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Excellent pictorial! Your work looks fantastic!
I personally found the boot cowl to be one of the hardest parts to date on my LSA QB project. After I made construction paper templates it went a bit smoother!Leave a comment:
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Test bump? Hmm, original post wasn't showing up in the General Discussion thread, must have been a vbulletin hiccup.Leave a comment:
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Boot Cowl Construction
After spending entirely too long on it I've finally wrapped up the boot cowl construction so I figure'd I'd post some photos. Written instructions left a lot to the imagination and I spent a bit of time looking at photos of what other folks had done, hopefully these are helpful to someone.
I opted for #6 screws and nut plates all around, more than strong enough and allow easy removal of panels in the future. I ended up not using the top panel provided with the kit as I wanted a larger opening to access the back of the instrument panel, the access panel I made is about 24" wide and runs almost to the windshield. Contrary to the manual I started with the side panels since they would be lapped by the top panels and once I had them secured I trimmed to make the top opening symmetric about the aircraft CL.
I'd read several posts about either breaking the edge of the top of the side panels or installing some angle for stiffness, but I found once everything is buttoned up there didn't seem to be a need. No discernible flex when I reef on the instrument panel and everything is rock solid. If I notice any pillowing as I load up the instrument panel I can always add some supports but I don't see that being necessary.
One thing that made this particularly fun was the fact the plane made by the front of the firewall flange isn't planar and varies +/- 1/16" or so when measured against the instrument panel. Nothing on a welded frame this size is perfectly symmetric so don't count on that... I also created quite a problem for myself and had to remake the starboard boot cowl extension panel because I allowed the firewall in that area to get kicked forward about 1/4" when I match drilled everything. I ended up putting bolts and washers through the motor mounts to suck the firewall tight against the frame and secure it while I wrapped the rest of the boot cowl and it was all good after that.
Some final cleanup to do before paint but I'm done working these for a while. With the instrument panel in place I can finally start cutting and mounting some racks
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