Tue Jan 13 21:16:13 2009 - The aft "2 inch" line is in place and I've marked my cut line on the bottom cowl. I'm intentionally making it about 1/16" too long as it's easier to sand off rather than to glass on. I've still got about 1/4" left to move the bottom cowl upwards at the front. I think that'll close the gap up very nicely. See, nothing to worry about. ;) Thanks VAF for the reassurance.

Tue Jan 13 21:16:01 2009 - This stool provided a _perfect_ height for the rear of bottom cowl. I was able to get a strap around and cinch things into place.

Tue Jan 13 21:09:37 2009 - I moved the "shin guards" off of the steps to the clamps holding the top cowl to the fly wheel. I cut the slot for the gear leg in the bottom cowl and started the fit.

Tue Jan 13 20:21:56 2009 - Time to get ready for the bottom cowl fitting. The instructions talk about clamping the top cowl to the spinner bulkhead. I couldn't figure out how to do that without interfering with the bottom cowl. So I made up some blocks and and clamped it to the fly wheel. I can now push on the cowl and the entire plane moves around. This doesn't mean to say that I'd move the plane around by pushing on the cowl, however. ;)

Tue Jan 13 18:45:22 2009 - Very carefully drilled the pilot holes for the Cam-Loc's. I've intentionally gone for a zero gap (or as little as possible) between the cowl and skin. When the cowl is mostly complete, I'll come back and sand my "credit card thickness" paint gap.

Sat Jan 10 17:38:37 2009 - And the "mostly" finished product. I did bend some of the tabs down slightly (best guess of 1-2 deg( to help pull the cowl down when the Cam-Loc's engage. I'm still thing to determine if I need a .020" strip between the attach strip and firewall flange. I think I'll set one rivet and decide then.

Sat Jan 10 16:49:24 2009 - Ok, I really pondered what, if any, benefit there was to scalloping the top attach strip. After all, the forward top skin and cowl sloped together. After reading through the Mil-Spec Cam-Loc instructions, there was mention of slightly bending the tabs to make things fit better. So, about 30 minutes later I had things laid out. Spacing between Cam-Loc's ended up at 3-1/2" (3"-4" is recommended).

Sat Jan 10 11:07:14 2009 - I've adopted the practice of laying painters tape to provide a good solid line of contrast. I'm slowly sanding the aft edge of the top cowl for fitting.

Thu Jan 8 18:29:41 2009 - Thought this looked kinda cool (wish I'd removed the cleco - oh well).

Tue Jan 6 20:07:35 2009 - The instructions say that anything between 1/8" - 1/4" between the spinner and front cowl is good. I'm aiming for 1/8" just in case I need to trim. So far the cowl and spinner are pretty much on parallel plains.