The "pink stuff" is 2" foam insulation board from Menards. I basically cut it to conform to the top of the cowl and used a bondo file to shape it. I filled the sides and other areas with 2 part expanding foam, then shaped it with the bondo file and 80 grit sandpaper. I put a layer of glass on it to give the foam a more rigid surface. I will put a thin layer of bondo on the glass to get it smoothed out. Might put a thin layer of glass over that to give it some more strength. The cowl mating edges will be the typical male and female flange about 3/16" thick and reinforced with a 1" strip of kevlar. I don't want it to be wavy... The plan is to make a cowl that only needs to be trimmed at the aft end. There should be no need to trim the cowl mating edges.
This will be a plug to pull a mold from. The cowl will be 2 layers of CF with a 1/8" aramid honeycomb for rigidity. Vacuum bagged of course...
Well I can't shrink my pics so I can't post them...
The cowl is almost ready to cut apart. I will turn this 2 piece cowl into a 2 piece cowl and a boot cowl. Tomorrow is the final sand of the cowl prior to separating the pieces. Hope to cut it apart as well.
Getting lightweight teflon hoses (Ultra Pro line) from Earls Indy next week. They tell me the Indy car guys use these hoses so it must be pretty good stuff.
I also hope to have the glareshield trimmed and installed tomorrow as well. I have done some preliminary fitting. I decided to cut a rectangle out where it slips over the X tube. I made a piece to go around the tubes and fill in the area I cut out of the glareshield. I taped up the glareshield center with Gorilla packing tape and sprayed it with a release agent. Layed up some glass over this and it mimicked the glareshield perfectly. Now I wish I had made it a little wider so the glareshield would set over it. Now I have to figure out a way to put a lip under the center piece. Fun with composites they say...
I picked up an 11" Matco tailwheel at Osh. The lady in the Matco booth gave me a pretty sweet deal on the display! I also picked up a T3 shock spring. The combo really put the tail into the air.
On the other end I added a lightweight flywheel from FlyEFII. Shaved 1.5 lbs from the front of the engine.
That's all I have for now. The re-shaping of the cowl has been a very time consuming evolution. Almost there...
Re: Jeffs 340 Kitfox
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