Chapter 23 – Armpit scoops

Although I intended to do more today than just work on the armpit air scoops, alas, that is all I did.  The good news is that the prep on both of them is complete and they are ready to be mounted onto the lower cowling.

I started by cutting, sanding and shaping the foam on the first one to prep it for glass. Here it is in comparison to the untouched pour foam on the other scoop.

I then measured and cut a single ply of BID to cover the pour foam ramp and the overlap onto glass at each end.  This BID is for the first scoop and I did the same thing for the other scoop.

I then glassed both scoops, one at a time, after feathering in the foam edge to the existing scoop internal surface with dry micro.  I also micro’d the foam before laying up the glass.

The overlap on this single piece of BID is on the short side at the top as these scoops are situated below.

I had originally planned on peel plying the entire layup, but the rounded front entry lips proved challenging so I only peel plied those and the seam along the top/short edge.

Quite a few hours later I pulled the peel ply, razor cut the overhanging glass, and cleaned up the layups.

All told these armpit air scoops took over 6 hours of work today…. doesn’t seem like it should have taken that long, yet they did.  But again, they look good and they are ready to be mounted!

Tomorrow I plan on jumping back onto the bottom cowling install and its interface with the firewall and aft lower fuselage.

One thought on “Chapter 23 – Armpit scoops

  1. I’m building a Cozy IV and I’m working on the cowl. I want to add an arm pit scoop with 30 in2 of inlet, feeding air to an oil cooler. I like the shape you created and wonder what you used as a mold. Please don’t say you carved it from foam! Regards, Preston K., Tarpon Springs, FL

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