Toobuilder
Well Known Member
There are a few "flat wrap" -8's out there, but in case I'm the only one who converted a flying airplane from the bubble to flat, here's a few pictures of the process.
This hole caused by a few inconsiderate birds got the process rolling.
Since this airplane had two prior windshields, I welded up the roll bar to seal the holes.
I used a straight edge to see where the line drawn from the canopy bubble would fall on the boot cowl. On this canopy, a straight line tangent to the canopy radius falls on the boot cowl 24 inches from the front of the roll bar. Rough cardboard template cut to fit
Since the "E-AB" category is all about education and learning new things, I decided I'd learn how to make a heat formed windshield. I made a buck using the roll bar as a loose pattern.
Buck was skinned with thin ply, finished with filler and covered with felt.
Since I couldn't find an oven big enough, I made my own out of plywood. I upped the thickness of the plexi to .250"
Rough cut the windscreen using the cardboard template. There is a lot of trimming and fitting after this step!
![t0go07.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.tinypic.com%2Ft0go07.jpg&hash=bd26dbbd5d79f1f177e3c32e3469bb71)
This hole caused by a few inconsiderate birds got the process rolling.
![2m270ie.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi40.tinypic.com%2F2m270ie.jpg&hash=fbc562236379a1926b176c9b7a2c3d21)
Since this airplane had two prior windshields, I welded up the roll bar to seal the holes.
![qqobck.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi40.tinypic.com%2Fqqobck.jpg&hash=48594f26dce761fd5edae49af0cc9887)
I used a straight edge to see where the line drawn from the canopy bubble would fall on the boot cowl. On this canopy, a straight line tangent to the canopy radius falls on the boot cowl 24 inches from the front of the roll bar. Rough cardboard template cut to fit
![4j828i.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.tinypic.com%2F4j828i.jpg&hash=4fa3212286a664367aaf82cfe5cadd79)
Since the "E-AB" category is all about education and learning new things, I decided I'd learn how to make a heat formed windshield. I made a buck using the roll bar as a loose pattern.
![24ozlu0.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi43.tinypic.com%2F24ozlu0.jpg&hash=c66331de18a91d7fb6ad5752cc5f297a)
Buck was skinned with thin ply, finished with filler and covered with felt.
![2cco0v8.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi40.tinypic.com%2F2cco0v8.jpg&hash=36c00a70fe5a6c578365e61285398de3)
Since I couldn't find an oven big enough, I made my own out of plywood. I upped the thickness of the plexi to .250"
![10qywt5.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi40.tinypic.com%2F10qywt5.jpg&hash=68709d27239768714474df28bbe496b9)
Rough cut the windscreen using the cardboard template. There is a lot of trimming and fitting after this step!