Okey doke . . . here's a scale cowl mounting challenge I've not fingered out yet, other than reinforcing the cowl.

This is the 1:1 L-4, and the model looks just like it (tubes sticking through cowl, Jezus clips through the tubes.

Hope these are larger.... I don't know how to show the images in the message, I just use the upload feature.

Worked jes' fine.

What works for me is pretty simple. I use nylon panhead, slotted bolts. The bolts don't back out. The cowl eats into the bolts (although very, very little!) rather than the bolts messing up the hole.

do you know where one can buy those gizmos?

I use compression washers on my bolts and they work real good.

Not sure if this is what Ken is talking about, but I like to use bonded washers. They are nothing more than steel washers with a rubber washer bonded to it. The best way I have found so far is to use them with either nyrod glued into the cowl mounts, or better yet, use blind nuts so you can snug down the cowl bolts. I picked them up at my local NAPA store.

Hey Plumber,
I have an L-4 as well and this worked very well: Use a 4-40 screw and blind nut behind sidewall or use a threaded insert instead of the blind nut if getting behind the firewall is too difficult. Cut a piece of brass tubing about 3/8"-1/2" that you can force thread the 4-40 into. Cut the heads of the screws off (use a dremel wheel or the like) and screw the brass tubing into the cut end allowing 1/8"-3/16" from the end of the screw to the top of the tube. Drop some solder into the hole and top it off flush. Drill a tiny hole through the brass about 1/16" from the end and push your "Jezus" clip through it. DONE. Now you can unscrew the thing without removing the clip and use the clip as a gripping surface to tighten the screw down. Use a small metal washer and small "O" ring (the Sullivan "O" rings for their fuel fittings work very well) between the washer and the cowl. This will protect the cowl and produce enough tension to keep it from unscrewing itself in flight. Oh, and balance your prop. Its alot of work but you can't beat the look.

Dubro makes a shallow round head screw that takes a hex wrench. I don't know how small they make them but it would end the stripped screw-head.

Jack

Does anyone know where to get the valve cover hoods for the Piper Cub L-4? or is there a template out there to cut them out? [sm=confused.gif]

garcay,

Are you talking about the air shrouds? If so, Sig makes a nice ABS molded cylinder head and air shroud of 1/4 scale. The shroud is a separate part of the molding. I dislike most ABS moldings, but this stuff is reasonably durable.

Bedford

Yes, in this case I am trying to cover the cylinder of my OS Pegasus 240 FF. Thanks for the tip. I'll look it up.

http://www.modelfixings.co.uk These guys sell nice servo mounting screws with cap heads really excellent for cowl mounts into snake inner (nyrod. They also do rubber o rings to fit the screws and all manner of useful bits and pieces. the cap heads are M2 by the way so I guess some of you guys will need the allen wrench as well.

have you ever tried any of the world models ARF?? I suppose they provide silicon rubber grommets with thier ARF for mounting cowls and canopies. But then they dont provide you nyrod bits for puting in the wood. So you have to save on the nyrod bits leftover from other models and use them as described earlier.