I am 75% finished my first homemade balsa cowl for the nose of a 4 Star 40 I am building. Man! Very challenging and time consuming - but well worth it. I need to stop now to get all the saw dust out of my nose and eyes!!

Still a good bit of sanding to go and I will also need to cut out a large area for my engine which is mounted at approx. 10 o'clock.....never the less though....sure does seem too add a lot of weight to the front though?!

To others who have created balsa cowls.......in the end, did you need to add a bunch of weight to the tail to make up for the extra balsa up front?

I mainly used 3/8 in balsa stock and some triangle and square stock as well. I am starting to wonder if I should try and shave off some balsa on the inside of the cowl as well though? Or, maybe I am just over-reacting due to the CA fumes and once I cut out the engine hole it will be OK.

What do you guys think?

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

Make it as thin as you can. Shouldn't be more than 3/16" thick anywhere. I usually make a glass cowl by carving a block of green florist's foam because it's faster and probably cheaper than making a big cowl from balsa. Also, any time I use balsa blocks I use LIGHT balsa blocks. So far no balance problems due to cowl weight.

I've done the same thing where I used a piece of foam and carved and glassed the cowl. Probably took just as long as what was spent building the balsa cowl, but was a whole bunch lighter. Look around the forum to see how to do it and I'm sure you'll find tons of information.

Cheers,

CafeenMan--What do you cover the foam form with when you glass over it to prevent the fiberglass from sticking to it?

I've heard of guys using plain ole duct tape. Then another used kitchen wrap...

Some just use gasoling to disolve the foam after the epoxy is set. I'm not sure how you could use duct tape...

I don't cover the foam. I just gouge it out and then use coarse sandpaper. I don't use gasoline but have heard some guys claim they do. I wrote up a how-to on my site for making foam cowls. No photos yet.

I too just finished a balsa cowl for my four star... I also mounted the motor as far forward as i could, then built the cowl... to help with the nose heavy cg I'm going to mount the rud/elev. servo's in the rear of the fuse. Here is a link to my build process...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_25...tm.htm#2518616

Mr70ss

I used Acetone to remove the foam after carving it out like CaffeenMan does just to remove the bulk. It took about 5 seconds to wipe the remains out.

I too am building a 4*40....doing the typical "mods", I have a balsa cowl myself, - sheeted and shaped over a Thunder Tiger Pro 36.
Looks neato.
I guess I'll tryand post some pics.



Sdortch...I'm in Richmond myself.

Where do you fly? Used to go to Oilville, now at the new field.
Maybe I've seen you...don't know.

Hmmm ...last post and picture didn't show up. I'll try again.
Anyway, thanks for the info on the tailwheel, looks like I'll be doing that "mod" too.