Over two days I have the scoop first stage install done.

Here’s how I added the required height (or rather depth) to the firewall. Adding those ears made it rock solid after cure. Even so I added two plies of BID later just to be tidy.

With the plane’s bottom filled in, I had my third go at getting the scoop sitting where I now want it. All good.

With the trough correct I again glassed it with two ply of BID. This time I softened the edges and went for a blend with the bottom of the fuselage. The plies were a graduated overlap, which you might notice in the pic, like a structural repair.

I did feel that my hatch lips at 3 ply were not strong enough. Here you can see I’ve added another two plies and clamped them for the cure. Is this a gaggle of clamps? Google tells me there is no collective noun for this.

Post cure. It may look the same but the lips feel stronger and my cutaway for the scoop is nicely blended into the planes bottom.

Here’s a problem. When I add the scoop the hatch will have to be cut in half and a big bit taken from the middle. If I do that then the sides will be separated and all over the place. The solution is good old pour foam. This will supply a bridge between the two sides while I remove the middle. It will also be a base that, after some trimming, I can glass over to make the scoop placement much stronger with only a tiny little weight increase. I hate weight increases.

Besides that, pour foam is fun.

After tweaking the foam on the other side, I was able to get the hatch down and clico’ed in place. We are ready for the big cut.

This took more than a couple of hours but I have a really good base that the scoop fits to now.

I did a trial fit and went for the laser to ensure my scoop is straight. The mixing sticks tied together with blue tape are to ensure I keep my .8″ gap at the mouth of the scoop.

I mixed some West epoxy and did the usual prime and then added in lots of micro to make a paste for bonding the scoop to the hatch. It was 8C in the hangar which is NOT good for epoxy, thats why I went for the West and the fast hardener. Its a non structural bond, just glass to foam. I’ll go the regular epoxy for the rest but using a heat tent. I do not like anything below 15C and ideally anything structural needs 26C. That was easy at home but now I’m in a hangar I might as well be outside except for the rain protection.

As I’m leaving this overnight, the tapes and sticks are to ensure the scoop stays put!