Eyebrow Window Trim

[Michael Carter]

The windows will be clear, but I may come up with some sky scenes to place over them. I don't want them blacked out. The #4 window is installed in this photo. I can't find a #5, so I have to make one.

I have some of that styrofoam and was playing around with it last week. It does well with a random orbital sander but what a mess, even with a dust bag. I suppose I could do it by hand. It does shape very well though without chipping and is very tight cell-wise.

I'll have to give this solution more thought. I'm not going to settle with what it looks like now.

Thanks for the offer on the dimensions. I'm afraid they wouldn't do me any good as this is not to spec.

[Michael Carter]

I've decided to strip everything including the hardware cloth from the framing and start over. There are serious problems where some angles meet as well as where the 'roll' off of the windows meet up from window to window.

These problems need to be fixed before any sort of covering and finish work can be done.

I knew this would occur to me if I stared at it long enough after getting the hardware cloth and tape applied.

I know it doesn't look like much, but it was quite a bit of work to get this looking like it does. I'm glad it showed where the faults and errors were. Sometimes it's hard to envision what something will look like without the cover on it. There's no fixing this from the outside. It has to be stripped and re-worked. At least this gave me the opportunity to see what needs fixin'.

[Rodney]

Just thinking out loud here.....

What if you built a jig/template of your current window frame outside the sim, and used paper mache (sp) to form the moulding, then fiberglassed it?

[Michael Carter]

I don't know if that would be possible, but it gives me something else to think about.

[Shawn]

I built my glare shield with blue foam insulation, it can be shaped very easily by hand with sandpaper and a hacksaw blade. Blue foam might work well for your windows, from what I've heard it can be covered with fiberglass resin as long as it's an epoxy base. I'll be very interested in seeing how you finish the windows, I'm already thinking about enclosing my cockpit and have been wondering how I would finish the windows myself.

IMG_0536.jpg IMG_0540.jpg

[Tomlin]

Shawn, thanks for posting these pictures here- it gives me some good ideas on other areas as well as glare sheilds.

What's the puppy's name? Reminds me of my two Border Collies sniffing around in my sim hangar.

[JBaymore]

One method of making the masters for creating molds for vacume forming is using plasticine (oil based, non-drying clay). It is easy to form, takes and holds precise shapes, is pretty "hard" in the formed stage (not terribly fragile) and has a smooth surface. You can get it from many ceramics suppliers and art supply sources.

You probably could CAREFULLY form fiberglass directly over this as a mold. Or make a Hydrocal (special plaster) negative mold from the clay, and then form the fiberglass INTO that negative and far more durable mold.

Plasticine is the stuff that auto design teams use to mock up new automobiles in the design lab to see how the ideas look.

best,

................john

PS: Ceramics...... claywork...... is my professional field.

[Jackpilot]

I just remember that I saw something in that vein a few years ago...still there...

http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/a...ct/build1.html
http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/a...owsframes.html

Maybe it can help.
Jack

[vidarf]

Just let me know if you need detail images, as I have these babies lying around:

[Michael Carter]

One method of making the masters for creating molds for vacume forming is using plasticine (oil based, non-drying clay). It is easy to form, takes and holds precise shapes, is pretty "hard" in the formed stage (not terribly fragile) and has a smooth surface. You can get it from many ceramics suppliers and art supply sources.

You probably could CAREFULLY form fiberglass directly over this as a mold. Or make a Hydrocal (special plaster) negative mold from the clay, and then form the fiberglass INTO that negative and far more durable mold.

Plasticine is the stuff that auto design teams use to mock up new automobiles in the design lab to see how the ideas look.

best,

................john

PS: Ceramics...... claywork...... is my professional field.

That would sure use up a big hunk of clay.

Thanks for the insight on how this is done. I guess they only had to do it once for 1800+ aircraft plus all of the 737 series that had the windows.

Shawn, where did you get the blue foam?

Thanks for all of the different ideas for tying to get a better replica of this part guys. I appreciate the input and gives me different things to try I might not have thought of before.

I don't yet know how to make it right, but I do know what's wrong.