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Building Integrity
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Date:  11-5-2014
Number of Hours:  6.50
Manual Reference:  Section 2
Brief Description:  Nutplates and installation of top cowling

I counted over 40 nutplates that will be installed on this cowling assembly and remarkably had only 1 too many nutplates in stock. PHEWW! Just made it. After installing all the nutplates on the wings and top cowling I sanded the contacting areas of the cowling and installed it on the airframe to find that over the course of creating the cowling, the several rounds of filler would change the shape of the cowling because of how it exotherms to cure. The only way to really avoid this would be time consuming and not worth it for a version 1 cowling. The good news is that it went on and only needs a little more filler around the lip to make a pretty good flush fit.
I can tell that for a good cosmetic transition from fuse to cowling that a good amount of filler is needed. This cowling before filler ended up under 8lbs TOTAL! That's awesome considering that the next cowling should weigh even less! However, now that I'm adding filler I wouldn't be surprized to see that number jump to 12 or 13 after primer. Still not terrible but a real waste of pounds. I may even stack up weights on the engine to match what the FINAL cowling will weigh when I do empty weight and balance. So far the calculations put my CG at 101, so I've got LOTS of room to add or subtract weight wherever I need to. For now I'm gonna sand off as much of this filler as possible without sacrificing the look of the cowling too much. She is gonna see a lot of airshows before that next cowling gets made and no ugly betty cowling for me!
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Nutplates on wings

Nutplates on wings

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Forward cowl lip nutplates

Forward cowl lip nutplates

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Time to sand!

Time to sand!

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