Brief Description: Left fuel tank riveting - stiffeners
Well I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, with a belly full of dread thinking about smearing black goo all over my shiney fuel tanks. I did manage to get up around 630 (vs 5am) and set off on my sticky adventure. Actually it wasn't all that bad. I used exactly 4.4 oz on the stiffeners only. And it worked out to be about the right amount of time on a single "hot batch". I prepped as much as possible before hand and then mixed the ProSeal with the hardener. I set the rivets "wet" by putting a dab of sealant into the dimple of each rivet hole before inserting the rivet. The plan was to back-rivet. So once the rivets where set in the dimples filled with ProSeal I put on rivet tape and then "buttered the stiffeners with approx 1/16" of sealant. Then it's rivet time. I didn't like not being able to see the shop heads due to the sealant, but it worked out ok. Also the rivets ended up being alittle proud, which seems like the norm with backriveting for me. Not sure if it was the sealant buildup under the rivets or my technique or both. They are perfectly fine, just not as nice as my freshly completed leading edge rivets. Luckily they are on the bottom of the tanks. I'll try some other methods on the right tank stiffeners. All-in-all, it I am relatively happy with my first battle with the "black death." See next entry for more photos.
