After I remade the last tube I slid it into the aileron leading edge and it was a little short to fit inside the hole cut in the nose rib on one end. I was kind of concerned about it not having enough support. I asked the eGroup and the consensus was that it should be fine since it's held in place with steel rivets. I was even thinking of attaching some sort of additional support too.
Well it kept bugging me for several days and I've told myself that if it bugs me I'm going to have to fix it. I order 2 more tubes to remake it again. This time I put the tube in the aileron and marked it rather than just measure it.
I'm pretty sure the issue with my complete pour (or lack of) is because the lead is not getting hot enough. I pulled out a big camping stove to use and it definitely produced more of a flame off the burner. I decided to play it safe and held my acetylene torch to the pan for a while too. I got the lead good and hot (dipped a piece of wood and it turned brown) and preheated the tube. Going for a full pour - it happened again! – a big air pocket in the middle. The only thing I can figure is the cold outdoor temps (?). It's was around 15 deg (F) when I poured.
Now I was down to my last tube again so I went for the half pour method. It worked but I did manage to get a very small air pocket in the middle. The tube weighs 5 lbs 11.7 oz (the other is 5 lbs 15.8 oz). There seems to be some flexibility in weight as I've heard everything from 5 lbs 4.4 oz to just under 6 lbs. I drilled some lead out of the heavier tube so both weigh the same. I figure worse case if I need to add weight I can put a tube in the small end section.
With both tubes done I then finished labeling parts.
