Trimming The W-1222 L&R Wingtip Extensions

While waiting for the replacement brake line fitting to arrive, decided to move forward and begin working on the wingtip extensions. The basic RV-12 does not have wingtip lights unless the optional lighting kit is ordered … which it was for the DOG Aviation RV-12. Longtime readers of the Blog may recall the wing lights have been already installed long ago along with installing the wiring for the navigation and strobe lights … which will attach onto each wingtip via fiberglass W-1222 L&R wingtip extensions. As is typical for the fiberglass pieces that Van’s provides, the extensions are larger than necessary and require being trimmed down to scribe lines. A Dremel tool outfitted with a cutting wheel was used to make the rough cuts close to the scribe lines.

Using a Dremel tool outfitted with a cutting wheel to remove excess material from the W-1222-R wingtip extension … the material was trimmed away close to the scribe lines.


Each of the wingtip extensions have a tight S curve which was tweaked with the Dremel outfitted with a sanding drum. The outboard portion of the extensions have a flat mounting surface for the navigation/strobe light’s mounting brackets. The flat mounting surface on each of theW-1222 wingtip extensions has an oval scribe mark which denotes an area where material needs to be removed  … this will create an oval cutout for the Molex electrical connector for the navigation/strobe light wiring to pass through.

“Dr. Sander” how is the patient doing? “After lots of sanding, step one of the procedure is completed … as can be seen, it’s the completed trimming of the W-1222-L&R wingtip extensions to the scribe lines. The extensions will be mounted on the outboard ends of the wings to provide a mounting surface for the navigation/strobe lights. The oval cutout created in each fiberglass extension is for a Molex electrical connector and associated wires to pass through”. The S curve mentioned above can be easily seen adjacent to my left elbow.


Reading ahead through the instillation instructions, discovered that the wings will need to be flipped over after a few holes for Clecos are drilled so a mixture of flox can be applied to each extension which will apparently fill a void between the extensions and  the wingtips. So will need to enlist the help of one of the ground crew members in the near future.