Cowl prep

Refer back to the building section of this site to review the initial steps of cowl preparation, and you will see the first cuts made to the cowl as well as the fabrication of the two gun troughs.

Now, to further prep the cowl for detailing, we have to do a few more cuts and get the surface smooth. I cut the area that wraps around the leading edge of the wing with a Dremel tool. This includes a little shaping that goes on around onto the trailing edge of the cowl belly. Once the cuts were all done, I sanded the surface and edges smooth.

The photo at left shows that the supplied cowl was a little rough, not one of the best cowls I've received with a kit. It had tons of pinholes and blemishes caused by air bubbles in the epoxy and slight imperfections in the mold. These were no big deal, and can easily be eliminated.

I start by shooting the whole cowl with Filler Primer to fill the smallest imperfections, and also to make it easier to see the larger ones. Hit the whole cowl lightly with a sanding sponge and all the pinholes show up quite easily.

To eliminate the problem areas, I applied AcrylGreen spot putty wherever needed and allowed it to dry sufficiently. Once that was done, I sanded virtually all of the primer and putty back off of the cowl leaving it only in the depths of the pinholes and blemishes. Then, I shoot the whole thing with filler primer again an re-inspect.

I repeat this process as many times as necessary until the surface is smooth and blemish-free. Once the final primer coat is dry, I applied the ChartPak panel line tape over the existing panel lines that were molded into the cowl. This will help to bring back the areas that did not mold well, and also protects the panel lines from filling up with the subsequent primer coats.

Before shooting the next primer coats, I proceeded to fabricating molded details...

Latches & hinges

To fabricate the large lever latches on the cowl panels, I taped one piece of FliteMetal over another to form a double thickness sheet. I then scuff-sand the top layer and cut out the latches with a pair of scissors.

After applying the FM tape latches in position I stamped additional details using a sharpened brass tube. Lastly I used the sharp edge of a small hobby file to go around the edges of all the latches, cutting a groove into the primer. This helps make the latches "pop" more and simulates the edges of the surrounding panels.

The last details to add were the hinges for the cowl panels. I used styrene half-round stock, filing tiny grooves on the top of each piece to help simulate the appearance of a hinge. After gluing these in place with Medium CA glue, I gave everything a last light sanding with a fine grit waffle sponge.