Finally got the cowl painted

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Posted

When I finished the plane about 3 1/2 years ago,  I kept meaning to paint the cowl, but kept putting it off so I could fly the plane.  Now that I'm flying the Kitfox, I finally got around to finishing the bits and pieces that I kept putting off.  A friend of mine made the white decals, they came out pretty nice I think.  JImChuk

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Posted

Jim, that looks great!

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Posted

Yes it does! Nice looking plane. Curious, why did you go with boot cowl? Or was it started that way and you just went with it?

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Posted

The Jabiru cowl was about 1 1/2"  to long.  I would have had to cut it somewhere.  Going with the boot cowl, I kept the flange for the windshield, and took out the extra in the middle of the cowl.  I fiberglassed the top and bottom back pieces together to make the boot cowl.  On my Kitfox 4, I actually sealed and fastened the windshield to the boot cowl, and that is probably the best way to keep things dry behind the firewall.   JImChuk

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Posted

Damnit Jim! 

We were supposed to stick together on this thing.

 

Now I gotta "Keep up with the Chuk"  -_-

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Posted (edited)

You'll feel better once you get through it.... :).  JImChuk

PS   like having a tooth pulled that's been hurting for a long time.:lmao:

Edited by 1avidflyer
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Posted

The Jabiru cowl was about 1 1/2"  to long.  I would have had to cut it somewhere.  Going with the boot cowl, I kept the flange for the windshield, and took out the extra in the middle of the cowl.  I fiberglassed the top and bottom back pieces together to make the boot cowl.  On my Kitfox 4, I actually sealed and fastened the windshield to the boot cowl, and that is probably the best way to keep things dry behind the firewall.   JImChuk

Thanks! Makes total sense. I am personally not a fan of boot cowls on these planes, because they make maintenance behind the dash so difficult. I even removed the boot cowl on my Fat Avid and went back to two piece. But faced with what you had to do to adapt to engine length, seems like a great way to accomplish the proper fit...and it shows! 

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Posted

I have something like 20 # 8 machine screws that hold the boot cowl on.  If I really need to get in there, I can do it fairly quickly, but it's not very often that I need to do that.  Bit of a different matter with the Kitfox.  There I probably have 20 machine screws just holding the boot cowl to the windshield.  It doesn't leak there though, so that's mainly what I was trying to accomplish when I did that one.  It's kind of a cross between boot cowl and no boot cowl.  Kind of wish I had gone with a full boot cowl though.  the bottom is a pain to get off.  JImChuk

cowl 12.jpg

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