I ordered enough tube for two more tries. I heated the lead and prepared the first tube. I was real careful to pour the lead slowly so not to trap air in the tube. I think I may have poured too slow. I could tell that it wasn't going all the way to the bottom. I think pouring it too slow resulted in it turning solid about half way down. I stopped with about half the required lead poured.
Once it cooled I could feel some lead moving around loose in the bottom. I pulled off the plug and found what I would describe as a lead hairball. I pulled this out and thought maybe I could refill the bottom. I measure how much space was available and there was less than half left (about 18"). The tube weighed 2 lbs 10 ox. I need 6 lbs so I wasn't sure I was going to get that - on to attempt # 2.
With one more chance I decided to try something different. So far the problem has been getting lead to the bottom half. I decided to put a plug in the middle and fill one half at a time. To do this I cut a wood dowel 20" long and put an aluminum plug on one end. Then I inserted the dowel with the plug into one end of the tube. I poured the top half then after it cooled I flipped it over, pulled the wood dowel out and poured the other half. This worked! After 4 tries I now have 2 full tubes. Funny how the first one went perfectly then I had all the problems...
I started working on putting ID tags on aileron parts in preparation for painting.
