[lewy]

Hello, My son and i are finishing up the finish kit, is it possible to go ahead and fit the upper and lower cowling together and do the final fit to the fuselage after the engine is in place. The early guys say to wait and do the cowling after the engine is in place, just need something to do while the canopy frame is at the body shop getting painted. D. Lewis

 

[Geico266]

I would wait. It is much easier and makes for a better fit to wait to fit the cowel to the engine and spinner.

JMHO.

 

[Gagarin737]

I waited for the engine but after all you could fit the upper and lower cowl together already. Thats the way I did it.

I started with drilling the hinges for the top and lower cowl. With the lower and top cowl clecoed together I aligned the cowling with the spinner leaving no gap and the cowling 1/16" above the spinner (When you move the cowling aft it is in line with the spinner again). Thereafter I took a ruler and a pencil and drew a line 5mm / 3/16" forward of the fuselage skin al around the cowling (except for the horizontal parts).
After trimming the cowling back to the line it fitted perfect at the first try.

Be carefull when trimming the aft part of the cowling to the scribe lines, leave initially at least 3/16" aft off the scribe line on the left side!

MyKitlog cowling

 

[GDS]

Also note that you want a small, even gap between upper and lower sections when finished. If the fit is too close, there is not enough room for the paint and it will chip away from the edges. Same goes for all of the fiberglass joints.