If it looks easy...

The thing about building your own airplane is the little touches. Putting the throttle exactly where your hand rests comfortably, obsessing about making a hickory veneered instrument panel...

Several weeks ago Gordon laid the veneer on the instrument panel, and it looked great. I trimmed the excess off and laid it in place while I went on a few trips, but when I got back  found the contact cement had not held. Even though it had been sealed with varnish it had absorbed some moisture, flexed and delaminated from the fiberglass. Damn.

We got some good advice, which was not to use regular veneer but instead use paperbacked veneer, and to use West Systems 207, a clear epoxy hardener. I decided to try the 207 with some scrap, and since it was so cold

in the hangar I moved everything to my home workshop. Making the panel I had been told to lay a slurry of resin and microballoons between the foam and the glass, but it often left some voids on the front of the panel. Since the last panel I made was Ok but less than perfect, I decided to try one without any microballoons. My thought was the manual I had been using was for some foam with a more open structure, whereas the foam I am using is very tight with very little open cell structure.

My theory was right. Perfect pull. 

In the meantime, the scrap was laid up with various amounts of epoxy under it to see how much/little would soak through. A simple vacuum bag this time, I was surprised to find I didn't have to leave it on the mold, the panel held its shape perfectly.

The blue marks are from a Sharpie. Note to self: make sure they're removed before the next time.

Before the next trip I varnished some of it and left other parts raw, after a month there was no difference, it all held perfectly. 

Next will be to make a practice pull with the paperbacked veneer, then the real thing.