Fitting the tank support brackets

I was a little nervous about fitting these two steel brackets that support the forward inboard end of each fuel tank, because I slipped up and had already fitted them to the fuselage before installing the wings.  The brackets are supposed to be clamped to the tank angles – the big D-shaped piece of aluminum on the end of the tank – then match-drilled to the fuse.  I was concerned that they might end up being misaligned, but fortunately that turned out to not be the case.

2014-08-23 17.39.55The right bracket fit almost perfectly after being bent according to plans.  A little adjustment with the vise and hand seamers got it just right…

Left tank support bracket

The left bracket wasn’t quite so easy to fit…I had to tweak it a bit to get it flush with the tank angle, but in the end it came out fine.