Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 6

Saturday I walked outside to go and get some coffee and was suprised to find a FedEx box with the Featherlite parts I have been waiting for.

Here are the parts from left to right: nose gear strut, strut cover and nose wheel cover.

The plans call for the nose wheel hole in the fuselage bottom to be cut prior to floor installation. However I did not have my hands on the nose wheel cover until now. I sort of guessed at the shape when I countoured the floor. Supprisingly the cover fit quite well.

Here is the hole rought cut. In the meantime the cover have been floxed in place. Later I will clean up the hole to ensure a nice clean transition from the bottom to the cover.

The plans call for two plies of BID to be layed up over the strut to prevent splitting. Pictured is the first of the two. After cure, the strut is flipped over and another ply is layed up over the back and sides. Two screws screwed into the bench and a couple of bondo blobs keep the strut off the bench while the epoxy cures.