Last night I aligned the cowl to the spinner and added a small screw to the top center, which along with two screws on the bottom hold the cowl on.
I added the cheek stripes first in orange, but removed it when I tried black on the other side. It seems to look better that way. In the image you'll see the black stripe is slightly too narrow at the front. I'll replace it tonight, I want the cowl cheek and the stripe to be consistent in size and colour.



The wheel pants are drying. I've applied a coat of MonoKote white on the 'inside' of each. The'll be black on the outside half and white on the inside half.

I adjusted the CG last night with all but the wheel pants in place. I added 1/4oz more tail weight using velcro in the battery bay at the back. Turns out my rearward battery bay wasn't necessary, the plane balanced well with the battery (1100mAh LiFe from ValueHobby.com) above the wing brace. Still, I'm using the 'battery' bay for adding weight and I'm keeping the switch there as it is discrete. 3 1/4oz lead in the tail seems ideal.

Next: Reapplying a black stripe / installing wheel pants / final checks / maiden .

PD