| Lets add a cheap bottle cowl to your plane. This is the FW 190 and while the fuselage doublers will form an acceptable and functional cowl, a suitable plastic bottle can add more depth and realism to the plane and can be replaced time and again very reasonably in the unfortunate event of a crash. | |
| Variety and grocery stores are good sources for inexpensive and plentiful cowls. take your tape measure to the store and hunt around until you find something that fits. In this case, K-Mart had a clear storage container in the "food storage container" section that fit the plane perfectly. If you can't find one small enough, get a larger diameter and slice it so you can close the diameter down by overlapping the edges and holding it with goop and pop-rivets. Bleach bottles, peanut butter jars, and pop bottles can work for different radial cowl planes. |
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As you can see the diameter was about right. and the shape was very close to the real thing. |
| First make the engine room ready for the cowl by cutting off the cowl formed by the fuselage doublers (which look a little funky but work very well and from 10 feet, don't look too bad - specially at 70mph). I suggest using a quick-fill fuel valve to make it easy to fuel up the plane with the cowl on. Leave a little tab of coroplast to mount the valve on and then cut a hole in the cowl to insert the fuel probe through. |
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Mount the motor and hook up the fuel lines. notice the fuel filter. I highly recommend the filter because it saves a lot of headaches from plugged needle valves. After about 6 flights on this plane it started to run lean and couldn't be adjusted, a wad of junk was pulled from the filter and now she's back to normal. I would have had to pull the carb apart - probably two or three times if not for the filter. |
| Clear plastic cowls are wonderful for fitting. It takes a little guess work but trial and error will get it fitting pretty well. I use a Vis-a-Vis water wash overhead projector type felt pen for marking the plastic. Trim a little here and a little there until you are satisfied with the fit and the prop comes out in the center of the front opening. |
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Mark a circle around the fill valve and when the cowl is mounted, cut a hole for the filler probe. |
| If the cowl is a little bigger than the front of the
fuselage - great, that lets wind go through the cowl easier. I use small
chunks of ply the proper thickness to act as spacers between the cowl and
the firewall. Use #4 sheet metal screws about 1/2" long and screw
through the cowl, block and into the edge of the firewall. Three or four
screws are plenty. Notice the hole is punched now for the fuel
valve.
This is the under side....... |
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This is the view from the top front. Everything fits snugly.
The cylinder head should have about a 1/4 inch of air-space around it for
cooling, and the carburetor needle valve will have an extension hooked to
it that will protrude through a hole on the other side of the cowl.
Well the pictures below show how good the round cowl looks. Since it is clear, scuff the inside surface and paint it along with the outside. That way if paint comes off the outside it will still look good. This cowl has been very tough and still looks good even though it has been through a few hard landings. |
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