Wings, components underway

Right wingtip nav light lens – and all the cutoffs. There’s a lot of extra material as-received.

The good news is that it’s not hard to cut, as a set of right & left tinsnips will do the job. The bad news is that, no matter what you do, it’s still a crappy fit when you’re done. Once the plane is painted, it should look fine from 10 feet, but the 2 foot view won’t be pretty. I really hate these damn things.

If someone at the paint shop early next year thinks that he can do a better job (entirely possible and very welcome!), I’ll have them cut a new pair then.

Right wingtip nav light lens ready to be screwed down, as soon as my new nutplates get here later today. Same size as the ones I ordered for the wingtip, itself, so all is well since I always order extra.

Wings, components progress

Right wingtip drilled to wing, outboard edge sanded smooth, and trailing edge trimmed to match the aileron.

Right wingtip drilled for nutplates.

Archer antenna mounting underway.

Archer antenna drilled to right wingtip in preparation for nutplates.

Right wingtip nutplates clecoed in place. As can be readily seen in this view, I’m seven nutplates short. Thanks, Van’s! I’m now awaiting yet another delivery from Aircraft Spruce.

On the bright side, I took advantage of this shipment to order the steel fittings for the engine. Van’s ships aluminum fittings with their FWF kit and I’m a great believer in steel, especially for the larger fittings used in the engine case for the oil lines and, of course, in the oil cooler.