Tonight I finished detailing the engine and I have more tips for those who will embark on this build. First, the final bits have been added to the engine. These are seen before painting as bare lead wire going from the hydraulic tank on the engine bearer to the firewall and around the guns, a ring and strut at the supercharger intake, and the engine lift eye in front of the bearer.
Now, the way this kit is put together, you are intended to have a choice of either closing all the cowls, in which case you don't install the engine, or open ALL the cowls with the engine installed. In my case, I plan on having just the left side cowl open. The right side and oil cooler being closed. If you do this, there's lots of trimming and fitting to be done. Plenty of dry fitting is a MUST on this one and be patient as the parts are accurately made and WILL fit.
I chose first to install the lower cowl. For it to fit properly, it was necessary to remove a chunk of the valve covers. I also had to remove some of the material at the front of the annular oil tank for the forward cowl ring to go far enough back.
With that done, I lined up the lower cowl and glued it in. I recommend that this all be done at the same time as the engine complete with firewall is installed so that the whole assembly can be moved and aligned. There's still a bit of a ridge on the bottom that will easily be sanded out.
With the bottom cowl on, I assembled the starboard engine cowl to the opening. This took a lot of fitting. The cowl is thick and will foul on the engine bearer struts, the synchronizing gear covers and other stuff. The cowl needs to be thinned a lot in these areas and I also lopped off the above protruding parts on the engine to make it work. The picture below shows just the rear seam glued. Once that is set, the forward part will be glued. The gap will close - I tried already. It will just take a bit of clamping.
That's a major bit of assembly near done. The rest should go quickly. Thanks for looking in.