Left landing light lens and retainers

May 2, 2011 – The left landing light lens is pretty much ready to install.

I enlarged  and countersunk the holes in the plexiglass lens to accept the dimples in the skin. This was a little scary because the drill bit caught in the plexiglass a couple of times, and I got very small chips, but they were removed by the countersink.

I drilled the lens retainers and countersunk the nutplate rivet holes. I alodined, primed, and painted the retainers, then installed the nutplates. They’re black and white because I had decided to paint the inside of the leading edge that way: black all around except for the upper surface of the landing light bay, where it’s white for a little bit of downward reflection.

Before:

…and after:

It’s a little cold right now, so I’m going to wait to install the left lens.

Time: 1:05