How do you make a fiberglass cowling?
03-09-2009, 05:29 PM
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How do you make a fiberglass cowling?
I am thinking of converting a Hanger 9 P-40 to a P-36. Will recover and detail the model. This will of course require a new cowling. I have never made one before. How do you make one? Does anyone have a link to a tutorial?
Thanks
Jim
Thanks
Jim
03-09-2009, 08:12 PM
#2
RE: How do you make a fiberglass cowling?
Hi Jim, Here’s what I do. I get blocks of that foam that is not affected by polyester resin. I cut and sand it to shape. The plug is 1/32 inch smaller all around than the final cowl. Cover this with four layers of four ounce cloth and finishing polyester resin. Put one layer over the other continuously. Don’t allow any of the layers to cure. After the all the layers are cured, remove the foam. Use a wire brush mounted in a drill to clean out the inside of the cowl and to get it scuffed up. Apply one layer of the cloth to the inside. If I can find some images of a cowl I did, I’ll post them. Dan.
03-11-2009, 01:15 PM
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RE: How do you make a fiberglass cowling?
For the foam try LAST-A-FOAM sold by aircraft spruce. You can also hotwire white, blue or pink foam (blue and pink are sandable) and then cover with EPOXY (not resin). The white blue and pink foams can be bought at home improvement stores. There is lots of information on fiberglassing on the web and the fourms. The best advice is but more materials than you need and have fun trying different things.
