It seems I spoke too soon when saying that I was faster with carving the ducts. Sure the initial shape was quick enough but I have spent at least as long again refining the shape to get it perfect.
This is mainly due to the ducts having to 'fit in' with everything else - whereas the scoop was the first step in the process and so a bit more freestyle.
I think I've got the outlet duct how I want it now. The inlet duct still needs a little more work. When that is done I will cover them both in body filler and sand smooth before painting with a primer.
I cut out the exit outlet in the lower fuse - then sanded down the edge to get it as smooth to the airflow as possible. I then filled in all the exposed honeycomb with flock.
You can see from the below photos how I cut out the cowl flap from the same area. It is also sanded down to an aerodynamic shape. Still got to add the side parts to this, a hinge and then of course figure out how it all gets connected to a control lever in the cockpit.
The hose fittings for the cooler finally arrived, so I fitted those and used the Dremel to carve out a space for the inboard fitting. As you can see it doesn't come too far into the cockpit - about 10mm or so.
To make the bulge inside the cockpit to accomodate this I will duct tape the fitting then use plasticine to make a little smooth cavity over that. Finally I will flock over the whole lot and extend that over the edges to make a smooth bulge. Finishing with a layer or two of Kevlar.
The Plasticine is to allow for a little gap so I can put some heat reflecting silver material in there. The oil should run at about 80 to 90 degrees so I don't want that heat coming into the cockpit.
I've bought a big sheet of this heat reflecting silver fabric and will cover anywhere the hoses come into contact with the fuselage.
I finished off the scoop as well - putting a layer of fabric on the inside and covering the whole thing in micro and body filler then sanding until silky smooth - ready for paint now.
Once all this is finished I think I'm going to move onto the rudder pedal installation - but that is a few weeks away yet as I want to finish this oil cooler install completely before moving onto another job.
If I get the time this week I may do a post about Radiator theory and how that theory relates to what I'm doing here. I've certainly learnt alot about them while working on this project.
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| Tight fit with the cooler - just enough room for a flange at the top (bottom) |
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| Cowl flap and exit hole cut |
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| Cowl flap in closed position |
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| Oil cooler with hose fittings and cell mod |
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| Fitting comes through about 10mm into cockpit |
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| Ducts on cooler for position check |
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| Ditto |
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| With fuselage lower in place |
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| Ditto |
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