For what seems like should be a rather straightforward sub-project has had many twists and turns in the methodology, tasks and requirements to get it done.  In my notes from discussing the installation and creation of the wing leading edge lights with Nick Ugolini, he reiterated the importance of using an angled wood block jig for drilling the holes into the back wall of the wing LE light pocket to then install the 3-legged light bracket.

Now, I have a picture of this wood block jig, so I have a good idea of its overall size, angles and dimensions.  I also have a diagram of the light pocket that Nick sent me… the problem I was having was reconciling the two together in my mind to make it work. And as I tried for nearly an hour first thing this morning to cobble it all together in CAD. It just wasn’t working.

So I decided to ask Nick what the deal was… but kind of a funny thing is when I went to text him, I saw that my last text to him nearly a year ago was regarding the wing leading edge lights as well.  His reply was along the lines, of: “It was too long ago for me to remember, ask Randi and Chrissi since they just did it recently!”

Haha… fair enough (and I know how he feels!).  So, I didn’t bug Nick and went straight into an hour+ long consultation with Chrissi and Randi (aka “The Cozy Girrrls”) on the wing leading edge lights.  And I’m glad I did because I confirmed in my mind that the jig was NOT a mandatory, critical component to this task.  And I got a few tips and tricks as well on creating these lights.  Thanks Girrrls!

Ok, so a few hours of my day was gone… lost to information gathering.  But always better to have good intel in hand, so no major worries.

In the shop I grabbed a shot of my wing leading edge light lens and pocket perimeter cutout template.  This is for the left wing.  Clearly if you simply flip it around it works for the right wing.

I then spent about 5 minutes removing the initial exposed foam out of the wing leading edge light pockets.  And then a good 45 minutes more doing some initial edge sanding on the pocket edges and writing out notes from my assessments.

It’s “funny” in building a Long-EZ how a “simple” task can still be simple, but can take so long to get it done.  Well, that was the case with getting the layups done on the wing leading edge light pockets’ carbon fiber flanges.

I started with cutting the carbon fiber: 2 whole plies, a ply of maybe 2 pieces, and then a 4th ply (buried in the middle) of cobbled together wide edge strips (think picture frame). I also cut a piece of peel ply to cover both sides of these layups.  And let’s note forget the plastic sheets for pre-pregging all this!  [“Poor man’s pre-preg” I’ll remind you all…]

I then again spent way longer than I expected removing the cotton material from inside the splashes and taping up the inside —first with blue painters tape, then 2 plies of black gorilla duct tape, and then topped off with clear packing tape for a nice mold release.

I then wetted out the 4 plies of carbon fiber and after they were good to go, opened up the prepregs and added the peel ply.  Once all was nice and wetted out (of course not too wet!) I trimmed the edges and laid each layup in its respective splash.

I left the inside plastic on until I got a good squeegee in on all the flange carbon fiber surfaces, making sure it was settled in nicely to the splash.  Because the weather is cooler, I set a couple of heat lamps up off just a bit away enough to keep the ambient temp nice and warm for a good cure.  Then I left them to cure overnight.

Again, I had planned on doing a lot more than just these flange layups, but man were these things a time bust!  Regardless, they are done and curing now, so another task off the list.

And no major worries, as I’ve said countless times: I’ll just keep pressing forward!