Interior Liners for Cockpits? Who's Built the Best

[mattford1]

Hi Guys-
A bit of an old timer here (www.737sim.com). I'm interested if anyone out here was found the best method for re-creating the 737 (or any commerical flight deck) interior liner panels. The real ones are vacu-formed Kydex, however that is not an easy process without a vacu-form mold and machine.

Has anyone found a good method for making these without having to make fiberglass molds and positives?

Thanks,
matt
www.737sim.com

[hyway]

Hi Matt, long time no speak?
I used Forex plastic sheet
you can bend it hot or cold, mould it cut it weld it, paint it, do what ever you like I used 5mm thick white

[jongas]

I have been looking for interior liners to purchase, however the only site I could find does not reply to my emails, plus I have a sneaky feeling they may be rather expensive any how!

This chap made some rather nice looking panels from MDF.

http://www.sim-737ng.com/mip/mip.htm

If anyone knows where I can buy some interior panels please let me know - I need to crack on with building the shell !!!

Jon

[flyboy01]

I know that Flightdecksolutions have just finished the first run of their interior liners. Look great from what i have seen. But i am not sure on the price. Would imagine they would cost a bit as moulds and tooling, along with labour would cost a bit. Just another option out there. Also have you tried to obtain some real ones from Aircraft dismantlers in the states and the likes.??? Dont know how often thse would come around.
Trev

[Jackpilot]

Usually real ones are so "tired" that they need a complete restoration (not always doable) and it can be faster and cheaper to make your own. Unless you want an exact repro, fabricating a nice lining is easier than it looks.

[jongas]

Yeah most breakers I have spoken to either sell with complete cockpit or cannot (or will not) remove as apparently getting them out in a semi decent condition is tricky (or not worth the hassle).

I spoke with Nick at APHS but he said that the mouldings are rare and those that are in re-sellable condition even more so

Also shipping for me to the UK from US can be a deal killer.

Seems like a gap in the market here for someone to fill, along with some nice eyebrow window mouldings too

Anyone has any more suggestions please let me know.

Jon

[jongas]

looks great - but 3,500 euros is (IMO) expensive for what it is.

[Jackpilot]

maybe have a look at my site: www.aviasimtec.nl
and look at the b737 parts

This community is very close knit and knowledgable.
We all know who manufactures what !!!

[blueskydriver]

Hey all,

I was just surfing YouTube for making homemade vaccum formers and it looks like something easy to do. I have the interiors for the 727, so I don't think many would want these molded, plus making a molder big enough would be hard (but not impossible).

However, many have asked about the eyebrow molds and that seems much easier to do. Of course the ones I have are from 727, but they'd be close for a 737.

Assuming I used ABS plastic or some other similar material, what would be used to make this a solid object. In other words, if the plastic is vac down on the eyebrow it would produce a copy, but it would be thin and flimsy. So to make it a solid object, what would I use to fill it in or up?

Hot plastic as a filler would not work because it would melt the molded copy, fiberglass material would be too exspensive, so it would have to be something cheap and that hardens, but does not require heat...

Any suggestions on this part and I would attempt to vac copy/mold mine and sell them at a cheap price. If we could figure out the filler, then everyone could do that part themselves and I could just make the molds, so the shipping would be lighter and cheaper.

Of course I would not know the outcome without trying it first.

[jongas]

Hey all,

I was just surfing YouTube for making homemade vaccum formers and it looks like something easy to do. I have the interiors for the 727, so I don't think many would want these molded, plus making a molder big enough would be hard (but not impossible).

However, many have asked about the eyebrow molds and that seems much easier to do. Of course the ones I have are from 727, but they'd be close for a 737.

Assuming I used ABS plastic or some other similar material, what would be used to make this a solid object. In other words, if the plastic is vac down on the eyebrow it would produce a copy, but it would be thin and flimsy. So to make it a solid object, what would I use to fill it in or up?

Hot plastic as a filler would not work because it would melt the molded copy, fiberglass material would be too exspensive, so it would have to be something cheap and that hardens, but does not require heat...

Any suggestions on this part and I would attempt to vac copy/mold mine and sell them at a cheap price. If we could figure out the filler, then everyone could do that part themselves and I could just make the molds, so the shipping would be lighter and cheaper.

Of course I would not know the outcome without trying it first.

What about expandable foam?

The sort used to fill gaps, that would also keep the weight down too.

Keep me posted - customer #1 here !

Jon