The Fuselage/Finish Kit, page five

Say "AHHHH!" This is the air inlet to the filtered air box. You have to align the cowl with the box inlet, and then mold fiberglass to meet up with it. I used Dow blue foam, glued in place, then carved and filed it away to make a female mold for the glass layup. After three layers of 9oz. cloth was applied, I used Bondo to fill the voids. High-build primer was used to finish up with lots of wet sanding between applications. This was my main technique to fill the rest of the pinholes on the S-type cowling. It took MANY hours, but it is now smoooooth, and should present a very nice surface for the finish paint.

Left side of the engine installation.

The first cut on the canopy. It was SCARY, but really not all that bad. It was over 90 degrees in the shop, and the plastic was very flexible. I would NOT even think of cutting it below 70 degrees.

Top view of the baffles and assorted engine do- dads and widgets.

This will be the forward baggage hold when the floor is in place. Note all the stuff running from the cockpit through the firewall. With the -8/8A, all the controls, wires, etc., must be run under the baggage floor level...unlike in the other RV's. So, you have to think ahead of how you're going to route some of the things that normally can be mounted high on the firewall. The most challenging was the tach cable. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably go with an electronic tach.

Another view of the canopy. I have many more trim cuts to make, especially at the forward and aft ends. the windscreen portion shouldn't be all that difficult, but the other end doesn't seem to want to fit the canopy rail very well. I think I'll sleep on it....for maybe a month. ;)

A peek at the panel. I added a stick-on checklist. I want all the basics of safely operating the airplane right in front of me, or within immediate grasp. I plan to add a fire extinguisher, and canopy breakout tool of some sort down near the gear boxes.

The big picture thus far. Preparations to knock out a section of wall to get the plane out of the shop are underway. I'm running out of things to do without the wings being mounted!