Installing Skybolt flange plates

• After filing and sanding all of the firewall / skin edges I started installing the Skybolt interlocking flange plates. These plates will hold the adjustable quarter turn receptacles for the cowl.
• I used 3" spacing at the top and transitioned to 3.5" spacing towards the edges of the top cowl.
• For now all flanges for the top cowl (other than the last one on each edge) have been drilled to the firewall / forward top skin.

Flanges ready to be prepped then riveted:

Progress:

3" spacing starts at the center:

Cleaned up all edges:

Added extensions to lower cowl

The lower cowl extensions turned out good. I used 5 layers of fiberglass tape on the sides and 6 layers on the bottom. The bottom will require more finishing work due to the more complex curves and some gaps in the forms. I divided the extensions into sections where the landing cut outs are located and this made the process much easier.

Fiberglass curing...

Ready for fiberglass:

Working on bottom forms:

Spinner done for now

The spinner is finished and I'm ready to start fitting the cowling. After the cowling is fitted I will be coating the spinner with an epoxy primer. Also before installing the spinner for flight I'm going to add a layer of rtv around the flanges of both spinner bulkheads.

Checking cowl fit with extension:

The extension gives me plenty of room to trim for an exact fit:

Spinner complete and edges sanded to about 1/16 from bulkhead:

Front bulkhead installed and safety wired: