JohnVH, I am putting the final coats of paint. I am allowing up to 5 days in between coats because latex paint requires more time to dry.

When making the parting cut on the cowl I am very careful to remove just enough glass to reduce the OD and nothing more. The glass work was heavy enough around the leading edge for me not to worry about distorting the cowl shape. The trailing edge of the cowl was controlled by an internal collar which was glassed in and used as a mounting flange onto the firewall.