Cowl Almost Finished

I'm almost finished with the cowl. At least the structural parts. I put everything together last night and it looks like all that's left is prettying up stuff. I've ordered new hinge pins with the welded stainless tabs instead of the ugly bent wires I've got now. I'm also getting the insulating blanket material to put on the inside hot spots near the exhaust. I'm still looking for a good spring for the oil door as the ones I ordered from McMaster Carr were much too small. I've heard that a mousetrap spring works well.

There are a bunch of details left to finish the airplane but the only plans pages I've not used are for the spinner and the wheel and landing gear fairings so I'm getting close to finishing. I also have to do the baffles but the new ones with the revised directions from Vans are supposed to be relatively easy. I told Paula that if I could get Norm, Phil, Ted and Ron to help and I didn't have to do any paperwork or make it pretty or wait for any parts or hardware, I could safely fly it in a week.