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 "Cloudster" Construction Project Session #52

Speed 400 Cloudster Project
 
The first soft balsa fill in block to be added between the two cowl sides was on top as shown below.
 
Next two tapered soft balsa blocks were added to the insides of the two cowl sides as shown below. Notice inside carving and relief shaping of the top block. 
 
Last night when I checked the location of the rear face of the spinner, pushed all of the way onto the motor shaft, I found that the forward face of the cowl falls short by an 1/8" @#$%! So I cut off an 1/8" (plus a little for sanding) cross grain wafer to glue to the front of cowl frame in order for it to properly mate with the spinner. 
 
This picture shows the 1/8" cross grain balsa wafer glued to the front of the cowl from the side.
 
This picture shows the wafer from the front. The penciled circle was drawn around the base of the spinner when it put in place.
 
Some crud and rough shape carving on the cowl's top front is shown below. Notice that the bottom of the cowl has not been blocked in yet. A central cowl retention screw arrangement has to be developed first before blocking it in.  
 
Carving, sanding, and shaping of the cowl can not be continued until the bottom bulkheads and stringers have been added as well as the curved planking on the top of the fuselage right behind the firewall. This is necessary to fair the lines of the cowl into the lines of the fuselage to form the seamless transition. So for the time being, any further work on shaping the cowl will be discontinued, except for developing the central cowl retention screw arrangement.........................Tandy   

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