Issues:
1. In fuse tanks are trouble. Leaks, oil spills, plumbing
2. In fuse tanks take up valuable baggage room
Answer: Build a wet wing smoke tank.
I analyzed the wings and determined that on the 8, the most logical place was the left wing, wing root area. Biggest problem is the aileron push tube area. This means a forward baffle is required between each rib.
The heart of the challenge is 2 fold.
1. Seal it just like a fuel tank
2. Gaining access for the future leaks.
During the build process is pretty easy to seal everything. I used the wing walk plus 2 bays totaling ~13 gallons. Inboard and outboard ribs need caps on the lightening holes. Need to plumb a pickup and vent. You dont get any during build pictures cause I didnt take any. Too busy building. Here is a top view. You will notice rivets along a line above the filler cap. These are the baffles between the ribs. Made from bending .020 sheet into squares and fitting them in between each rib. Pop rivet in place with baffle flanges facing forward to as to be able to fay the proseal joint well from the inside.
This is the only build picture I have. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge. On the right side of the picture is the left wing. You can see the caps on the rib and you can see the baffles between the bays. Farther away is the wing root. Your looking at the bottom of the right wing on the right side of this picture.
Next, the key to success. ACCESS. When the tank leaks, and it will, you have to be able to get in there. The wing walk ribs are so close that you cant just stick your hand in from the wing root. So I built a giant access panel, secured with screws to the ribs and skin. With this off, I can get to every square inch of the inside. I did not do this on my first set of wings and of course it leaked and of course I could not get in there to fix. Note to self. MAKE ACCESS.
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