Day 197

Today we trimmed and fitted the cowling inspection hatches. The is one that goes on each side of the upper cowling. We began by finding the best fitment of the covers to sit in the inspection holes. They did not fit well to begin with. We used a marker to make tick marks on either side so that as we placed them on each time to check their alignment it would always be the same position. Then sanding off small portions at a time, worked until they fit perfectly inside the hole.

Once they were fittingly satisfactorily we then fitted the covers with the hinges and Cleco’ed them one. Next we fitted the covers with the attached hinges to the cowlings. Both of these steps required more trimming to get everything to fit just right.

After everything was lined up and fitting perfectly we then measured out and drilled the camlock location holes. Dennis then made us some comlock hardware jig pieces on the 3D printer that we could use to mark and drill the holes for the camlock positions. These turned out great and were exceptionally useful in marking out the holes perfectly. Now all that is left is to make sure there is enough spacing for the locks and get the rivet holes countersunk and rivets pulled.