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Buck's RV-8
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Date: 12-15-2014
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Number of Hours: 5.50
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: L wingtip nav light lens and reflector; Misc.
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The new, gray wingtip is a bit different from the original white one. It has a prominent seam along its chord -- and I began my night's work by filing and sanding the seam off. Now the tip is nice and smooth, just like the right one.
Next up was to drill the three nav light mounting holes through the reflector and the left wingtip. I also did a little more contouring of the shape of the reflectors so they precisely match the edge of the wingtip cutout. Both pairs of reflectors are now ready to be polished to a mirror finish. I still have to decide how I'll go about doing this. There are several processes and products I might try, just for fun.
The big project of the day was cutting and fitting the left wingtip nav light lens. I thought that this might be a quicker process the second time around, but it actually took me longer on this wing, for whatever reason. There is no easy way to describe this process, other than to say that I used a bandsaw to make a rough-cut, a belt-sander to get the cut within 1/8", and then a bunch of files and sanding blocks in order to get a good fit. You just have to be patient and don't try to advance the trim line too quickly. Near the end, you'll be sanding off near-microscopic amounts of plastic to optimize the fit.
I found, on both wingtips, that the lens plastic was often thicker than the manufactured joggle in the wingtip, which causes the edge of the lens to stick up slightly above the level of the wingtip, especially at the corners where the attach screws go. I found that if you carefully sand the gelcoat in those areas, you can get the lenses to lay down flush.
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Holes are: Fwd: #12 for a 10-32 screw. Mid: 5/16" for the wires. Aft: #8 for locating stud on light.
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The lens half fits the wingtip best in this position, NOT in any other, more logical position.
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Nav light lens is done. I would have removed the paper for a photo, but it was time for bed.
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