Show/Tell me about the cowl underside

bkc3921 · #1 02-21-2009, 03:48 PM

Although this is not the silliest question I have ever asked, it is certainly in contention. How "finished" is everyone making the underside of their cowl?
The easy answer is "until I'm happy"..but for some reason, I have never focused on this particular issue. I'm afraid that bringing it to a smooth showroom quality with filler would add quite a bit of unnecessary weight...I plan to line the bottom with Van's heat reflective shield..but I really don't want the rest of it to look like I never touched it...any thoughts appreciated..thanks

pierre smith · #2 02-22-2009, 06:06 AM

.....for excess resin.

We would paint it on the lower cowl mainly to avoid any oil drips soaking in. It's a good idea to coat the entire bottom cowl with resin for this reason.

Regards,

osxuser · #3 02-22-2009, 08:18 AM

Other than the dumping ground for excess resin, there are all different levels of finish i've seen. Some go to full-on white gloss paint, others just leave it bare fibers. I agree that it should be sealed off so oil doesn't soak in. Other than that, unless you are making a show plane, i'd just leave it.

buck · #4 02-22-2009, 10:00 AM

I skuffed mine and used an epoxy white from SW local outlet. It's a 2part quart kit, which mixes to a very thin consistancy, gave it two coats and it
came out great. Dries fast and gives a hard finished look.
Walt RV-6A
IO-320 finishing up

Greg Arehart · #5 02-22-2009, 10:08 AM

I put a couple of coats of rattle-can furnace paint (white) on the inside of both sections of the cowl, and then coated with a couple layers of thinned epoxy (thinned with acetone and will interact a bit with the white paint). Once flying, I added some reflective aluminum tape in select locations. Paint makes it easy to see any small oil drips etc. on the inside of the cowl in addition to sealing it. An additional benefit was covering the horrid pink color.

greg