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Cowling disappointment

dave4754

Well Known Member
Hello:

Well after careful studying, reading, and measuring and measuring some more i have come up with a rather disappointing gap in between my forwad skin and the cowling on my RV 7. Looks like i sanded a little more than I needed, Also the piano hinge seen through gap looks unsightly.

Any ideas on how to narrow the gap now? The manual is practically useless on this stuff it seems to me.

I have seen Bertrands excellent posts and others and yes I have already searched the posts before, looking for any help or suggestions. Thanks.

all


9


Dave
 
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at least it is easy to fit parts together and see how much gap you have!
anyway, i did it too in places. easy but a little time to fix. scarf the edge 3 widths and put something [masking tape, thin alum. strip] against one side of the cowl. make a thick mix of flox/epoxy and add it on. sometimes you have to get a little creative to keep mix from moving until it sets. this works good for up to 1/8''. when it sets remove excess on inside and outside of cowling and reassemble cowling and mark your cut line again.
sounds tedious and it is a little but end result will be unnoticeable.
 
I'm about to tackle this same problem on my cowl, prior to paint. All it takes is time...
 
Sounds encouraging

Thanks for the thread, I searched for everything cowling and this did not come up.

My gap fill will easily be 1/8 of an inch.

I wonder with the vibration and all will it hold up over time over vibrate and chunk off?

The plans and manual are very disappointing regarding this step.

Thanks for your responses, make me feel better and yes I will take the time to fix as the thread suggests.

Dave
 
It won't come off if you follow Dan's method.

I have repaired all sorts of items with West and flox/glass. Quite remarkable what it will stick to.

It pays to make up some decent sanding blocks as well. Get some 1" MDF, if you can find it with laminate on, even better. Go to Home Despot and get 3 or 4" sanding belts. I would suggest 1 coarse - I mean 30 grit coarse and one at say 80 grit. Cut the belt and use contact adhesive to attach to the MDF, trim as necessary. The block should be as long as the belt is when cut across.

What you now have is a great 'sanding plane'. Use in smooth forward strokes, like a plane and voila, you get a good cut, doesn't clog the belt and great control. Move from the 30 to the 80 and then finish as needed.

If it does clog, get a rubber belt cleaner - like a big pencil eraser - cleans the abrasive really well.

Once you have them, they become invaluable. I made curved ones up for the canopy as well.
 
Thank you Bob for flyover......

I thourohly enjoyed "the chronicles" and they were very well done!

The encouragement to move beyond helps as well. There are days the for sale sign goes over the part where the prop goes!

Then I pick up my tools and start again.

Dave
 
I thourohly enjoyed "the chronicles" and they were very well done!

The encouragement to move beyond helps as well. There are days the for sale sign goes over the part where the prop goes!

Then I pick up my tools and start again.

Dave

Yep. We've all been there. Pressing on from our little disappointments, figuring them out, fixing them, elevating our confidence in the process is what you're gonna miss once you're flying that thing.

Come find me whenever you get stuck. Whatever you did, I've done worse and I ended up with a **** of a fine airplane.
 
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