Mounted the ballasts for the Duckworks HID landing lights. They are 35W HIDs, so the new ballasts are smaller than the older 50W versions. I just mounted the ballasts where there was space next to the lamp. I attached the bricks to the mount with 3M adhesive pads shown.
Routed the Advanced Flight Systems AOA tubing today. Tie wrap mounts from the tip rib exit to the leading edge tip rib entry. Tie wrap mounts routing the tubes back into the leading edge tip rib. Top port connection. Bottom port connection.
Well… almost. Finished up the bottom skin on the left wing. This means the wings are completed from the standpoint of structure. Four years since I received the wing kit. Nice to be finished with these after moving delays. The slow build fuselage kit is due to arrive late June, so good timing. Just a [...]
Dad was down for the weekend, so he helped with a couple things. We assembled the aileron roll trim servo. It is a spring bias trim that attaches to the inboard access plate. We also trimmed and fitted the Duckworks landing light lens on the right wing. Forgot to get pics of that. Will get [...]
Bonded a few risers to the right wingtip to help keep the Archer wingtip nav antenna level. Also added aluminum tape where the antenna will ground to the wing tip to aid in getting a good ground. Next up after the epoxy cures is to rivet the nutplates where the antenna mounts.
While I was tinkering with the wingtips and waiting for a hand on the left bottom skin, I decided to fit the LED nav lights and trim the lens covers. The LED navs are a real nice package put together by Jeff Bordelon. I got the inspiration from Deems Davis on these. I had to [...]
While I am waiting for an extra pair of hands to close up the left bottom skin I worked on fitting the right wingtip. After all the horror stories I was not very optimistic. It turns out they were pretty good. This one as you can see is just a tad short. About 3/16 too [...]
Got the pitot tube fitted with it’s AN fittings and ran the wiring. I mounted the controller board as shown to give easy access from the access panel. I can also reach through the lightning hole in the rib to get to the AN fittings.
I decided to place the Gretz heated pitot one bay outboard of the last access panel bay. This would allow me to easily reach the pitot tube AN fittings and also mount the controller board in the bay with the access hole. First found the location for the mounting plate. Not shown is the bracket [...]
It is hard to believe that it has been almost three years since I’ve done any work on the plane. The move from AZ to IL killed it for much longer than I expected. But onward and upward! Dad was down for the weekend, so he lent a hand closing up the right bottom skin.
