Removeable Fuel Tank WHY???

LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-03 AT 07:32 AM (CST)
 
Here is a picture of a very old all original COMBAT CAT. The wing has a square hole with 2 wires with hooks for a fuel tank.

Why?

What are the 2 hooked wires for?

Why is the fuel tank removable?

[photo not recovered: batcat1.jpg]

[photo not recovered: batcat2.jpg]

Engine mounting holes match up perfect to the Fox 36X.

Pehaps the trick is not that the tank is removable but that it is easily installable. Combat ships tend to crash alot. I guess that's why they all have removable tanks and motor mounts nowadays.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-03 AT 08:45 PM (CST)
 
Sometimes the tank leaks before the airplane is toast! Depending on how you "land", you can knock the tubes loose on a "tin" tank. Leaky tank on crankcase pressure feed is strictly bad news. The hooks are for rubber bands, or better yet, loops of silicon fuel tubing, made into fuelproof rubber bands. Steve

Incidentally, there are silicone rubber bands available. Orthodontists use them for braces. Not in the correct size for our uses, of course, but you never know.. Bill Maywald uses them for his shutoffs.

That, or you can use large O-rings (neoprene or silicone).

I just looked at the picture again: how come there is only one hook!? One would need more than one to secure a tank. I wonder if this surves some other purpose...

i think the wire is used to pinch off the fuel line and hole in the wing is for a bladder tank.

The second hook is missing, Gary should see evidence of the glue. The hole fits a metal tank. Gary should see wear marks of a metal tank on the red painted interior. That's the way Combat Cats were made.
Steve

The tanks on most of my Profiles remove the same way, doesn't have to be a combat plane. Easy installation, adjustment replacement, swapping, etc. Build it in and it will be the first thing to go. Leave it accesable and it will outlive the life of your plane.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-03 AT 07:30 AM (CST)
 
There are 2 hooks. You just can't see the other one. My worthless camera is the problem and bad lighting. I took 15 pic and none of them were very good. NEW PIC ON THE WAY.

Simple.

Make a tank removeable and it will never need to be removed!

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"And God said: Let there be vodka! And He saw that it was good. Then God said: Let there be light! And then He said: Whoa - too much light.."