New Instrument Pod

[Alan Coats]

John,

Thanks for the compliment.

When I got the Bee it had already been painted with Rustoleum, so that is what I used on the instrument pod, straight out of the rattle can.

I did lay it up over a plug, and yes it took some effort to get the surface smooth, like I knew it would. I just sanded off the high spots and filled the low spots with a putty made from micro balloons and resin. The I repeated the previous step, then I repeated the previous step...

The fiberglass and resin I used were standard auto parts store stuff.

There are lots of sites on the net where you can get a better write-up than I can do, complete with pictures, but try to give you the highlights.

The first step was to cut a piece of plywood to the shape I wanted the panel to be. I then attached that to a board clamped onto the keel of the Bee, and adjused it till I got the angle I wanted for the face.

Then I cut a horizontal former to the shape I wanted for the top view of the pod, and attached it to the first piece at the angle I wanted, centered vertically.

Then I cut chunks of styrofoam packing material and glued them to the back of the panel shape on top of and below the horizontal former. I then "cut away all the parts that didn't look like an instrument pod" with a hand saw and then sanded it to the final shape on the belt sander.

After I had the shape I wanted I wrapped the whole thing with packing tape, so the resin wouldn't stick to it. Then I laid a layer of fiberglass over the form and brushed resin onto it. After the resin dried I sanded off the high spots, then laid on another layer of glass.

Tha't when all the sanding and filling began. It really wasn't hard to get it smooth - it just took patience.

Then came the part I had been worrying about - pulling the plug out of the inside of the pod.

After I got the plug out I seperated the panel shaped piece from the horizontal former and cut a big hole in the center of it. I then put the panel shaped piece back in place in the pod, then reached inside the hole and built up a fillet around the inside with resin/micro balloon putty, to make a seat for the panel.

Well, I'm better at doing it than explaining it, but maybe that will give you some ideas.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have,
Alan

Alan

[Alan Coats]

Originally Posted by bhenders

Alan: great job! Looking forward to hearing of your first flight in the Bee.

Thanks, Bob.

The flying lessons have been on hold till warmer weather, so it will be a while.

Also, my son and I (the one you met) have been buiding an addition onto his house, adding a den, a bedroom and a bathroom. We have to get it done before their baby arrives, so that project should be done in a couple of months.

I'll keep you posted.

Alan

[banaari]

Thanks for an excellent write up Alan, that answers everything I'd thought of and a couple of things I hadn't. The weekend looks promising.
cheers,
John

[CLS447]

It sure sounds like alot of work. I may be trying to make a small nosepod myself, so thanks for the info!

[Alan Coats]

Chris,

It did take some time, but I spread the work out over a week, so it wasn't too bad. Since my Bee was mostly built when I got it, I needed a chance to put some of my own creativity into it. I had all the materials on hand, so there was no cost involved, and I found the results to be very rewarding.

Like I said, there are several sites I found on the net that explain the process more clearly and in more detail than I could do.

Alan

[Timchick]

Alan, I think what some people are wondering is how much would you charge to make another one?

[Alan Coats]

Tim,

That's flattering, but I don't have the time to work on my own machine, let alone build for others. It would be expensive to do it the way I did it. That method is only good for one-off hand-made stuff.

Alan

[Red Sky]

Sure looks smart. I just wish you'd taken some pictures, that would have made for a nice tight article on home building. That's something all you guys could do to help out us newbies.

Don

[Alan Coats]

Don,

I agree about the photos. I am a newbee myself, and frequently ask for photos. You'd think that someone who had a photography business for 20 years would have taken construction pictures!

When I started out, I didn't know how it would turn out, and there are so many people on this forum who are so talented and so experienced that I didn't really think I would have any thing to add to the information pool.

I'll see if I still have the plug and will post pictures of it if I do.

Alan

[Red Sky]

Please do post them. How much do you have left before you get your 'bee in the air? Are you driving down for the meetings each month in OKC?

[banaari]

If it's any help (and it may well not be!!) I'm in the process of building my pod at the moment, following pretty much the process described by Alan. Ongoing photos on my homepage. Hopefully tonight I start attacking the polystyrene.
cheers,
John

[Friendly]

yes Allen could you start a new thread Titled 'Fiberglass Pod 101' with lots of pictures step by step.

[banaari]

Found this link:
http://club.cycom.co.uk/hotwire/Hot_...rene_foam.html

[Alan Coats]

Here are a couple of pictures showing the foam plug and the plywood pieces used to define its shape. It is still wrapped in packing tape, but the front piece of plywood has been cut apart from the rest of the plug then put back for these photos.

Alan

[Alan Coats]

Here is a photo showing the edge of the plug where it joins to the front panel piece. You can see the the plywood is a little wider than the foam. This was done to create a step for the panel to sit against.

The other photo shows the inside of the pod. The seating surface for the panel was finished out by reaching inside the hole in the the panel piece and putting a fillet of micro-balloon/resin paste against the back of the panel piece, then pulling the panel piece off again after it had cured.

You can see a block of 1/4" plywood epoxied in place for one of the panel mouning screws to go into. On the end you can see where I sanded a flat spot and epoxied a 1/4" plwood disk in place for the pod mounting screw.

Alan