I started off by tweaking the right strake storage hatch initial bottom side lever assembly’s fit into the aft corner strake hole… and after a good half dozen iterations this one finally fit (pic 1).  Thus my CAD model now matches reality on the bottom strake hole.  The left side, not having as pronounced of a flat segment of the hole (to allow the wing bolt securing brackets to be installed) took less iterations to dial in (pic 2).

I then added the aft tab to both of my wing root aft heat shields and cut out new, complete cardboard templates.  I then test fit those and dialed them in on both the left and right side wing roots.

To scan the wing root heat shield templates above into CAD I had to cut them in 2 pieces to get the overall length of each scanned segment down to less than 11″, since my scanner only scans normal sized letter paper (8-1/2″ x 11″).  I then modeled up the templates and combined the 2 segments back together in Fusion 360 CAD.

At this point I needed to ensure my CAD models matched the original templates before plasma cutting the wing root aft heat shields.  This is where my 3D printed pen holder for the plasma cutting table comes into play, to essentially use the plasma cutting table as a big plotter (as Marco and I did on my instrument panel years ago).  I’ll again reiterate that this is good prep work in flushing out any tweaks that need to be made before tackling the much bigger firewall Titanium sheet-cutting job that is coming up soon.

The magnets on the original plasma cutting torch base aren’t strong enough to grip the new pen mount I created, so I needed to add some clamps for assistance.  I then printed out the left and right wing root aft heat shields with a Sharpie in the pen holder… I have to say that this setup worked quite the treat!

And then used scissors to cut out the CAD modeled/printed wing root aft heat shield templates from the card stock…

to then fit check them on the plane.  The left one (pic 1) fit fine but the right side was a hair proud along the top edge (pic 2).  After some assessment, I simply took 0.018″ off around the perimeter of the entire CAD model and called it good.  I’m sure I’ll need to do some judicious filing on the perimeter of these heat shields once they are initially installed anyway.

So after spending a good 45 minutes cleaning the squirrel poop and pink insulation out of my plasma cutting table water tray, and adding more water to it, I got on with the business of plasma cutting the wing root aft heat shields. I had to do 2 cuts on the left one to get it cut out completely, and about 6 —with cutting parameter tweaks— on the right heat shield to complete that plasma cutting job.

Here we have the left wing root aft heat shield on the top, which covers about the aft 2/3rds of the wing root.  While the right side, on the bottom, is a bit longer covering around 3/4 of the wing root.

I’m still undecided on whether or not I’m going to engine turn these heat shields, especially since they’re so thin at only 0.02″ thick.  I plan on doing some testing on some scrap pieces tomorrow and will decide then.  For now I’m calling it a night.