Wings

Today I drove down to Van's to pick up a few items.

After some careful consideration, I decided to return the standard fuel caps that come with the kit and upgrade to the deluxe locking caps. They cost quite a bit more, but with the credit you receive for returning the other ones, it's not that bad. I feel much better having fuel caps that lock. They look so much nicer and work so much easier, too! Although you can't see it here, the fuel cap flange is machine-curved to match the inside curvature of the skin on the tank. Nice! To see that, and how I did the installation of these caps, see October 13, 2007 or February 8, 2008.

I also picked up some of these nice forged tie-down eye-bolts. They don't cost much, and are much superior to the cheapie hardware store eyebolts suggested as an alternative. Do you want your airplane securely tied down with anything less? I need these now so I can drill the holes in the leading edge skin to match. Later, I will clean them up, prime them, and probably paint them, too.

Then, looking ahead to the next big sub-project, I picked up a can of pro-seal and hardener. I'm actually looking forward to working on my tanks. People call this stuff "the black death"and all kinds of other names. But this stuff doesn't scare me. (I hope I don't have to eat those words)

Finally, since I'm working on the leading edge, landing lights came to mind. I decided to install a pair of Duckworks landing lights. I want to install them while building the leading edge. I think that will be easier than waiting until the wings are finished. I'm going with the 100W halogen lights. I can't believe the price of the HID lights. And after seeing Duck's plane at a meeting, and seeing the difference between the 100W halogen and the HID lights (he has one of each installed in the wings of his plane as a demo) the decision was easy. Yes, you can see that the HID light is brighter than the 100W halogen, but for the difference in price, I don't think it's worth it to spend that much more. More importantly, however, I want to go with a wig-wag feature on my lights, and there are some problems trying to do that with the HID lights. Bottom line is, I think the increased visibility and safety of the wig-wag feature is more important than a bit brighter light. My opinion only. Your mileage may vary. Besides, you can always change or upgrade later. The main thing is to get the installation work done now.

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