Music: Gerry Rafferty
The panel supplied with the Bristell kit has a recess on the righthand side that is slightly angled towards the pilot. Although it could be useful it restricts the flexibility of the instrument layout. I decided very early on that I would cut the recess out and make the panel flat.
The rear of the panel showing the recess that will be removed.
I bought a rotary cutting tool from Lidl that has proved to be very useful for this type of job as you can easily get a saw into the tight spaces.
Once the recess is cut out the edges are cleaned up with a file.
The panel with the recess cut out…
Once the vertical bar is removed the panel can be readied for the fibreglass.
The panel that was cut out can be reused to fill the void but will need to be secure in place to make sure that it’s in line with the rest of the panel.
The fibreglass is cut to cover the sections that need to be filled.
The resin is made up from 10ml of resin to 1 pea sized portion of hardener.
The area that will be covered with fibreglass is ‘wetted’ with resin first to make sure that it will stick.
The fibreglass is laid on the area and the resin is dabbed on to fully wet it.
The fibreglass area after it’s been fully soaked with resin. It takes about 30 mins to set. Once fully set other layers can be laid up or the area can be sanded.
Some of the stiffness of the panel may have been lost by removing vertical bar so some strengthening may need to be introduced once the panel is cut to take the instruments.
G-MLSY 