[Trumpetman]

Fitting the cowl is also a fussy bit of work! The cowl came from JTec as a split cowl which is a nice feature for a plane of this size. I screwed the two halves together with some 1/2" #4 wood screws and then I mounted the engine. The bottom of the cowl was opened up for cooling (this opening will probably be enlarged). The two oblong holes in the bottom of the cowl are to get access to the 6-32 bolts that bolt the cowl ring to the firewall.

I trimmed the 1/4" plywood cowl ring so that it was 1/16" (actually probably less than 1/16") inside the fuselage outline. I found that the cowl ring itself was a bit too large for the cowl and I had to trim a little bit extra off the bottom of the cowl ring. Once the cowl ring was trimmed to shape I bolted it to the firewall.

Using the engine as a guide, I figured out how much of the back of the cowl needed to be trimmed away and cut the excess with a Dremel cutoff wheel. Once everything was a snug fit, the inside edge of the cowl was sanded and wiped off with Isopropol alcohol. The cowl was tack glued to the cowl ring with some medium CA. I mixed up some 30 minute epoxy with Cabisol to make a thick non-runny mixture, loaded it into a paper squeeze tube, nipped the tip off of the tube and squeezed the epoxy along the joint between the cowl ring and the cowl.

[Trumpetman]

Finished up the cowl fitting today. From the side the fit is perfect but from the top you can see that the angle of the front of the cowl did not match the right thrust angle built into the firewall. A bit too much gap for me so I used some 1/8" lite ply and made an angled ring that filled the gap.

The plywood that had been installed along the cowl split line has to be some of the poorest Chinese plywood out there. It delaminated and pulled away from the fiberglass at most of the places that I drilled through for the cowl screws. This was fixed by gluing some 1/2" by 3/4" pieces of 1/8" aircraft grade ply over each of the screw holes. The cowl screws will not be pulling out!

Overall I'm still pleased with the cowl since it came with a white gel coat finish that has eliminated all pinholes. I guess the extra work to fix the angle of the prop face and the extra plywood for the cowl screws is balanced off by the time saved in eliminating the pinholes that you get with most cowls.

[-Rick-]

I like the paper squeeze tube, have to remember that trick!

Are most cowls now designed to just go over the ring? Only seen one carden and it was done the same way. Is there a reason for that?

[Trumpetman]

Yup, it's the poor man's Hysol dispenser I picked up the trick from a build thread out of England so I'm glad to pass it on!

The plywood cowl ring serves two purposes: it gives strength and structure to the back of the cowl and it is how the cowl fastens to the fuselage. I think most of the bigger aircraft use a similar way of mounting the cowl. My Dalton uses this approach, the 40% Lanier Edge that I built did this and I've seen more than a few ARF's that mount the cowl this way.

[-Rick-]

My fault for not being clear. On all ARF,s and even the Dietrich I have rebuilt the cowl ring is inset about one half inch so the cowl slides over the fuse and canopy deck. But on the carden I have seem and on your built the cowl ring looks flush with the cowl. Is there a reason for this? Thanks!

[Trumpetman]

Oh, I get it! I think making the cowl flush with the fuselage is purely for looks. The cowl ring for this JTec was flush with the fuselage so that the cowl would have overlapped the fuselage like your Dietrich. I trimmed the cowl ring in order to flush mount the cowl (purely for looks).

[Trumpetman]

This is an IMAC plane so I need to have an instrument panel and a pilot. The pilot is coming from Hanger 9 as a white helmet head that I will paint. The front instrument panel is a very basic panel with photos glued to a piece of black spray painted foamboard.

The main panel is based on a photo from Super Dave's Facebook page. The panel itself is fabbed up from foam and light 1/16" balsa. It gets one light coat of gray primer paint and then a very light coat of Stone Effects grey splatter paint.

[-Rick-]

Originally Posted by Trumpetman

Oh, I get it! I think making the cowl flush with the fuselage is purely for looks. The cowl ring for this JTec was flush with the fuselage so that the cowl would have overlapped the fuselage like your Dietrich. I trimmed the cowl ring in order to flush mount the cowl (purely for looks).

Thanks Gord. I actually thought it might be for a noise issue. As in not having the vibrating cowl making noise against the fuse.

[Scrappy]

Originally Posted by Trumpetman

Trimming the canopy always makes me a bit nervous but it's really not too bad. It's just a matter of marking the first cut line about a 1/4" further out than you eventually need to get to and then slowly, carefully mark and trim it down to the final shape. I use a pair of Lexan scissors that I had from my R/C car racing days [Alan, let me know if you want to use them].

The monokote arrived! - two 25' rolls

Looking great and I might take you up on those scissors!!
Your continued support is super appreciated!!! Everyone building their first GS plane should have a Gordon nearby....LOL!

Looks like you had some quality time in the shop over the past few days, now I am officially way behind you!

I chickened out and ordered a pre-painted H9 Pilot figure, I need all the time savings I can get (obviously!!!) My wing skins all almost ready and I'll be on to prepping the cores this week.

You are a building machine... like Trevor....as my MX2 will be green maybe I should put a turtle decal on it ....

[Phil202]

Originally Posted by Scrappy

You are a building machine... like Trevor....as my MX2 will be green maybe I should put a turtle decal on it ....

Yeah... The turtle is a good idea... Might have to do the same on the PC-6...