I would prefer to have wing tanks with a small (say 3 gallon) header tank up front, to try and avoid a similar major fire in a crash, should something so unfortunate ever happen to me. To that extent I would also prefer to make the wing skins above the tanks removable with Zues fasteners. I am also considering making the front deck and removable wing skin panels out of aluminum rather than fiberglass (usable for small cargo such as overnight bags and such). Any comments? Thanks
Hello Glenn, I really agree with Larry on this but will add my two cents. Having spent hours nosedived under a Moony instrument panel I swore that when I built mine the entire top of the fuselage will be removable and it is. But like Larry said unless you are good with an English wheel you will end up with a rather angular looking KR if you make the top components from aluminum sheet. The argument about fuel in the fuselage has been around forever and I doubt it will ever go away. It seems to me that as far as KR's are concerned regardless of where you put the tanks that you are going to have a fuel valve located in the cockpit and therefore fuel in the cockpit. In my case I will have a 20 gallon header tank and my CG shift will be greater than if I used wing tanks. If memory serves fuel related issues are statistically the second largest category of aircraft accidents so making the system as simple as you can is in your best interest. I have a single tank flowing through a single on/off manual valve gravity feeding to two electric fuel pumps in parallel operated by two independent switches. Adding a dump system to your airplane will over complicate the fuel system in my opinion. Like I said earlier I am all about access panels but would be cautious about large panels on the upper surface of the wing unless I was using a lot of screws for securing the panel down. As the upper surface sees the high velocity air it needs to be as smooth as possible as long as possible and sometimes access panels don't fit as well as they should. But access to the tanks is important and I would put the removable panel on the bottom of the wing but would still use screws to secure it. I would also suggest that quarter turn fasteners should be used for small access panels that are removed often and if they were to depart the airplane its not a big problem. A large upper wing panel could be a problem. Stephen Teate Paradise, Texas
