3D-printed custom COWLS for smaller Rabid Models aircraft

Description

Modelers are always looking for ways to add a little detail to our planes.  We’re now producing 3D-printed custom cowls for various RM aircraft.  These may be modified in several ways so we can make cowls to fit other models as well.  These are not perfectly to scale, but they can be a great addition to profile models to greatly improve the appearance and will also help protect the front of the airplane.  We can produce these in the correct scale shape and size for the model and they feature “cowl flaps”.  A big improvement from the Jello-Cups and Yogurt cups that we used in the early days!

These cowls do add a little weight to the model, but up front where it may be beneficial. We can modify the cowl flaps to produce them completely closed, or partially or fully deployed.  As of today we have the following ready (we plan to add more to this list):

Cowl for the 29″ F8F Bearcat   weight: about 26gm, 104mm D x 86mm L

Cowl for the 20″ Bearcat   weight: about 12gms, 70mm D x 64mm L

2 Cowls for the 28″ F7F Tigercat   weight: about 8gms each, 70mm D x 64mm L

2 Cowls for the 28″ P61 Black Widow   weight: about 5.5gms each, 57mm D x 50 mm L

2 Cowls for the 28″ B26 Marauder   weight: about 4.5gms each, 52mm D x57mm L

Cowl & nacelle sleeve for the 42″ B17 Fortress (four sets), each set weighs about 8gm. The cowl is 54mm D x 31mm L and the sleeve is 52×49

The cowls are made from thin PETG 3D-printed plastic and they can be painted with a variety of different paints.  Its possible to add a little detail by gluing a paper picture of the front of the real engine to the inside the cowl – we will include this with the cowl.  Here’s two examples, the Rabid Models 42″ B-17 with an R1820 and the 28″ Tigercat with the R2800:

Adding this paper detail does create more drag and less cooling!

SPECIAL NOTE:  these cowls are produced by an in-house program which can be modified with a number of parameters – so they can be produced in almost any size (big, small, tall, short), in different thicknesses, with different openings, with different sizes and numbers of cowl flaps (or no flaps), open or closed.  We can even make elliptical cowls like the P47 has.  So please contact us if you’re looking for a cowl since we may be able to make one in the exact size that you need.  There are some limitations, for example we can’t add details like scoops. But this could be the exact thing you need to dress up a profile warbird or even replace a cowl for a plane where the original spare parts are no longer available.