I ordered a landing light for the wings, Van's standard lighting kit #6 for use with the sheared wingtips.  When I need to order parts from Van's, I try to group components since they charge you a "shipping fee with a minimum of $5".  While I was ordering a replacement spar for the horizontal stabilizer, I used it as an opportunity to order some "wing stuff".  I decided to go with the HID landing light option.  These HID lamps are supposed to be up to 3x brighter than their halogen counterparts.  Before, I received the first light, I decided that I wanted a second landing light and ordered another HID landing light kit.  If you go with the HID style of landing light, hold onto your wallet as it will require you to fork over $450 per kit.  That makes the HID light an expensive option.  While looking up HID lamp costs outside of Van's web site, the HID lamps alone, represent around $380 of that $450 price tag.

Here is my second HID landing light.  I also decided to upgrade the fuel caps to the deluxe locking style caps.  These fuel caps need to be installed at the time of fuel tank assembly as they use a different filler flange than the fuel cap that comes with the kit.  They have a nice fit and finish to them and both use the same key (I am sure Van's figures that out prior to shipping).  Also, you will see a small tube of flamemaster tank sealant in the foreground.  This is for riveting the trailing edge of the rudder (see rudder entries).

Okay, I had to see just how bright these HID landing lights were.  I dug out the Goldwing battery and some jumper leads and hooked these babies up.  MAN ARE THESE THINGS BRIGHT!!  One of these lights is brighter than both of the headlights on my Grand Prix.  I found somewhere on the web, that these lamps put out somewhere in the neighborhood of 360,000 candlepower each using significantly less wattage than the halogen lamp.  These should offer great "see and be seen" characteristics.