how i built up my cowl.

tried my best to fix the spinner to cowl gap turned out pretty good.




small layer of rage gold.


gap was not paralell at the joint and was 1/8 wider than the other side. now its much closer but still a touch wider. the engine may sag some and make it perfect. :?




pinhole ****. after much research i figured the best way to go was as vans described in their instructions. so i dutifully washed and sanded the cowl.i mixed up a batch of 105 resin and 205 hardener.did not thin. i applied it with a chip brush but that wasnt gonna cover the whole cowl.(4 full pumps of resin)so i got a bondo squeegee and spread it with that. i ended up with resin back in the cup.
ohhh btw think your cowl is flat :roll: think again.



i sanded this with 80 grit then epoxied it with straight resin. here it is after 3.5 hrs (cutting the grass.) dried nicely still a little shy about the acetone. my SPONGE brush is still rubbery. i will try it on a small test piece soon. thinner would be better I WILL NOT USE THE FOAM BRUSHES AGAIN.




after the first sanding with water...note the changes in color. thats where the low spots are. got them out later.



well several hours of sanding this stuff and it was very smooth.(wet and dry) a few low spots but no pinholes. vans method seems to be the trick for me. i have sanded many paints and primers but beleive me the epoxy ot tougher than them all. not as bad as everyone says but, that would depend on your stamina and experience. i could have sanded a camaro to a 800 finish ready for paint in the time i sanded this cowl.
once i get the bottom half done i will prime them with k-36. i may first prime them with DPLF epoxy primer. maybe not. i already bought it however.

second coat of resin being wet sanded (220 grit)

sanding the bottom cowl, the first round of resin thinned with acetone. (80 grit) brushes on watery thin, then the acetone evaporates whille brushing on and it builds nicely



finsished sanding the cowl halves and got the factory style pins in...i just wasnt up to making some fancy smancy cover thingy... if you can tell im getting a little antcy and want to be finished


later i primed the halves with dplf epoxy primer. No, the hose isnt touching the cowl. :wink: the homebrew respirator is awesome. i think i need to thank chad for posting the sale of masks on ebay a year or so ago. if not chad then someone like him.

if you look closely you can see the light spots on the cowl. i put a second coat on there later. i will get up bright and early tommorow and prime with k-36 or 38 and cut the grass as it dries then try to sand if possible. have to check the product sheet again on dry to sand times of the k primer. ok now it is getting a little fun.



well i got down to a handfull of divets and a pin hole or two so i spent the afternoon filling and sanding them. will re-prime and block then paint the cowl by friday...i hope.






after i felt the blemishes were removed i sealed the room as best i could and sprayed 3 coats of white on there. 20 min between coats @ 90 degrees. should have only used two, there was little to no trash but went three coats. picked up some nibs on the last coat. the respirator hose i think may have caused that dragging around . next time two coats, as the white is very strong and covers well.



i think i can do better, and i will try to improve but this is good enough for me in the unlikely event it doesnt improve. i failed to wet the floor by my own mistake. i told my wife to turn on the water and she turned it off. its a 90 deg. ball valve and she turned it jumped in her car and left. i was taped in the room

Great!!

That is a great series of photos - invaluable material for those that will come after you!!

I did the Van's process for pinholes as well - I did use the acetone, and was worried at times it wouldn't harden, but it turned out fine. and I agree 100% on the foam brushes - they turned to mush in epoxy (at least the black ones from Home Depot did...).

Paul

Paul, i remembered your repair on your cowl and really tried to be careful not to sand to aggresively. That is also why i went straight epoxy, but man it took forever to sand. I am not sure what happened on some of my thinned stuff. Sometimes it seemed to sand well others it seemed to roll. i did all the voo doo stuff to it prior to applying it and was in good temps. 90+
i also went with the no frills hinge pin like you did. works great. they did cost a fortune however. But they are on there now. i cant believe i waited so long to do that.
i am now working the fwd skin in front of the canopy. With so many gorgeous planes out there i couldnt just let it ride.

thanks for raising the bar.
now i will have to park in the GA parking at sun n fun to keep people from comparing my plane to others.