3 Empennage: December 2011 Archives
My Nav/Strobe Lights arrived from Aircraft Spruce today. I used the adaptor plate and gasket and installed them to the landing/taxi light housing. I hooked them up to the plane to verify everything works properly. Holy shit these things are bright. You can't be looking anywhere near these things when the strobes go off; it is blinding.
Next up, I drilled the rudder bottom fairing and installed a couple of 4-40 nylock nuts.
I anchored the nuts using a couple of screws and some safety wire.
I then mixed up some 5 minute epoxy with flox and covered the nuts to anchor them inside the fairing. After the flox cured, I removed the screws and temporarily installed the tail light to ensure the nuts were secure.
Finally, I took one of the lights and installed a waterproof molex connector so that all of the connections can be made at once when installing the wingtip. I was only able to do this on one of the lights before running out of steam.
Next up, I drilled the rudder bottom fairing and installed a couple of 4-40 nylock nuts.
I anchored the nuts using a couple of screws and some safety wire.
I then mixed up some 5 minute epoxy with flox and covered the nuts to anchor them inside the fairing. After the flox cured, I removed the screws and temporarily installed the tail light to ensure the nuts were secure.
Finally, I took one of the lights and installed a waterproof molex connector so that all of the connections can be made at once when installing the wingtip. I was only able to do this on one of the lights before running out of steam.
I installed a connector on the tail light along with a piece of heat shrink over the wires. Once the rudder is installed permanently, I'll install this on the bottom fairing and hook it up.
I decided to make a little progress on the oil door tonight. I fabricated a spacer out of 0.063" aluminum to pull the oil door in tighter at the hinge line.
You can see at the hinge line that the door in nice and tight. Without that spacer, the flexibility of the door and the force of the hinge spring was causing the door to bow out just slightly here.
I decided to make a little progress on the oil door tonight. I fabricated a spacer out of 0.063" aluminum to pull the oil door in tighter at the hinge line.
You can see at the hinge line that the door in nice and tight. Without that spacer, the flexibility of the door and the force of the hinge spring was causing the door to bow out just slightly here.
