Bulkhead A Cover

 Had both the glaresheild and bulkhead A cover upholstered at the same time.

The upholsterer recommended padding it with 1/4" foam, so went with that.

The material was damaged by a previous embroidery attempt where 'EXPERIMENTAL' was not lined up with the Sportsman logo.  Whoever did it just picked out the thread and redid it.  You cant see it unless you get right up beside it.  I emailed Glasair to let them know, and was completely shocked when I did not get a response :-)

Glareshield Part II

 The cowling is in full swing, and working on FWF stuff.  I did the glareshield in Nov 2022, but there were a couple things that needed work.

1. It is really tight to get in and out.  I have a feeling this is a COVID glareshield, that is not up to Glasair's regular spec
2. I was not happy with the corners around the cage.  Needed more clearance.
3. Need to mount the compass.  I mounted it in the middle of the main section of the panel, which is not the center of the airplane - and have to fill a couple holes.
4. I did not open up the holes for the fans enough.
5. I screwed up on the rounded edge on the pilot side, and tried to bond back in the piece I cut out.  Well, that did not go well so time to do it right.
6. The finish on the glareshield is spotty.  The whole thing needs sanding, maybe some filling and a fresh coat of primer - or not.  Not sure what contact cement will stick best to.

So on a Sunday afternoon it is time to right these wrongs.  I have the material (leather) to finish it, and want to do so soon.

The glareshield has been trimmed, and the fiberglass deficiencies have been fixed.

I put the seat in so I could satisfy myself that I could see the indicators at the top of the panel with the glareshield in, sitting in the seat.  And yes I can.

This picture is taken from eye level.

Time for upholstery.

Glareshield and Bulkhead A cover going to the local upholstery guy tomorrow, and need to do a bit of hasty sanding and filling on the glareshield.  I really hope this works out...

Bulkhead A.  I painted it with JetFlex 'slate grey'... this was actually the first piece I painted (with a roller).  It looks lopsided, but it has been installed (which doesnt mean its not lopsided...)

This was originally 'zolatone' grey, but i sanded it and painted.  You can see a lot of defects in the fiberglass.

Dropped both pieces of with an upholsterer.  He is going to add a 1/4" foam pad to the bulkhead cover.  When he was starting to prep everything, he sent me the following picture.

There are a number of needle marks from some kind of previous embroidery attempt.  He asked me if I wanted to get a new one before he starts - but with Glasair moving to China, I think the chance of getting anything from them is less than zero.  Not very happy about this, as the kit was NOT CHEAP.  But guessing this was done by whomever they purchase it from.

Got everything back last night.  Looks really good.

All assembled, fit and working!

Need to get some brass screws for the compass, but other than that it is complete.

Glareshield

 I keep waiting to simply 'install' something, that doesn't require cutting, drilling, grinding, etc.  After 5 years of cutting, drilling and grinding I think I'm due.  Well, today is not that day.

I bought my fiberglass glare shield from Glasair in January 2021, along with the panel blank.  I kind of assembled everything when I got it in March, and it didn't fit.  Well, that was just to make me feel good and I had lots of work to go until I needed to put it in.  That time is now.

After the issue with the panel misalignment were corrected, I HOPED it would just slip in.  NOT.  It does not fit at all.  Further, the instructions (which did not come with it either, but I found on the forum doc library) don't say anything about cutting.  After checking with a few builders, yes it needs to be cut.

Here is the starting point.

I made a paper template that is the same size (and non symmetrical shape) as the blank.

Next the template goes into the glare shield location.  I marked with a pen below the window opening, and then added ~1" after the fact, cut to the +1" line.  

In some areas I took off a couple inches, in others nothing.

The trick seems to be getting the depth of the glare shield right first, because that changes everything else. I worked on this in bits and pieces, where in hindsight should have focused on this first.

The big trick is getting around the cage tubes on either end of the panel.  That took the most time.

A fellow builder told me its like doing the windows... fit, mark, trim, fit, mark, trim, etc, etc.  I haven't done my windows yet, but now I know.

I cut too much off the aft glaresheild 'lip' on the left side.  So a piece cut off is being grafted back on....

Its basically fit now.  Needs a little bit more finessing.

Also to do:

1. Find some muffin fans to install in the glare shield.  Need a fair bit of CFM, 12V, at least 6" with an attractive grill.
2. Figure out how to wire them so they can be disconnected easily
3. Tabs.  The forward part of the glare shield slips into tabs that hold it up.  2 recommended.  Aluminum, with a bend, bonded to the fuselage.

Fans.  Found some on Amazon (2 for $35 CAD).  They ended up being 4 wire computer fans... Pinout:

• Black - ground
• Yellow - 12 V
• Blue - PWM control
• Green - RPM

If you connect just ground and 12V, it runs at full speed.  The other 2 are not required.

To start, I marked a line under the glare shield where the panel to firewall struts are.  Had a nightmare I was going to hit run into them...

Then I measured up from the brow of the glare shield 10".  Centered the fan, and drilled a pilot.  I didn't have a bit enough hole saw (would need about a 4.7" holesaw), so I used the largest I had and then enlarged the hole on the drum sander.

They are not perfectly symmetrical, but darn close.  I doubt anyone will ever notice.

The fan covers are from Amazon as well.  $15 Canadian for 2.

Next is tabs...

It was recommended to clamp the tab in place.  Well, I fought with it for a while and finally just drilled and put a (waxed) cleco in to hold it while curing.  This also had the benefit that I could position the tabs and put the glareshield in place and ensure the front engaged the tabs.  They did...

Last two things are wiring and hardware to mount the fans.

The power source will be the ACM, which will be on the left hand side of the radio stack.  So the plan is to bring the wires down the left hand side with a 2 pin connector and end them somewhere that you can reach under the panel and disconnect with a minimum of fuss.

Front and Rear Seats

I have been lacking motivation lately.  Coming of 5 back to back race weekends, I am rather burnt out.

I need to do some serious organizing of the wires behind the panel.  Everything tells me its not that bad, but I think it is.

So I took the afternoon, and put my front seats in... but that means taking out the header tank, installing the forward tunnel covers, putting in the floor boards, then the seat pan tubs, then the seat rails.  Well I did, and It looks pretty good

All of the tubs and tunnels had been sitting in the basement literally gathering dust.

Also pushed it outside today to give the shop a good cleaning.  Interesting to see the perspective on the 'long nose sportsman'.  I think I will call her Pinocchio.

Going to be hard to see over the nose with a longer cowl, extended gear legs, and bigger tires.  The below pic is not 100% accurate as the front of the cowl is not in the right spot - its about 1" too high.

This was taking from my eye level, sitting in the plane.

Rear seats and front / rear carpet.

Rear Seats

 Glasair offers a rear seat kit.  $5K with no upholstery.  Luckily I have gotten some pics of the rear seat assembly and am going to 'roll my own'.

There are two horizontal tubes that attach to the vertical uprights on both sides that anchor the seat back.  The seat bottoms are fastened to the back via a piano hinge, and lift up for storage.  The cable / wiring tunnel has two brackets that the seat bottom rests on the INNER side, and then there are two outboard portions that are fiberglass and foam.

Plan of attack:

1. Build upper and lower attach brackets to the cage
2. Fabricate horizontal tubes that tie the cage uprights together.
3. Fabricate the seat backs and bottoms
1. Foam and Fiberglass
4. Form the tunnel and outboard sections
1. Aluminum
5. Buy the bulkhead from Glasair (ordered)
6. Fabricate the composite L brackets that the centre tunnel attaches to
7. Finishing
8. Bolt / rivet it all together.
9. Upholstery (in combination with the front seats)

Cage Attach Brackets

The upper location is determined by the cutout in the truss cover on the forward upright.  The bottom bracket is 16.75" centre to centre from the top, but on the aft upright.

I used weld through primer on the back of the brackets and cage where you can't get paint.  I left the brackets long, and have not drilled them yet.

Cross tubes cut and tabs rough fit.  Seat back tabs in process.  Next is rear seat headrest mounts.

A fellow builder gave me dimensions for the placement of the rear bulkhead, and anything else I could not easily determine.

Measurements for the bulkhead measured from bulkhead A to the rear seat bulkhead

Bulkhead A to the bottom aft edge 30 1/4”

Bulkhead A to the top aft edge 29 5/8”

The bulkhead is angled back

Once I had the bulkhead placed, I marked it in key areas, then used aluminum tape on the entire area, then sanded down until I hit fiberglass.

The below drawings are not super high quality, but are close.  They needed a bit of trimming after the fact.

Next is the composite angles for mounting the covers.  I made angles using 2 pieces of MDF screwed together at 90 degrees, then covering with packing tape.  6 layers of cloth, with peel ply on top.  Then I ran them through the table saw to get rid of the bad edges, then cut into 1.5" pieces.  I went wider than how Glasair does it as I want room to put a either an 8-32 or 10-32 nut plate.  I really dislike the self taping screws that GA uses.

Forward and aft tunnel covers needed a fair bit of tweaking.  One of them turned out to be a throw a way.  But they fit!

The covers are attached at the bulkhead with a screw in the Glasair design.  I am putting 2 in for good measure.  Each cover has a tab that ties them together.

Mounting the inner seat rails was interesting.  I sketched out the sides with them in place, then drilled through on the mounting holes to double check.  Then went back and drilled about another 15 holes per side to rivet them together.

Next step is foot rests.

In the Glasair design, the footrests mount over top of the aft cover.  So to get the cover off, you have to take out the foot rests.  I am going to try and invert that so you can get the cover out without removing the foot rests.  

Finishing

Rear Seat Foot Rests

While I don't really grasp what exactly these are for (except keeping a rear facing passengers feet off bulkhead A), they do serve a purpose in hiding the wiring going aft, and keeping it out of the way of the control cables.

Made a paper mock up that is similar to the Glasair design.

Turned this into .040 aluminum, and then reversed the template for the other side.

The two sides are not quite symmetrical... probably because the tunnel is not perfectly centred, or the tabs are not perfectly centred.

The stock Glasair design requires that the footrests come out the remove the tunnel.  I am changing that so they are independent.  There will be a plate that ties the footrests together along with the tunnel, but it will be removed with the tunnel and tied in with screws.  That is the theory at least...

Seat back:

The seat back attached to the two tubes shown below.  It is one piece, and wraps on top of the top tube, and then drops straight down.

The angle from the seat back to the top flat piece is 75 degrees.  From the seat back after the bottom tube in transitions down at 15 degrees.

Below is what a finished setback looks like...

So after a lot of figuring, I decided to make a mold.  The foam will be cut and laid on the mold, and the whole thing will be bagged.

Making the mold out of leftover MDF from the tops of my wing jigs.  Cutting the angles on the mold on the table saw, and then gluing it together

Gluing the top piece on.  The bottom (in the picture that you cant see) was taped together with it laying flat with 4" wide aluminum tape, and pressed down with a wallpaper roller.  Put epoxy in the slot, pull it up and tape it in place.

Same process for the bottom piece, but used ratchet straps.

The foam that came with the kit is not big enough.  I added onto it by epoxy with tape lying on a flat surface.

Top piece of foam added (glued) using the form as, well, a form.  Waxed the bottom and clamped the top in place while it set.  

Clamped in place for first fit...

Added the lower portion of the setback, and cut the notch around the centre tunnel.

Cut the bottom contour and clamped in place temporarily.

Next will be lots of sanding to contour the corners and edges, plus filling any gaps...

Next is making the aluminum plates that the piano hinges will attach to.  Two sets of piano hinges... one for the seat bottoms, and one for the baggage floor.... more on that later.

Composite angles / outer seat bottom rails.

The inner seat rails are aluminum, and riveted (or will be) to the centre tunnel.  The outer rails are composite, and there are two methods.  Foam block with fibreglass on top, or composite angles.  I went the composite angles route.

The angles where formed using an MDF L bracket, covered with packing tape and wax.  4 layers of glass laid down, with peel ply on top.  Then ripped on the table saw to dimensions.  This is how I made all the angles for the tunnel covers and overhead cable cover.  Super strong, works well.

Lots of fitting takes place, as nothing is square.  Once I got them to fit, marked the outlines and sanded off the paint on the fuselage, then bonded the angles in place with a resin, cabosil and glass fibre mixture.  That is the picture below...

The peel ply just smooths out the bumps and leaves a nice finish I can glass on top of.

Next will be 2 layers of glass on top of the composite angles to bond them in place.

Getting the backboard ready to go.  Aluminum plates are bonded in the bottom for the piano hinge rivets to have something to bite into.

Then everything is laid up.  From the bottom:

• Waxed mold
• Peel ply
• 2 layers of glass
• Foam
• Peel ply
• Perforated sheet
• Bleeder
• Bag

The layup took over an hour going as fast as I could.  Tomorrow will be the day of truth to see how well it worked.

After lots of filling and sanding, its getting close.  Going to put an additional layer of glass on the top surface.  The seat bottoms are thing plywood that I am going to layup with 2 layers of glass top and bottom, plus an aluminum plate to rivet the hinges to.

The footrests are drilled and tied to bulkhead A.  This really stiffened up the rear tunnel cover.

First seat bottom layup.

Seat back after many hours of filling / sanding.  Almost done.  It is sprayed with FlexFill in this pic.  Really does a nice job with all the really small imperfections.

Final fit of the seatback with actual hardware in place.  Fits exactly like it should.

Next step is hinges for the seat bottoms, and repair the fuselage paint.

While waiting for everything to dry, I started the seatbelt mounts.  The outer ones are easy... they just tie into the existing cage-to-fuselage mounts.  The inner ones are a bit more.

Once the holes were drilled, and the foam between the glass removed, the bottom of the fuselage was taped and I used a syringe to get the epoxy / microballoons into the holes.  Seems to have worked out good.

Seat back installed and initial hinge drilling.

Hinges installed.  Last step is the seat belt mounts.

I actually hopped in and sat in the seat.  Its actually roomy for my 6'2" frame.

Seat belt brackets are in, but not tightened down.  They are going to have to be removed for paint / wrap anyway.

These rear seats were a lot of work.  The tubing and welding started in July (along with the header tank tabs, battery tabs, etc).  In September I started to figure out the vacuum bagging process, and designed / made all the rear tunnel covers, bonded in the fiberglass bulkhead, and did all the mounting tabs.  October was the foot rests, and how I was going to mount them.  In November I started on the composite backrest, along with the outboard seat bottom mounts, along with the actual seat bottoms.  December was filling, sanding and finishing.  Riveting in January.

This was not all back to back, worked on many other things alongside.

This one is done for now until I start upholstery.