Cowling Riveting Done

Been quite busy the past couple days with progress to show for it. After disassembling everything for deburring the entire cowling interior got a coat of fiberglass resin. This will make it impervious to oil and much easier to clean. Then it was on to countersinking and riveting on 6 nut plates and all the piano hinge lengths on each cowling half. 216 holes worth to be precise. This process took a while but was uneventful since access was wide open and along edges. My pneumatic squeezer made it easy. With all piano hinges riveted in place I mounted the cowling and was rewarded with a very satisfactory fit along all seams. In fact, they are so tight in some places they'll need to be sanded to a .050" gap to allow for primer and paint accumulation to prevent rubbing and chipping. The tool fixture I used left me with a 1.60" space between the prop flange and cowling flange which, in theory, will leave a nominal .1875" gap between the prop spinner backing plate and cowling. Now on to mounting the air ramps in the upper cowling and the oil filler door.