Ch 24 Covers/Fairings/Consoles

Back Seat Cushion

Date:  09-02-2024
Number of Hours:  10
Manual Reference:  24

The back seat has been a concern. I should have made the turtleback at least 2 inches higher at the firewall. I did not allow for the common sump to raise the passengers head so far. I could argue that 2 inches higher would have created more drag. Lets go with that.

I had an idea that if the passenger (PAX) was more laid down like a glider seat it might work better. Of course if you have long legs then its still a problem. At least I could offer two options for a PAX.

After many trials and testing of a few people I had a design worked out that was comfortable, as long as you don’t have long legs. I bought a slab of foam for $30 and using an electric bread knife then various grades of sandpaper I had a shape.

After a lot more tweaking I used contact glue to do the first join.

To get the cushions to sit relaxed like this needed a second gluing. First I made a series of 30 or 40 shallow cuts so that the foam would be happy to hold this shape without trying to spring apart.

As you can see it sits pretty well in the back area and I can assure you it is comfortable if you are under about 5’10”. The next step is getting the upholstery done which, to be fair, will be a little tricky.

As you can see this is sorted out. I now have two seat cushion options to offer passengers.

 

Main Control Stick Boot 2 (Upholstery)

Date:  02-10-2023
Number of Hours:  6
Manual Reference:  24

In the previous stick boot entry I addressed making a surround for the stick boot.

Lets go over the problem. Here is what we are protecting, the stick mechanism. Yes the armrest goes on and that helps cover some of this, but look at the unprotected area at the stick!  The point is that if nothing is done one day I WILL drop an object in there, in flight, probably a pencil, and the controls WILL jam. It will be at the worst possible time. The only way to make sure I never drop something in there is to cover it.

Attempt #1. The leather boot.

But the leather is too thick and I can’t do it up! We used velcro to secure it inside the opening. That’s another problem, its interfering with the stick movement!

With the cover that I previously documented in place you can see the brief is filled. BUT as I can’t do it up it is still a pencil trap. As it impedes the stick movement lets call this a learning experience or an epic fail. We had a couple more goes at it so maybe we are on Attempt #3. We tried some other materials too. Now Attempt #5

Attempt #6

We have gone to using Velcro on my cutout cover flange. This is a winner as an attachment point. The material for the boot is a bit like very soft carpet or under-felt, but I’m getting ahead of the development story.

We first tried just a slot ‘velcroed’ on.

This kinda worked but there was still a chance of dropping a pencil down there, just a smaller chance than before. It was also challenging to get the boot material over that Infinity stick with all the buttons. A simple straight stick would have been a different solution.

This is the one from 3 pics ago where we have a sort of little sides going to the stick. You’d think we were there, but hang on….

We had a few more attempts…each got a fitting and a tweak…OK we are up to Attempt #9 at least! Probably nearer attempt #12 I’ve completely lost count.

WINNER!!!  Yes this configuration works. You need just the right amount of stick and opportunities to fold down around the stick with the velcro attachment. Think fedora hat. It seems not to be a problem moving the stick and is wrapped around its base.

If you have read this far you are making a boot too because it would be a mind numbing post for anyone else. Here are a few bonus pics of the winning design.

You can see we have velcro on one side of the stick opening but not the other. The material is so woolly that it works a bit like the hook of the hook and loop. The thing is that it would get too thick with velcro on both halves. This way you can roll it up a little and get a nice tight fit around the stick base.

With all these pics, I’m sure you will do it in one try and probably some other way too! I hope this helps your processes.

 

 

 

 

 

Main Control Stick Boot 1

Date:  01-21-2021
Number of Hours:  9
Manual Reference:  24

I’m currently waiting on the painting, the engine, the electronics, the upholstery, even the panel screen printing so please forgive me for doing such a minor job as a stick boot.

This is not mine. It was posted online, I think for a Cozy. Beautiful work. As I have a different stick I don’t think I can do the same but it is inspiration. So tidy!

The first task is to make a three ply BID cover for the stick area. I’m using the armrest as a mold BUT down past the cutout. There was still the problem of filling in the gaps with foam and blue tack.

I then covered the area with grey release tape and did the usual foil layup. I use the foil as a pattern, cut the glass and get it done.

Here’s my resultant cover. A good fit.

Next was deciding screw placement. Its needs to be accessible and I could use the same hole and nutplate as the armrest cover fastener. This meant only three nutplates are needed.

A bit of work making the nutplates with an aluminium base, countersunk rivets and so on. Then I had to inlay them into the armrest and I just used 5mt glue and some flox to thicken. All I’m doing is gluing the nutplates to foam so its not a high strength situation.

After that it was two coats of BID over the prepared top. Tomorrow I’ll paint them. Maybe trim the cover a little. I really need to wait now for the controls to be hooked up again so I can see if I need to bump out a little at the bottom of the cover to contain the stick movement.

I really need to see the stick full range movement too before opening up the stick hole fully. THEN I can look at some sort of material or leather boot. For now it is another little job done.

Update… After a little paint. This one will now wait until the controls are in.

 

 

Canard Ice Shields

Date:  09-06-2018
Number of Hours:  3
Manual Reference:  no ref

This is in the plans or the CP’s I’ve forgotten. Ice shields were recommended after icing in the Defiant showed that the airframe was still controllable with a little ice on it but the elevator tended to ice up and stick. Errrr not good! So a shield was recommended.

The shield needs to cover the elevator counter balance. Here I’ve used a stick to hold the maximum deflection.

Three plies of BID 4″ X 4″ were laid over the counterweights which had plenty of grey duct tape on them. Of course some peel ply on top which will make the later fill and fair easier.

This is after cure and a bit of a trim.

It will do the job. I’ll install them after more finishing work as they would get in the way before then. I’ll probably make them a little smoother with some filler then. For now we have the basic ice shield, move on!

 

Canard Fairing 2

Date:  09-05-2018
Number of Hours:  10
Manual Reference:  no ref

While doing other jobs that barely need a log entry as they are just boring and time soaks, I continued with the canard fairings.

Here’s the top surface glassed. Just a tiny gap to the front edge.

I reshaped the underside.

Now here’s the underside glassed. I was unhappy with the curve after cure. So I sanded off this layup and re-curved the underside. Hoerner’s book on fluid dynamics drag tells us that less than a 90 degree intersection is not desirable. With a slight convex curve here it just looked wrong, so I fixed it.

After that I did the ends. Yes each layup is separate and a day apart while it cures.

Finally the outside was ready and I went for flox corners all round as you see in the prep above.

After a cure and trim I have a good strong edge.

Here we are with the canard back on.

I have ensured a bit of a gap here. I could make it super tight but I don’t want to risk the elevator jamming when the canard flexes during a 250 knot low pass and pull up….

Here the improved underside. Not a lot to see and it needs a fill and smooth to be perfect. Note the slight concave where we had a slight convex previously. I’m happy to call it good for now and keep moving on.

Canard Fairing 1

Date:  08-31-2018
Number of Hours:  6
Manual Reference:  no ref

Well I don’t even know if this is in the plans. I’m just doing it. A simple fairing each side of the elevator.

I’ve gone for divinycell fuselage foam rather than the slightly lighter blue foam that most people seem to use. I prefer this closed cell foam as it holds an edge very well and is a little more robust in the shaping process.

I just grabbed some scrap blocks and thinned them out until they were a friction fit between the fuselage and the elevator. I can make a gap later.

After quite a lot of thought, I’ve lined up the top surface in trail with the elevator. That I’ve held in place to match the outboard fairing. In a world where things make sense, this will be a good place for the optimum cruise angle…I hope.

Some how I had to decide on if the top surface would match the canard top or the elevator top which is a bit below this. I decided I could match the canard and then do an angle to blend into the elevator top. I’ve also allowed for a ply of glass in thickness.

Yes I did it on both sides at once.

After some thought, again, I decided to glass the top surfaces and then do some shaping later. I think I’ll need a bunch of flox corners too so its going to again be several cure cycles. I’ve lapped onto the fuselage side and I did add a little micro for the transition.

Here’s the other side. Just a ply of BID as usual. Once this is cured. I’ll work on shaping the side area past the elevator trailing edge. Then I need to shape the underside. I’ll need a flox corner for the front too and ensure that the AN3 bolt that hides in there is well clear of the fairing.

 

Canard Profiling 2

Date:  03-20-2017
Number of Hours:  20
Manual Reference:  25-4

I’ve been a bit stuck on how to do this step. The method in the previous log entry really didn’t work out for me. I tried a few other things and then put the job off for a while -grin-. I made more templates including one out of aluminium so I could get some marks but dragging it over the curve doesn’t work for me.

Long story short, I’m using my steel templates, the long permagrit block and using a marker pen to find the high spots as you see in pic two. See the dirty marks just forward of the template? I have to be careful to position the template so it matches a line at the leading edge and hooking on the trailing edge. I also have to keep remarking the template edge so I get a bit of ink on the filler surface. After a lot of false starts it seems this method is going to work.

I’m staying a bit shy of the LE so I don’t loose the line and I’ll flip it over and do the bottom before returning to the top the complete this area once the rest of the profile is done. Pic 3 shows I had to add a little more filler in a few divets and low points… which invalidates a lot of work already done. Yeah I’ve done this a few times. I remain committed to do my best work here.

I’ll probably get a good, but not perfect profile sorted out then get the plane off site to mount the wings and canard to the fuselage. Of course with the canard profiling pretty good I should get the incidence correct. Then a post cure of the canard before the final near ‘perfect’ profiling and epoxy wipe stages. Yeah….this will be fun to look back on hahahah.

More filler

Using marks for high spots

More filler

Securing Landing Brake Cover

Date:  09-02-2017
Number of Hours:  2
Manual Reference:  no ref

Just one of those little things that need doing. The landing brake cover has to be secured. I’m using a nut plate and positioning it with hot glue and a stick. Once floxed in place it peels from the release and another job is done.

As you’ll see I use the foot rests later to further secure the cover. For now one screw in the right place is enough.

Nut plate

Positioned

Fixed

Landing Brake Internal Cover 2

Date:  06-20-2017
Number of Hours:  10
Manual Reference:  no ref

This just keeps going on and on. I scalloped out the insides of the cover and glassed it with one ply of BID. A day later it was nearly a fit. Another afternoon was needed to keep tweaking the insides.

It seems the wiring lead was catching a little and the edges needed just a touch off them to improve the fit. I also had to make hard points. Finally I’ve sealed the foam edges and where I’ve had to trim the insides too.

Tomorrow I’ll have a go at making the screw on angles fit so the box can be secured as you see in pic 3. This is not going to be something I’ll want to keep removing and reinstalling. The screw positions once the strakes are on is going to be hard to access.

It is quite a robust cover and it should take the pressure of the ferry tank pressing on it without a problem. Of course it is much heavier than I would like. About the weight of helium would be better.

Insides glassed

The fit

More fitting

Landing Brake Internal Cover 1

Date:  06-17-2017
Number of Hours:  10
Manual Reference:  no ref

With my flexible ferry tank going in the back I need to cover all the sharp edges so it sits well.

I wanted a cover for the air-brake anyway as the little air gap in the floor needed sealing. I started out thinking I only required a simple 2 ply glass cover. Now I realize I need quite a strong cover that will also be a part of a foot rest for the GIB and a place for additional avionics AND be able to take all the weight from the ferry fuel without crushing.

Suddenly I needed quite a strong cover and a certain shape too. What you see in pic 2 is my solution, I hope. I’m leaving the edges square too as other things will fit to the sides. The curve is such that the tank pressing on it should press evenly.

I’ll find out for sure when I fill up with 250lts of fuel and either do or do not hear cracking sounds! I do know that if I leave it uncovered I risk problems with using the landing brake.

Just to see if I could do better work I hard shelled the blue foam with West system and thick micro. This I have with a fast cure hardener. Although its hard to see in pic 3, after hard shelling with peel ply I had a great surface to layup the glass onto. Each of the three sides I then had to do in separate layups. I still have inside work to do once the outside is sorted.

Fitted foam block

Close to the right shape

Lots of layups

Back Seat Right Forward Cover Brackets

Date:  06-12-2017
Number of Hours:  2
Manual Reference:  no ref

Time to secure the ‘rear back seat forward right side cover’. Got that?

I’d made the brackets a while ago. The process was just hot gluing the brackets on at the bottom edge of the cover then drilling through and counter sinking for a screw. Last night I drilled a void where the screws go and filled it with flox so we have a hard point for the screws.

I roughed out the floor where the flox will go and of course put screws in and masked up the release area as you see in pic 1.

Pic 2 and we have pure epoxy then flox on the just roughed out glass area. Pic 3 and we are in position and see how it releases tomorrow.

I’d like to do the other rear arm rests but should hold off until the common sump is closed off as some of the brackets will sit on that. This will be after the strakes so not exactly easy to access.

I do like these small easy jobs, there are not too many on this build!

Drilled and masked

Flox dollops

Weighted for the cure

Cover Nutplated Supports

Date:  06-02-2017
Number of Hours:  6
Manual Reference:  no ref

Yes this took all day, probably more than 6 hours as its 10pm at night now and I started about 11am.

The panels and armrests in the back seat area all need to be secured with brackets and nutplates so I made a batch of about 26. That was how long my bit of angle aluminium was so it seemed a fair enough number.

Pic 1 and I marked and drilled it all out. I haven’t done it like this before and it does seem more efficient to do a length and then cut them out. So I did that… cut them out and tidied up on the grinding wheel.

Pic 2 is after more cleaning and the alodine bath. They are drying in front of the heater given today is the second day of winter already….. Once that was complete I used hard rivets and my big hand squeezer to attach all the nutplates.

Now I have plenty and I bet they all get used up, mainly on the armrests but a few might be fitting some electronic boxes later.

Drilled out

Alodine drying

Nutplates riveted on