Joshua's RV-9A Project

Before dropping the left wing out of the stand (which means turning it nose-down in the wing cart), it seemed like a good idea to fit the lens for the leading-edge light, since it’d be difficult to access in the nose-down position.  Followed the directions that came with the kit, and everything worked out nicely.  You enlarge the holes in the plexi twice after initial drilling, so there is the opportunity to shift them slightly if alignment needs to be fixed.  This one’s not perfect (the holes on the top side ended up being ovaled to tweak the fit), but certainly fine, and the ovals aren’t visible from the outside…once more chance on the other wing.

Trimmed the lens to size with utility knife and bench sander, smoothed with #600 sandpaper, then fit into place using a packing-tape “strap” as described in the instructions.  Drilled, drilled some more, deburred and countersunk, then put together the reinforcing strips that hold the nutplates (prepped these for the right wing install too).  The lens won’t get fit for good until after the next priming session, so that those strips can be primed, but I did install the internal mounting bracket, now that the LE riveting and AOA installs are complete.  Left the bulb out to save it from potential vibration.  I think it ended up looking pretty good.  At some point after it’s flying, I may pursue the “Pete Howell DIY HID modification” to get more light output…but for now, these ought to get the job done.  My plan is to have these on a wig-wag circuit for recognition, as well as taxi/landing steady-on states.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Accessories & Mods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.