ORIGINAL: chevy43
Where can I read a thread about building cowels out of plastic bottles?
What did you do to the front edge of your ailerons so they can move up and down. Are they double beveled, rounded, or single belveled?
I don't know of any threads on plastic bottle cowls. I think my brother told me about it years ago, and I just experimented. I've done three so far, all on Guillows warbirds: FW-190, P-51, and now the Spit. I came up with the idea of plaster in the vacu-formed Guillows part to make the plug, and it works well. the most difficult parts of the process are finding a smooth bottle to start with (the store brand sodas are usually smooth, not Coke, Dr. P, etc.) and getting the plug out after the plastic is shrunk.
I double beveled my ailerons. The bevels leave a good size gap at the wing surface, but they're tight at the hinge line. I'm hoping to have the plane light enough to fly relatively slowly so that flutter won't be a problem. But we'll see. I also plan to cover with silkspan and dope, so covering over the hinge line won't really be an option, either.
Phil