Two Piece Engine Cowling?
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Two Piece Engine Cowling?
All my ARFs that I worked on over the years always had a single fiber glass engine cowlings. It's a pain in the neck to mount the engine to begin with and later every time you want to clean the engine you have to remove the spinner and the prop. I recently saw a couple of videos of a guy from Australia who was showing his airplane that had only the top part removable. It's so darn convenient and good looking. I have no idea if they bought these as ARFs and modified the cowlings or just built them themselves.
Right now I am putting together another ARF airplane and want to use a twin gas engine on it. I am thinking of cutting the supplied cowl horizontally into two pieces. This way not only can I service the engine really easily just by removing only the top part but I can also add some permanent air baffles to increase the airflow and engine cooling.
Did anyone attempt to cut an existing ARF's cowling horizontally in half? If I use a regular saw I guess there will be a gap between these two parts. I'm not sure if I should worry about the gap so much. I'm also afraid that the paint will start chipping off on the edges when using any type of saw.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Right now I am putting together another ARF airplane and want to use a twin gas engine on it. I am thinking of cutting the supplied cowl horizontally into two pieces. This way not only can I service the engine really easily just by removing only the top part but I can also add some permanent air baffles to increase the airflow and engine cooling.
Did anyone attempt to cut an existing ARF's cowling horizontally in half? If I use a regular saw I guess there will be a gap between these two parts. I'm not sure if I should worry about the gap so much. I'm also afraid that the paint will start chipping off on the edges when using any type of saw.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Last edited by alexrc2; 03-03-2018 at 09:37 AM.
#2
My Feedback: (1)
I hear you, cause on the smaller engines you can not just slide a cowl on/around an exhaust like a Twin 4 Stroke, you have to cut up that beautiful Cowl, to add it's a real pain to mount a muffler to an engine after the Cowl is mounted,, I have seen planes where their owner have cut slots on the side of the Cowl so the Cowl can slide on around the exhaust, then after the Cowl is mounted to the Fuselage, patches are mounted to cover what was cut out of the Cowl,
LOL I remember my dirt bike days, once you buy a dirt bike all you need is a helmet, gloves, oil & gas, and a place to ride
Jim
LOL I remember my dirt bike days, once you buy a dirt bike all you need is a helmet, gloves, oil & gas, and a place to ride
Jim