A good day. I began by building up a ring to go on the prop hub. The purpose of this is to set the spacing correct for the spinner and prop hub I'm using. In this case, the assembly in 1 7/8 inch wide. the goal is 3/8 of an inch between spinner and cowl. My spinner is a 16 inch spinner so it will be a tad larger than the cowl round pad. a 14 inch spinner would be perfect. Next, I riveted the side of the forward fuselage to the firewall but only every fifth rivet. I plan on using the Skybolt fasteners and don't want to drill all those out to install the backing plates. I then set the cowling on the floor and marked where I wanted to separate it with a line. I made two four inch pieces of .016 AL and drilled holes every 2.5 inches. that will help to mate and align the cowl during the fitting process. I removed the AL and then cut it with a hacksaw blade. This works if you hold it at a very shallow angle to the cowling and only use it on a pulling stroke. Next, I need to trim the back of the cowl to fit. This will be the scary part. But, wx looks good tomorrow so it may be a flying day.
