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Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date: 3-18-2009
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Number of Hours: 1.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Initial Windscreen Fitting - Part 1
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After finishing the rear canopy, attention turned to the front windscreen portion. The compound curves of the front skin making cutting the windscreen quite a task. It took about four iterations, but somehow magically, I ended up with a nearly perfect fit over the metal!
I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with the bezel mounting for the windscreen at this point, however. The plans call for creating a "mold-in-place" fiberglass bezel all the way around the windscreen, basically laminating the Plexiglass to the metal. A row of screws attach the Plexi to the roll bar and optionally rivets can be used to attach the fiberglass to the metal after the lay-ups and sanding are complete. But, YUCK! First of all, all that fiberglass work is just plain yucky, but more significantly, the "permanent-ness" of that solution is rather disconcerting. If the windscreen ever has to be replaced for some reason, it will take a lot of hacking and chipping to get it unattached not to mention the mess it would make of the aircraft and paint job.
I've been dreaming up a two or three piece all metal bezel arrangement that would be a lot cleaner and if attached with screws would allow for the relatively easy replacement of the windscreen. The hard part, however, is forming the bezel around the front part of the Plexi-to-metal area. That's a compound curve and forming metal with basic hand tools is going to be pretty tough. If I had a metal shrinker and metal stretcher along with a nice English Wheel, I could no doubt turn out a pretty awesome part. Oh, and maybe a month or so to learn how to use them. But, I don't and I don't, so therein lies the consternation at this point. I think I might still try my hand at making some metal bezel pieces that I don't need to form similar to what I did on the RV-4 in the front. Worth a try.
Fiberglass!? Really, Van's? Really...? Ack.
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Windscreen Cut To Fit Over Forward Skin
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Windscreen Cut To Fit Over Forward Skin
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Windscreen Fit Around Roll Bar
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Copyright © 2008-2024 Matt Dralle. All Rights Reserved.
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