Landing Light

I bought the Duckworks landing light kit. It's a well-done kit...the instructions could be a bit better, but they're adequate. It doesn't take too much imagination to figure out what to do. I bought two: an incandescent one for the taxi light, which will go in the left wing, and an HID one for the landing light, which will go in the right wing. This is the latter. Why did I choose the expensive HID light? Because buying a $450 landing light was a lot cheaper than buying a Mercedes-Benz...the only other legal way to own one.

First I taped on the template Duckworks provides. I then pulled my trusty sewing tool out of the drawer and ran it over the template's outline to mark the lens cutout. Yes, I was starting to sweat.	...but the real perspiration started when I applied the cutoff wheel to the wing skin. I left myself a good 1/4" to the outline I had traced. Then I gradually enlarged it. I worked my way from the cutoff wheel on the die grinder, to the nibbler, to the small cutoff wheel on my Dremel, to the ScotchBrite wheel on the die grinder. Then a bastard file, ScotchBrite wheel, etc. until I was at the line and the cut was smooth. This all happened while my family went out of town for spring break...it sounded like a dentist's office with all the grinding.
Warning! If you have large hands, don't build a QuickBuild RV-7! Perhaps a QuickBuild DC-3? Then I drilled and installed the four nutplates that attach the landing light bracket to the wing ribs. They're riveted with pop rivets, mercifully, so I didn't have to figure out how to buck the rivets on the inboard ribs.	Warning! If you have large hands, don't build a QuickBuild RV-7! Perhaps a QuickBuild DC-3? These pop rivets were 3/32"...I didn't even know those existed. Anyway, all 4 nutplates went in. Did I mention how I dislike installing nutplates?
Here's the landing light's view of the cutout.	The (expensive) lamp fell apart when I tried to install it in its bracket. I reattached it with RTV, and we'll see how it takes the temperature. In the worst case I'll have to use high-temperature RTV. Whatever adhesive the manufacturer used...it sucks. It was brittle and unevenly applied. I'm no adhesive expert, but I do believe it has to be in contact with both parts to work.
A few nutplates later, the HID power supply is on the bracket, and the lamp holding thingy is ready to screw on.	Now it's ready to go into the wing!
I didn't try to align it in the pitch plane...I figure that will have to wait until I have the airplane on its gear. For now, I just tightened the mounting screws so that most of the light comes out of the hole.	Now for my first Plexiglas experience! I taped up the lens so that it didn't get too beat up, screwed up my courage, and fired up the bandsaw. Remarkably, it worked with no cracks! Then I sanded the edges on the belt sander, and ended up with a usable lens. I thought for sure I'd end up buying a replacement!
These are the backup plates that hold the lens onto the wing skin. They get more (sigh) nutplates, eventually, but for now I'm just match drilling them to the wing.	Duckworks talks about making some tape "handles" to pull the lens onto the opening. It think this is what he meant...it worked, in any case. I pulled with one hand and match drilled through the wing skin and the lens with the other.
So here's the lens attached to the wing!
And now the moment of truth! I have an old computer power supply that can crank out 8A at 12V, and it successfully powered the HID light through the connector at the wing root.