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Tail Position Light
When shopping Aircraft Spruce for navigation lights I just couldn't bring myself to pay $70 for a Whelan tail light. What I came up with was a small section of 1 1/4" PVC which I notched at one end, then gently heated with a propane torch to allow forming to fit over the trailing edge of the rudder. I rounded the radius of the trailing edge of the housing and shopped around for a glass jar that would both fit snugly inside and yet have a large enough mouth to accommodate the same #93 bulb as used in the "official" Whelan fixture. I installed an auto parts light socket into the plastic cap and on my workbench slid the jar/socket assembly back and forth in the PVC housing with power to the light until I found the depth required to produce the FAA required angle of rearward visibility. Marking that position, I epoxied the cap inside the housing and then epoxied the housing to the rudder after drilling a small hole for the wires. To change a bulb, you just unscrew the jar. The same epoxy primer used on the aluminum airframe adhered perfectly to the PVC. ~ Brent Battles