I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I decided I was going to go ahead and get the DuckWorks leading edge landing light kit. Others I talked to were trying to put their landing lights in the wingtips (FlyLeds now offers this as an option!) but I ended up deciding that the leading edge design was good for me.
I purchased the “blank” kit from Duckworks as I planned on mounting one of the Baja Designs LED light kits. After a bit of debate, I did purchase one of the Squandron Pro lights so I could do all the fabrication necessary for both wings. I’m holding off purchasing the second Squadron Pro until a little later in the build.
First, as other have mentioned the Squadron Pro lights are crazy bright. I already had a power supply so I hooked them up to test them out. WOW.
The directions from DuckWorks are fairly good. Since I’m using the blank kit, I did have to figure a few things out on my own, but honestly I think I was just nervous and overthinking everything! Cutting the hole was a bit of a pain. While I was getting better with the nibbler, I still think there has to be a better way. I spent way too much time filing and cleaning up the edges of the hole.
Next is drilling the mounting holes on the Ribs. Pro-tip: Mount the template on cardboard using a spray adhesive. It really does help.
Fabrication of the reflector / light mount was also straight-forward. Basically make it just slightly smaller than the width between the ribs (like 1/16 to 1/8) so it can flex slightly when you screw it down.
Once that was done, I was able to get some assistance from my wife to set those last few nose rivets. There are times where a little help is required 🙂
Once that was done, I made a template for the Baja lights and cut the hole needed for to mount them on the reflector. I had just picked up a set of mini sanding roto-lock disks from my local EAA chapter raffle. They came in handy to clean up the mounting hole for the lights. Once that is done, I tape off the front of the reflector as I plan on keeping it bare aluminum. The back will be primed.
I then build out the mounting clips for the plexiglass followed by prepping the plexi to get trimmed. I decided that I’ll end up waiting to trim the plexi until later as I’m having trouble visualizing what I need to do. I have plenty to do so it’s not a big deal.
Prime everything and mount the access panel and the top mount for the plexi. With that I move the leading edge into my basement until I get ready to mount it to the spar.