One decision I made before I started is that I wanted a metal
aircraft. Wood and fiberglass were fairly quickly eliminated as
options because I don't like sanding and buffing forever... so here I am
making a fiberglass cowling.
During the "study" portion of this sub-project, I discussed
this with Claude Guilbault, who is a local "expert" in making
homebuilt parts. Claude told me that I should consider the options
in the following order:
. Buy an existing cowling (like the one from ZAC)
. Get a mold and make a fiberglass one
. Buy a nose bowl and make an aluminum cowling
. If nothing above can work, make "one of" fiberglass cowling
He and another friend, Gary Gutsche explained me the process of making
a cowling. It is not by choice that I went to the fourth
option. My engine installation not being standard, I could not use
the ZAC cowling and while I checked for using a mold that some friends
made in Sherbrooke, I found that it needed to many corrections to fit on
my installation. The major issue with it is that my engine is
mounted further from the firewall due to the in-cowl radiator. My
reduction drive also puts the propeller fairly far from the engine.
After I wrapped my engine with something similar to Saran Wrap (it
comes in large rolls from I don't know where---a friend brought me that),
I made a plywood frame that will guide the shape of the cowling and
provide support for the Styrofoam pieces.
Once the Styrofoam was put in place, I leveled everything using joint
compound. This has been a long process of applying compound, sanding
and doing it again. Eventually, I thought it was all done and then,
a friend came home. Angelo, who works in construction has a pretty
good eye and determined that the upper nose needed correction...
AH!!! Later, another friend, Ghislain Benoit, who is a ceramic
installer and also has a pretty good eye, noticed some deformations on the
top and helped me level that AHHHHH!!!!!! (no pictures of that). And
then, on June 9th, after I removed the masking tape from the aluminum, I
noticed that the cowling mold is no longer aligned with the skin due to
all the sanding that has been done. OH NO!!! Here I go for
another cycle.
