Getting started on the fiberglass cowl. First I covered up the engine with garbage bags so it wouldn't get covered in fiberglass dust.
Then I roughly cut the prop hub opening out. Next I maneuvered the cowl approximately into place to see where it interfered with the gear legs. I made some marks and measurements, and then made a small cutout on each side. That allowed me to get the cowl somewhat in place and adjust the openings more later.
The first point to fix in place is the very front where the cowl surrounds the prop hub. I just used wood screws to temporarily attach the front to the back side of the wood spacer. Then I used a bunch of masking tape to hold the back side roughly in place.
It took a few iterations of fitting the cowl, and removing it partially to file away little areas that interfered with the gear legs or the fuselage side panels. Eventually I got it to fit pretty well on both sides.
The most trimming I had to do wasn't even that much, I had to just file maybe 1/8" off this top aft edge:
Once it was looking pretty good I drilled the side hinges to the cowl. There was enough room inside the cowl to get about half of the holes drilled and cleco'd, and then I took the cowl off to drill the rest of them.
Next I'll need to get the bottom edge and hinge fit, and then on to the upper cowl!
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