Brief Description: Stored Wings and Started Boot Cowl.
I had previously finished the checklist in the covering section listing items to be completed before starting covering of the fuselage, but in reviewing the manual I noticed that fit up of the boot cowl is depicted as a "before covering" task even though it is not included on the checklist. Rather than perform the fit up on a newly painted fuselage, I decided to put the wings in the wing rack and set the fuselage back up on the saw horses to compete the boot cowl fit up.
Today I completed the firewall fit up and lower boot cowl. The sides and top of the boot cowl will be next.
Comments:
* The manual has you fit up the firewall and then glue the sound deadening fabric to the back side. I decided to wait until the boot cowl fit up was complete before gluing the fabric. It has turned out to be a good decision as I have found that a few more holes were needed, and I didn't have to worry about the fabric getting caught in the drill bit.
* I created some clearance for the landing gear bolts in the lower skin. I cleko'd everything in place and used a 23/64 drill bit (3/8 would probably work) down through the landing gear bolt hole to make a mark in the lower skin. After removing the skin and marking a circle around the mark using a 3/4" OD washer as a guide, I used a dremel with a drywall cutting bit and sanding drum to create the clearance.
* The firewall is stainless steel. My long reach high speed drill bit would do nothing more than make a mark, so in a couple of tight places where a drill with a standard length bit would not fit I removed the firewall and used a sharp colbalt drill to make a hole on this mark.
