On Tuesday I started working on the cowling again. Took me the majority of the day to cut all of hinges, mark all of them and to bevel the hinge half's on the fuselage. Used a file and then the sanding disk in the die grinder. At this time, no holes are drilled in the hinges. They are drilled in place, much like the way the forward canopy frame tube was drilled to the plexiglass. Thought I would not be able to see the marks through the translucent cowling, but, they show rather well.
Had some difficulty in inserting the hinge pins after bending them to shape and doing a bit of fluting on the hinge half. The easiest way I found to flute was to watch the gap between the eyelets of the two hinge half's. After fluting the gap became consistent.
Called Larry Geiger and he suggested wetting the hinge pin with WD-40. After sharpening the hinge pin and applying the WD-40, the pins went in much easier.
Today I fitted the bottom cowl to the fuselage and found a bit a sanding was required to get a good fit. There were a few areas where I did not sand quite to the scribe line and there were a few places where I had to remove maybe a 1/64"-1/32" to get a good fit. Then fitted the top cowl and again found a bit of sanding was required. Had to remove just a bit on the aft edge of the top cowl near its center. Used some duct tape to fasten the top cowl. The fit all the way around looks pretty good. Will drill the bottom cowl tomorrow. A little more sanding on the aft center edge of the top cowl may be required to close the top cowl side gaps.
UPDATE: If I did this again, I would not sand the aft edge of the top cowl until the lower cowl side hinge is cleco'd and you are ready to drill the left and right top cowl aft hinges. The bottom cowl moves a little when the bottom hinge is attached.
Time Yesterday and Today - 7 hours
