Fiberglass, Frame, and Flying goggles!

Long time, no post!  Sorry about that.. Here's pictures from the last several weeks.  I'll just go through and describe some of them.  To see all the pictures full screen just double click on one and a slideshow will start.

Once the sides of the motor area were glued on I decided to start working on the rest of the engine covers.. The first pic is a rough cut of the gas lid.

To make the front engine cover, I needed a form.  Thankfully one of my friends had some 3" thick insulation foam that I could cut into the right shape, sand down, and then epoxy.  I actually painted the foam white and covered it with car wax to keep the epoxy from soaking into the foam and sticking to it.

Once the fiberglass gas cap was dry I cut out the hole that leads to the gas tank.

Starting fitting the windshield..

Back in the cockpit I added a couple reinforcing pieces to help strengthen the connection between the front and back of the plane.

Finally, here are a few pictures of the assembled frame.  The tail fins are held on with zip ties right now, because I still need to build the mounting hardware.

Check these things out!!  WOW, aren't they awesome?  Can't wait to get in the air with them!

The hood

I'm back!  Last week I started on the front deck.. First I added a few trim pieces to bring the sides up a bit higher around the cockpit,

then I build the hood.  This piece will go right in front of the cockpit and hold the control panel and windshield.  Eventually it will be hinged so I can get in and out of the plane.  In this pic the hood's in a little jig I made while the glue dries.

A few pics of the final product..

Here's a couple of the gauges that're going in the dash.  I'm still trying to get an airspeed indicator of ebay..

After the hood was finished, I raised up the engine mount for the new engine.  Then the rest of the hood was added. ( the stapler is sitting on it in the picture)  Eventually I'll make some fibeglass covers for the engine.

Here's some pics with the dashboard part of the hood sitting on the plane.  Still no hinge.

 Once the main hood pieces were finished I began adding some 'trim' to finish of the outside.  All the holes will be bondo-ed to make a smooth surface for painting.

The first engine had two pistons, one of each side.  The sides of the plane were cut out so the pistons would fit.  Now I"m using a Rotax 277 which only has one piston sticking up the top so I can finish of the sides.

While the glue in the above pic was drying I decided to go ahead and make the fiberglass engine covers.. or at least one of them..  First I made a basic form from some scrap plywood,

Then I covered it with wax paper so the fiberglass won't stick to the form.

While I'm at the fiberglass, I might as well make the gas tank door :)

I got a good deal on some fiberglass from walmart.. a bit cheaper than the stuff I used on the kayaks!

Here the cloth is laid out.. One layer of fiberglass mat, and one layer of fiberglass cloth.  The mat is pretty thick while the cloth makes a smooth top.

I've put the fiberglass and epoxy on the gas cap..

And then on the engine cover.. You can see the fiberglass sagging a bit between the form pieces, so I hung it upside down.  Now I've got a very nice smoothed curved piece of fiberglass with no sags.

Finally, here are two pictures of the new controls that are in progress.  You'll see more of them later.