The pitot tube bracket I ordered from Aircraft Spruce arrived today.  I ordered the Chrome finish for my pitot tube bracket.  I am frequently amazed when building this airplane.  A number of parts I have ordered are wrapped in kleenex or paper towels and placed in a zip-lock sandwich bag.  It is as if these parts are made by out of the garage or a basement of some individuals home.

I unwrapped the Gretz Aero pitot bracket from its high tech paper towel packaging and it looks GREAT!!!  The pitot mounting holes even line up with the pitot (had to make sure I didn't screw up when I ordered).  Since my wings are far from ready to talk about pitot tubes, I wrapped it back up in the paper towel it came in and put it in a clearly labeled divider drawer.

Also arriving today via UPS, was my heated pitot tube from Chief Aircraft. 

http://www.chiefaircraft.com/Aircraft/InstallationSupply/PitotTubes.html

I contemplated whether or not to go with a heated static source and then finally opted for the standard, run of the mill heated pitot WITHOUT a heated static source.  I looked at other builders web sites and referred to information from Gretz Aero on the advantages of the two types of pitot tubes http://www.gretzaero.com.  The pitot tube with a heated static source looks like the one below.  Notice the two tubing fittings and the longer snout.  This model does not have a constant resistance heater (larger current in-rush at turn on). Gretz Aero states that this pitot tube, in combination with his mounting bracket, is slightly more accurate than the PH502-12CR pitot tube (without heated static).  When I went out and looked at other builders web sites, I found at least one builder who didn't like this pitot tube as he found it to be very inaccurate.  He ended up removing this pitot tube and putting in the PH502-12CR.

Take this information with a grain of salt.  Many builders web sites I looked at did not going into any great detail on advantages and disadvantages of the two types of pitot tubes.  I figure that there are several variables contributing to the accuracy of the pitot tubes that I could not verify the installation of others while  researching this from my computer in the basement.

I like the pitot tube from Aero Instruments shown below.  It has a constant resistance heater (PH502-12CR) as indicated by the CR at the end of the part number.  The constant resistance heater means that it will draw the same current at turn on as it will when it comes up to temperature.  The fit and finish of this pitot tube is EXCELLENT...  The only thing I found wrong with it is Aero Instruments misspelling of ELECTRICAL on the box :)

I debated on my timing for ordering the heated pitot tube as it was fairly expensive and I was at least 5 months from needing it.  I looked on Aircraft Spruce's web site a couple of months after I received this pitot and prices on these have more than doubled in the last 3 months.  I paid $415 (which I thought was expensive) and within 3 months, they are selling for $995.  That is ridiculous!!!  In hindsight, my timing for ordering the pitot was great!!!  I got a great deal by comparison.

Two weeks ago, I decided that I was going to attempt to try and bid on a Semco sealant gun for dispensing tank sealant while working on the fuel tanks.  Builder's who have used them, rave about the ease of use and how quickly they clean-up.  The first one of these sealant guns I bid on went for $110 (to rich for my blood).  The sealant gun I had the winning bid on was won with a bid of $76.  This sealant gun was in better shape than the more pricey one auctioned the previous week.  Even though I have had some luck with e-bay, I still HATE it!!!  The bidding process is just like going to the casino and can be very addictive and time consuming.

I am also bidding on a automatic sealant mixer from Semco, which I had never heard of until I did a search on e-bay the other day.  It will take the 2.5 oz, 6 oz, and 8 oz. Flamemaster (ProSeal) cartridges from Van's (Aircraft Spruce, etc.) and mix them automatically.  The dang thing would be handy, just flip the switch and let it do its thing.  Let the mixer reciprocate that plunger a minimum of 50 times instead of my arms.  It is at $50 and I don't know how bad I want it.  Less money to put towards something else on the plane, ya know.  Let the e-bay insanity continue...