Windshield page 2

OK, its time to trim the area where the wing intersection is, to allow the wing templates to be inserted into the wing mounts. About 1 1/2" was taken off.

Checking the fit of the windshield to the wing template, near the top front curve of the wing, the windshield aligned beautifully. However, I found that the aft part of the wing intersection area was low at the top and the bottom of the template as show here:

So what that means is that the windshield bottom needs to move back some more which will in effect, rotate the back part of the wing interface part upward, allowing it to more closely match the angle of the wing.  The way to picture it is that the windshield has a higher angle of attack than the wing and we need to raise the aft end a bit until they match.   

At this point, the windshield was already 1" in front of the "V" support tubes so I couldn't let it pivot back any more at the center. What I found is that I could trim the bottom of the windshield on each side, staying away from the middle but just concentrating on the part that comes into contact with the curved area of the bootcowl:

After trimming as indicated above, the windshield can be sprung back a bit on the sides without moving it back in the middle. This allowed the wing/windshield intersection point to align better.  I also found that chamfering the bottom edge in the area shown above so its at the same angle as the boot cowl skin allows it to lay down a little flatter.

Here is the fit now:

You can see that its very close but there is just a bit at the front edge, about 1/4" sticking out.  To fix that, I simply trimmed about 1/8" off the top of the windshield where it slides into the channel.  I also rounded the sharp edges of that lip so it could slide a little further into the channel.

Here is the fit on the right side:

As you can see, the windshield flows smoothly into the wing templates.

Here it is at this point:


Looking good so far.   Between making the wing templates and all the trimming and fitting, this took up most of a full day.  Next I'll trim the sides and get Mickey to help me make the windshield fairing at the bottom.  We're going to attempt to make this fairing out of aluminum instead of the traditional fiberglass.  To my knowledge no one has done this yet so we get to be pioneers.    

We started by making a template of the windshield base where it meets the boot cowl.  I want the fairing to run 1 1/2" up on the windshield and have a 1" flange on the boot cowl. We made the template 2 1/2" wide and cut it to fit the bottom the windshield. The cardboard template was then traced onto a sheet of 3003 H-14 aluminum, .040" thick.  The 3003 aluminum is soft and workable.

Here is the template being traced on the aluminum sheet:

The aluminum blank was then cut out and all edges were smoothed with a file to prevent cracking during the forming process. To form a flange, we used the same technique as was used to make the lip at the air exit of the engine cowl.  This is basically a couple of wooden blocks (1 1/2" X 2") clamped together with a shim between them:

The flange was formed gradually until it fit the angle of the windshield to boot cowl intersection.  The flange gradually diminishes to zero as you get to the sides of the windshield near the side windows and doors.

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