So everyone is kinda freaked out over corona lately. My gymnastics competitions have been canceled, and so have my classes. This has been great for building, I've got all week and maybe more to get some great work in.
I have been doing all the last things on the cowling before it's time to prime and paint. The final few things were adding my quarter turn southco fasteners, finishing the air exit cutout, and doing a final sand. (if you can ever even say final and sand in the same sentence) Then it's time to prime.
The southco process started by going to southco's website to order an assortment of different sizes. When I completed my order the shipping cost came out to like $40, which was clearly wrong. I was ordering less than 20 studs. It would fit in a flat rate envelope easily. So I scrapped my southco order and went to Aircraft Spruce to order my cheese platter of sizes. The shipping there was much more reasonable and I combined it with some other items I needed anyways. After all that was ordered I went back to southco's website to see just how broken their shipping calculator is. I did a few tests and it seems to be based off of the number of different items you buy rather than how big of a box you need. For example, I told it o wanted 10,000 studs of one size and shipping was still like $12. Assuming 1/4 oz for each stud that's like 150 lbs. That's a pretty hefty package to only charge $12 shipping on. So anyways I'd strongly recommend trying to find the right part on spruce rather than southco.
Once my studs arrived, I got the holes drilled and tested which size fit best in each of them. I drew a little diagram of the cowl with my stud sizes so that when the right sizes arrive I know where they go. Drilling the southco holes was a pretty simple job. Pilot with a #30 bit, enlarge with the unibit, and ream to a perfect fit.
Some of the southco holes
The fuel door cutout and southco hole. I'm still working on the fuel door so stay tuned to see it all glitzed up.
Next up I had to get bottom hinges on the cowling and belly skin, some of the last hinges I'll make in my project. That kinda just feels crazy, wow. Its closing in. So before I could make these bottom hinges I had to know where not to put them. That meant I needed to make the bottom cutout first.
The Aerovee handbook had drawings showing how big to make the cutout and how to align it. I spent some quality time on the creeper with a sharpie and straight edge upside down. Its amazing how even holding those things ,which weigh almost nothing, for long enough can fatigue your arms. But, it was worth it, I had my marks. Next I drilled the corners and then cut it out with my oscillating fiberglass cutter. I cleaned up the edges and the cutout was done.
Then I had to make a metal tab at an angle to deflect the air away. This make a low pressure bubble which helps draw air outside the cowling and keep my engine nice and cool. I made a cardboard template, transfered it to aluminum and then mirror imaged it for the other side.
There's the hole
And the fiberglass that was cut away
Finally it was time for the hinges. I made a few hinges and worked up some hingepins that bend back on themselves. Then I drilled the hinges to the cowling and the bellyskin. It was simple.
I sanded EVERYTHING on the cowl to give the primer a good surface to stick to. It was a ton of sanding and covered me in fiberglass dust despite all my efforts to protect myself. I even sanded the rivet heads.
There's the cowl all sanded up and prepped
The process of priming is going to take a bit so I'll be working on wiring up the engine and finalizing the baffles in between sanding and spraying. I put in the first coat tonight.
Ciao Ciao