Cowl and BRS parachute fairings

Initial micro fill around oil door and added section of top cowling. I used another builders method of two wraps of silicone tape around the oil door to make space.

Bonding on the strike plates for the oil door latches with g-flex epoxy:

Hartwell latches riveted to oil door:

I used a mixture of flox and cabosil thicked epoxy to even out the mount of the very straight cowl flap in the very curvy cowl:

BRS parachute harness fairing after initial sanding of filler (g-flex epoxy with micro balloons):

BRS parachute fairing with E6000 adhesive curing. I also used a good number of flush 1/8 pull rivets.

Fairings curing before filler. (This job was more involved than I expected and Britt's help was crucial.)

Getting ready to glue / rivet fairings on. Harness held in place with very sticky double sided tape:

Another prep shot:

I primed the BRS fairings with Stewart ekopoxy. This was good practice but they have been sanded so much that I will have to prime them again on the plane.

Initial cut out for cowl flap:

Laying out the initial cut:

Cowling work, oil temperature control, BRS parachute fairings and more...

Lower cowling after doing initial sanding of the new flanges around the inlets:

Lower cowling just after separation from the top cowl:

Layups in place on the inside of the cowlings:

Getting ready to layup the new flanges (where tape is):

BRS parachute harness fairings temporarily installed with clecos. Next step is more sanding then priming. Planning on attaching with G-flex epoxy.

Right side BRS fairings:

These fairings took a long time to line up. I could not have done it with out the help of my brother!

 

Tail fairing looking good after primer:

Oil door drilled for latches:

Coated tail fairing with a thin layer of epoxy to fill pin holes:

Cowling after epoxy micro mixture has cured. This gives the cowling a consistent gap with the spinner.

New oil temperature manual control. I'm happy to have switched to this from the RC servo. This method should never give a problem.

Spinner gap micro epoxy curing under mdf  to set gap with spinner:

Oil door and cowling work...

Oil door hinges installed using CS4-4 rivets and G-flex epoxy. Waiting on Hartwell latches to arrive.

The hidden hinge works great.

Drilling hinge to door

Initial door fit. The area around the door edge will get filled and blended.

Laminating the cut out piece of the cowl to the new fiberglass door. The end result is very stiff.

Working on door fit:

Initial clearance hole for oil line return line for half raven inverted oil system:

Built up upper cowl with flox so it can be sanded down to match lower cowl.

Oil sump return line too close to cowl:

All firewall cowl fasteners installed:

More cowling work ...

• The cowling is slowly making progress
• I reinforced the aft side extensions with several more layers of fiberglass
• I also did a fair amount of sanding and cleanup on all the added fiberglass
• I had spent some time working on smoothing the empennage fairing
• The big project was adding fiberglass flanges to join the top and bottom cowling halves.
• I also installed the rest of the aft skybolts for the top cowl.

Flanges turned out good. The clecos in this photo are in the pilot holes for the skybolt fasteners in the new side flanges:

Bottom cowl with new flanges after initial sanding and cleanup:

Side flanges after splitting cowls (rough):

5 layers of 3" fiberglass and peel ply per side:

Temporary braces to align the cowl. Popsicle sticks and cardboard for shims.

Painted on two coats of poly vinyl alcohol for release agent ... it worked great.

Checking alignment:

I'm glad it's easy to fill small holes in the fiberglass...

Trying to smooth the empennage fairing:

Beefing up the aft side extensions:

I also filled in the right landing gear cut out:

Cowl extending and filling:

I started working on closing the gaps between the upper and lower cowl at the front edge:

I also added glass to the bottom edge:

The right front lower cowl has the largest gap: