OK… I’m embarrassed. I knew that it had been a long time since I had posted an airplane update but, when I looked back over the photos that I have taken, I was shocked to see how much I have done. This is the first of several posts to catch you up on progress on my Bede BD-4C airplane project.
In July 2017, I fabricated seat cushions. Aircraft Spruce sells Confor Form (formerly called Temperfoam) in convenient sizes. For the bottom cushions, I used their triple layer sets of soft+medium+firm. For the backs, I just used medium. They started out looking like this.
I found that my bandsaw is the best tool for large cuts on this foam. It is easy to control and relatively clean.
For adhesive, I settled on 3M Super 77. It is a low dispersion spray, which means that it mostly goes where you aim it and very little floats around the room to make everything in sight sticky. (You still need to use it in a well ventilated space.)
I decided to get fancy and make bolsters. I also had to cut a notch so that the control stick can be pulled all the way back. This is what I ended up with.
The seats are certainly comfortable, although the frames are too tall. I have to fix that soon or there will not be enough headroom in the plane. Now we need to figure out how to upholster these seats (or just give up and pay someone else to do it).
Glad to hear progress has been made. I was beginning to worry! Will it be ready to fly by a certain BIG DAY in July?
If all goes well, I will be flight testing the plane well before my birthday. The real goal is to fly it to AirVenture for the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the BD-4 kit.