- As of today the top cowl position has been "locked in". After much sanding and leveling etc. I drilled holes for temporary clecos to keep it from moving.
- I also was able to trim the lower cowl to fit around the landing gear and get the lower cowl temporarily in place.
- On the bottom cowl I spent a fair amount of time sanding the extensions and ended up adding some more fiberglass cloth in a few thin spots. Ironically in some places much of the lower extensions will be trimmed off.
Looks better with top and bottom on!
Trimming the lower cowl for the landing gear:
After trying many different methods I found that leveling the plane on the gear and then using a self leveling laser provided good results leveling the cowl.
Lots of marking where to sand, removing the cowl, sanding and replacing the cowl ... it felt like about fifty times!
After initial close trim and sand:
Marked for final trimming:
The laser proved invaluable.
The fit of the two cowl halves is fairly rough. I will be doing a lot of filling and sanding...
More initial fitting of the two halves
Upper skybolt fastener tabs riveted on:
Dimpling the spacer strips that go between the skybolt tabs and the firewall skin:
Drilling spacer strips:
Working on the upper spacer strip:
