Nov 03, 2023     PAINT! - (5.5 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Well, today was a visual day.

It was a serious milestone! I filled and sanded the nosebowl about 30 times, all be it at the end with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper. How long does a cycle of filling and sanding take? About 4 hours each time. It was like chasing a GHOST! But today it was all worth it

Tomorrow the engine cowl gets riveted to the nose bowl and will all be painted.

Happy Days

  Nov 02, 2023     Paint Prep - (6.5 hours) Category: Boot Cowl

Not much visual to show, just sanding and priming getting ready to paint

  Oct 31, 2023     General pre-paint prep - (6 hours) Category: Boot Cowl

I just upsized holes in the boot cowl for #6 screws, installed a bunch of nut plates, did a bit of riveting on doublers

  Oct 30, 2023     Boot cowl removal for painting - (3 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Hey, someone too my plane apart

Kidding aside, I am preparing for painting the boot cowl. Both the boot cowl and the firewall are dimpled for flush rivets. Now it is prep for painting time.

I took the opportunity to finally trouble shoot my faulty Carb Heat sensor issue, I had a bad splice leading to the D-Sub, so redid that, this time I checked it on the ohm meter to make sure all was good.

  Jun 23, 2023     Drilled and cleco'ed NACA Ducts - (2 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Fitted and drilled in the NACA ducts for cooling in the cockpit

  Apr 03, 2023     Redoing part of the boot cowl - (4 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

I really dislike redoing things, but a part of my boot cowl had been bothering me and being I am starting to work on the engine cowl I decided to redo the top front part of the boot cowl.
Yep, it was time to use some poster board to add a bit to the previous piece as rather than being overlapped by the side cowl, this new piece is going to overlap for a cleaner and smoother transition

  Mar 31, 2023     Removable Center Section of Glare Shield - (10 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

This was a long process that had several redesigns through the process. In the end I went with doublers on the two sides and front and will attach with flathead screws via nutplates. Very happy with the outcome

  Mar 31, 2023     Removable Category: Boot Cowl

  Mar 27, 2023     Removable Top Section - (1.5 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Cut to size, drilled holes and cleco'ed in place. The holes to attach to the other cowl parts will be drilled tomorrow

  Mar 27, 2023     Naca Duct - (2.5 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Placed the duct in the boot cowl cut out and got the correct angle for the hose fitting. Then had to drill a large hole (step drill) which was not big enough, so a lot of dremeling and the hose fitting slide into position and was JB Welded in place

  Mar 26, 2023     3rd time was the charm - (5.5 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Yesterday I set out to make front-middle section for the glare shield and then a removable center section so I have access to the avionics in the future.

I made two yesterday and neither were correct, so today was the 3rd iteration and it came out nice.

Tomorrow I will finalize the already “rough cut” removable part.

  Mar 23, 2023     Boot Cowl avionics access - (3 hours) Category: Boot Cowl

While working on an avionics box this morning I realized I would potentially have a huge problem at some point in the future with a lack of access under the glare shield. I reinstalled the boot cowl, set the windshield on and made a plan to reconfigure the glare shield. Should not be overly difficult

  Dec 05, 2022     NACA Cuts - (2 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Took a few tools and a lot of patience, but the NACA cuts are in for the “air conditioning”

  Nov 12, 2022     Prep for primer - (4 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Removed the plastic, touched up the edges to remove any sharpness. Next was to use scotch bright to prepare for self etching primer. Each piece for two coats of primer per side

  Nov 10, 2022     Prepped, Primed and reinstalled the boot cowl - (6.5 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

Removed the plaster from the fitted boot cowl, used scotch bright as prep for the priming. Primed and then wet sanded with 600 grit to finish the priming process and prepare for the final painting. This was all about getting set for the panel installation.

  Dec 08, 2021     Bottom Cowl extension re-do - (.5 hour) Category: Boot Cowl

Used the old messed up piece to trace the shape for the new bottom cowl extension

  Dec 02, 2021     8 days of Boot Cowl Work - (55 hours)       Category: Boot Cowl

I had a deadline to hit on the boot cowl as I needed to finish it so I could send the panel to Dynon. It was all day everyday for 8 days. There were some minor mistakes, and one major that will be corrected when I return from my work trip. In one photo you can see several holes in the boot side cowl. Luckily I had extra to be trimmed off and it was not an issue. Getting the side cowl to really have a perfect shape was a lot of work, in the end I used straps to hold it in place so I could drill the holes. I had never done sheet metal work, so this was very frustrating at times, and occasionally rewarding. I messed up the bottom cowl extension, and will get that fixed soon. I had to order a piece of sheet metal and will have to copy and trace from the messed up piece to make the new one. Overall this has been the most challenging part of the build to date. Doing this will the help of someone else would be a lot easier. Tons of templates were created to prepare for cutouts and trimming to fit around the both the glare shield cabane and the landing gear struts.