I never do things the easy way....
I started the cowling a week or so ago. As is my standard I feel I need to "improve" things a little. In the case of the cowling I am using quarter turn fasteners (I did this on the 9 as well and was glad I did) and I'm doing some cosmetic alterations as well. This cowling is much larger than the one on the 9 and there were times when it was difficult to get the lower cowling on and off. For the 10 I decided to cut the snorkel section out to make it easier to work with while installing and removing. That requires lots of work and a bunch more quarter turn fasteners. You will see what I mean below. Once that is complete there is a strong possibility that I will split the lower cowling in half so that I can install/remove one side at a time. more fiberglass work and more quarter turn fasteners. I'll make that call once I have the scoop complete.
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| The top cowling half gets fitted first. You can see the overlap with the skin. If you look closely you can see the blue line I drew 3" back from the firewall edge. This line helps me measure forward to determine the precise cut line. Actually it wasn't one single cut...it was one big cut and a bunch of iterations of sand, install, measure, remove, sand, install....you get the picture. |
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| There are actually many steps in the process before we get to this point but in this picture you can see I am using my laser level to set the horizontal line. You can also see the wood disc that I made to simulate the back side of the prop spinner. This helps me set the gap between the prop spinner and the forward edge of the cowl. |
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| Both cowl halves fitted to the airframe. You can see the line on the upper cowl where I measured forward 3" from the blue line for a cut line. The bottom cowl will get cut once I have fitted the top cowl. |
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| This picture shows the method I used to locate the quarter turn fastener holes. I taped those aluminum scrap pieces to the fuselage skin in such a way that I could fold them back once the holes were aligned with the receptacle location. This worked quite well but I still have to go back and adjust hole positions. |
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| Here both the top and bottom cowl halves have been fitted to the firewall. I still have some work on the horizontal line but its getting close! |
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| Using these aluminum scrap pieces I positioned them such that I could hold the scoop in a precise position. Then I used my dremel and a hacksaw blade to cut along the blue line. |
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| Skip ahead several hours and this is what it looks like. The scoop has been cut out and the flange has been glassed in under it. (See picture below) |
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| This is the inside of the lower cowl where you can see the fiberglass flange being worked on. I still have two layers of glass and lots of sanding/filling/etc to do before this is done. |
