Kit #7 arrived

[Utah-Jay]

Today was a great day, very visual as I continued yesterday’s engine cowl work

This is a cool trick a fellow builder showed me, use 2-3” tape using the “inner edge” where you want to final trim your cowl. The install the cowl use more tape and line up the outside edges of the tape and the inside edge will be EXACTLY where you want to trim to. Very simple and effective
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Then just trip, in the photo above it would be a case of trimming the right edge

So I finished the left bottom cowl today and drilled and cleco’d it to the U Channel

Next was the cowl doors. I held the doors up while lining up the front leading edge to the top cowl and marked the piano hinge on the door both front and back. The I removed the hinge from the top cowl and sandwiched the door between the side hinges and clamped it to the work table. The point of this is to have perfectly matched attach holes on the top and door. Using the top holes to drill through the door skin and other side of the piano hinge
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Next was to figure out how to match drill the holes for the bottom cowl, U channel and the door skin. The 5 holes drilled will be where the SkyBolt fastener attaches the door to the U Channel and bottom cowl. I used a flush pull rivet on holes 1, 3 and 5, then strap/match drilled holes 2 and 4, then drilled out the 3 rivets and cleco’d in the door on holes 2 and 4 then match drilled hole 3, 5 and 1
IMG_3993.jpgIMG_3997.jpgIMG_4001.jpgIMG_3994.jpgIMG_3998.jpg The above green tape is where I need to make minor trims to make it perfect, then I will sand the edges to take and sharp spot off and finally roll the edges

Repeat for the other side and boom you have doors

Full photo to show where things are to date
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[Utah-Jay]

Started with this, well actually a big uncut sheet
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And through a lot of fitting, measuring, more fitting and some deep breaths before more cutting and then drilling and cleco’ing, I ended up with this at the end of the day.
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[Utah-Jay]

Engine cowl is fitted and cleco'ed to both the nose bowl and the boot cowl/fuselage. Piano hinges are sandwiched between the “U” channel and skin. IMG_3927.jpg
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I also got started on the bottom cowl, the top attach point (U Channel) installed and they are 0.5° and 0.4° level to the reference point which is the top of the door frame

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[Utah-Jay]

And I just updated my EAA builders log, crossed 900 hours today

[Utah-Jay]

I really dislike redoing things, but a part of my boot cowl had been bothering me and being I am starting to work on the engine cowl I decided to redo the top front part of the boot cowl.
Yep, it was time to use some poster board to add a bit to the previous piece as rather than being overlapped by the side cowl, this new piece is going to overlap for a cleaner and smoother transition
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This photo shows a very smooth transition
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And on to the engine cowl
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[Utah-Jay]

And, check out this rolling tool tray. It is really a huge help to just roll all your stuff around with you
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[Utah-Jay]

Long but very rewarding process getting all the nose bowl backing done. Obviously they are not straight lines, so there was a lot is poster board and templates used. But it is complete.
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[Utah-Jay]

The removable center section of the glare shield is finished. I was anything but simple and quick, but the use of doublers and nut plates will make for a very smooth and seamless glare shield under whatever covering eventually goes over the top of the metal.
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With this laborious endeavor completed, I started on the reinforcement of the nose bowl where the top engine cowl will attach to the fiberglass. Tomorrow I will do the same to the bottom nose bowl and the sides of the upper nose bowl.
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[Utah-Jay]

Cleco’ed in the removable glare shield, need to drill some holes to attach to the other pieces
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Placed the CF NACA ducts in the boot cowl cut out and got the correct angle for the hose attachement, then had to drill out the hole and get the hose attachment to fitted inside the “duct”. It took a long time, but as you can see it is a really nice fit and will be super tough.
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[Utah-Jay]

1.5 hours to rectify yesterday’s screwup.

Now just have to trim the already “rough cut” top removable part of the glare shield
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[Utah-Jay]

I found out long ago when building an airplane …. Some days you are the Bug, some days you are the windshield

I decided two days ago to build a removable top to my glare shield as an “afterthought” so I will have easy access to my avionics should/when I need it down the road…

So I worked all day to make that front part of the boot cowl/glare shield that the front of the removable portion attached to. The first one was a bit too shallow, so after the first one was 90% done, I started over on a new piece of sheet metal. Got it freaking PERFECT!!! Must have fitted it 15 times to make little adjustments….. cleco’ed in place at least 5 times. It is PERFECT!!!! Cleco everything in place, put the windshield up there to check for fit and space to final fit the actual removable cover tomorrow…… BOOM…. I was fitting it from the rear, needs to be fitted from the front so there are no spaces where it slides on in front of the windshield to the firewall. To be honest, I just kinda laughed and cleaned up my mess. Oh well, a day wasted for the most part. I did get some other stuff done though


Can you say BUG!!!!!!!!!!!

[Utah-Jay]

@Nev
My plan is not make a cowling type foam plug for them just for the reason you mention. Additionally I don’t want any critters in there

[Nev]

Just a note on your NACA vents. When you wash the plane or leave it parked in the rain, be sure to blow the water out from the inside. Otherwise when you first open the vents inflight you get hosed from the pool of water that collects inside the tube ! Learnt this the hard way

[Utah-Jay]

Thanks to N3UW I correct the errant safety wiring

I had to re-wire the battery volt sensor

Worked a bunch on the boot cowl, set the windshield for the first time, made a plan to create access via the glare shield to the avionics

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[Utah-Jay]

Thanks N3UW that is a good catch, will get it corrected tomorrow. It was the end of a long day