Top Flite TOPA0140 - Manual (Page 45)

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21. Use 30-minute epoxy or thin CA to apply a 1"
[25mm] wide strip of glass cloth over the seams and
screw holes inside the cowl, where indicated in the
photo. Thoroughly sand these areas first, for a good
bond. If you use CA, make sure you do this in a
well ventilated area and avoid inhaling the fumes.
Avoid using accelerator.
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22. Enlarge the holes in the cowl only with a
1/8" [3.10mm] drill bit. Test mount the cowl to the
fuselage with four #4 x 3/8" [9.5mm] screws. Make
adjustments if necessary and remove the cowl.
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23. Fill the seams in the cowl with Bondo or
other suitable filler. Use an expired credit card or a
piece of plastic as a spatula to apply the filler.
Bend your spatula as you apply the filler to build
up a slight mound over the seams. Notice the
masking tape on both sides of the seam. After you
apply the filler, you can peel off the masking tape,
removing excess filler with it.
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24. After the filler has fully cured, wet-sand with
progressively finer grits of sandpaper. When you’re
done, your cowl should look something like the
one in the photo—just enough filler left to fill in the
low spots near the seams.
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25. Cut both molded plastic aft cowl blisters
along the cutlines. Trim where necessary so the
blisters fit the cowl and the fuselage. Glue the
blisters in place and blend to the fuselage with
filler, then sand.
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26. Mount your fuel filler valve. We used the
Great Planes Easy Fueler ™ and made a mount
from leftover 1/8" [3.2mm] plywood to hold it up
close to the cowl for easy access.
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27. Cut holes in the bottom of the cowl for air
intake and outlet. Generally, the air exit hole
should be twice the size of the air intake hole.
Make holes for the glow plug igniter, exhaust,
needle valve and fuel filler as well.
HOOK UP THE CONTROLS
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1. Cut 1/8" x 1/4" [3.2 x 6.4mm] plywood
doublers from leftover plywood and glue them
across the servo tray as shown in the sketch.
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2. Place your throttle servo with a servo horn in
the servo tray. Drill a 3/32" [2.40mm] hole through
former 1 to allow the throttle pushrod to pass.
Temporarily install your fuel tank.
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