Let’s see – looks like our last installment was when I went and did some void filling around the prop spinner. I did work on sanding that the following day, even though I didn’t write about it then. And of course, in the process I saw quite a few more voids that I neglected to fill.
So when I picked up again last night, I mixed up yet another batch of micro, and went around applying it to yet another batch of voids. Then today was, of course, sanding day again. After working over everything, I did turn up a few more pinholes, but at this point I think they’re all too small to effectively fill with micro – I’ll worry about them whenever I do a general pinhole/finish skim coat on the cowl halves.
After that, I decided I’d fit things together sufficiently to get back to working on the pin cover cutouts. A few rounds of trial-and-error, slowly massaging the cutouts, got me to the place I wanted, where the dummy covers fit nicely into place. The only thing that annoys me is that they won’t sit flush against the cowl the whole way around. Whenever I lay up the flange behind these, I’m just going to have to decide how I want them to sit and deal with the consequences…though I’m a little tempted to let the cover sit a little proud, and do a little micro buildup around them to get things sitting a little nicer. On the other hand, that sounds like a lot of work for maybe limited benefit.
Anyway, the dummy covers fit nicely now:
I also worked on setting some more paint gaps, specifically around the outside cowl corners, and where the spinner halve meet. I’m pretty satisfied with those at this point.
I think my next move is to do the layup behind the pin covers and get that flange established where it needs to be. Which means I’ll have to make a decision about how the covers sit against the cowl. It also means I’ll have to stick my entire upper body into the cowl, just to reach that inside area where the flanges will go.
Overall, I think I’m getting perilously close to being able to resume the actual cowl work steps outlines in the construction manual. I think maybe the next things will be attaching the cooling ramps, and working out the oil access door…