I thought I'd share a little tip with folks that are still working on their cowlings, and perhaps save them a little aggravation later on. I'm dropping the Val off at Grady's paint shop tomorrow for a few days so that he can fix a little mistake of mine - I sanded just a little to aggressively on the outer layer while filling pin holes. You can see what happened in this picture: (The "crack" area is about three incehs long)
Basically, I ended up sanding too far into the outer glass layer, and made it thin enough that the honeycomb pattern started breaking through the outer surface. Since it needs to be painted after a little glass work, I figured I'd just let Grady do the whole thing, so it looks nice. This is more cosmetic than structural, but I would not like that inner core to be exposed to absorb moisture. Note this is right at the "corner" where you'd expect to sand a little heavier....I guess I won't make the same mistake on the next cowling....
Live and learn!
Basically, I ended up sanding too far into the outer glass layer, and made it thin enough that the honeycomb pattern started breaking through the outer surface. Since it needs to be painted after a little glass work, I figured I'd just let Grady do the whole thing, so it looks nice. This is more cosmetic than structural, but I would not like that inner core to be exposed to absorb moisture. Note this is right at the "corner" where you'd expect to sand a little heavier....I guess I won't make the same mistake on the next cowling....
Live and learn!