I drilled through the holes with a #27 drill bit, then popped the covers out. These are not the final covers, but slightly oversize covers used for forming the recesses. The actual covers are smaller for paint clearance, highly polished and have the text “RV-7” engraved in them. I still need to apply a little more filler around the edges to create a perfect fit.
After cutting the cowl halves apart, I installed nut plates and then cut a recess to allow the hinge pin to be inserted. I may do an additional layup to fill in the gap at the front, but otherwise I’m happy with how these turned out.
