After refining and respraying the cowl 3 times now it's looking better. Not ideal, but smooth and shiny with only minor blemishes. The wheel pants were scratched due to the excessively coarse sand paper I used (50 grit followed by 400 grit... with no inbetween stages!). I've since spend a long time sanding off the old paint and getting from 320 grit, 400 grit to 600 grit paper then respraying them.

The second time around for the wheel pants I sprayed just the 'outsides' sides black and I will spray the 'insides' white for a crisp 50/50 split. I want the black on the outside to aid visibility and to match the wingtips and cowl cheeks.

I've also test run my engine. I'm using an OS 70 Surpass ii. It took a while to start, likely as it was so full of oil from storage. But it burst to life and after a moment to warm up was soon ticking over nicely with a 12x8 prop. I decided on a 12x8 as I'm worried that with the hefty weight of the plane I'll need more airspeed to prevent stalling. This is the heaviest plane I'll have flown and also has one of the smallest wing areas. I'll be careful. Flaps should help low speed stability.

I leaned out the low end a little so that it accelerates for a few seconds before dying upon the idle pinch test. I used a tach to peak and drop 400 or so RPM (I tend to over richen). I think it was about 10,000 RPM. I'll check again. Idle was about 2300 RPM. I'm not looking for any records with high/low RPM, just stable, reliable operation.

The exhaust on the bottom is wonderful. Almost no residue on the plane!

PD