Author Archives: pclifton

Yep, I’m back at it. I didn’t do a lot – in fact the stuff I’ll write about here happened over the course of a couple days – but it’s something, right? I’ve been thinking about this change for a … Continue reading →

Next, I got the cowl halves installed on the airplane, and pulled the halves together at the aft end with a ratchet strap. This allowed me to go around and use that same tape line on the fuselage to draw … Continue reading →

That was the simple part, however. The basic task in getting the forward mating surfaces right is to carefully massage the four points of contact: the two sides of the prop spinner area, and the outboard corners. What I’m going … Continue reading →

…and to bring the rear into alignment, I used the usual method of wrapping a ratchet strap around and using it to pull the lower cowl up against the fuselage:

But the junction still isn’t quite flush, as a picture from inside the spinner opening shows:

Since I was finally happy with the fit, it was time to move on to drilling the upper cowl to the hinge halves that retain it. To do this, the holes get laid out and initially drilled in the cowl, … Continue reading →

Next, I broke out the masking tape and laid a stripe along the marks to create a continuous reference line for the cut: Then it was time to take a deep breath and make that first cut. I wanted to … Continue reading →

To solve this problem, I decided to temporarily add the baggage door to the party. Actually fitting this piece is a whole procedure that apparently gives lots of builders fits, but all I needed it to do was serve as … Continue reading →