off to Sun 'n Fun for the week, so maybe I can pick up a few pointers from the pros. Should be fun!
