Cockpit

I ripped !/2 inch by 1/2 inch spruce strips for the framing of the hull. Here I have nailed two of the strips with some finishing nails. The Nails will be taken out.
Rear view, I made the back of the seat 6 inches wider than the plan. The plans are very poor in regards to how to construct the cabin, so I am just making it up as I go.
The seat is in place, additional pictures are in the steering section. I placed the back of the seat in first.
Then I added 3 additional supports.This will allow for the top rail to go from the tip of the craft to a high of 22 inches
front view.
Here I have glued corner supports. This really adds strength to the frame.
I have modified the plans in the hope to carry myself and two small children. I have made the back of the seat into a T seat. Here I show the additional supports.
I covered the seat supports with 1/4 inch plywood. I will cut the hole for the steering stick later, I just removed the stick at this time. This is another good picture to show the corner supports that were installed.
I then glued the top rail into place. This you need to be very careful or you will snap the top rail. I have snapped 3. I guess you could steam or wet the wood before you install the rail, but I would be afraid of the wood warping when it dries.
This is a side view of the top rails. You will notice that they extend almost to the duct. The plans show for them to end at the seat back rest. I will be trying to enclose the thrust engine somewhat. The foam you see around the lift duct are spacers. I will be pouring foam between these later.
Could not think of a good way to connect the rails to the nose. I held them in place with a couple of screws and used a thickened epoxy to hold them.
Here I have attached the front nose panel, I clamped the wood to the supports first then traced a line on the inside to cut with a jig saw. I then made a mirror image panel for the other side using the first as a guide.
A picture showing both sides on. you will also note that I cut a dash out of 1/8 ply as well.
Here is a close up of the side. I used water proof glue and instead of clamping I just used the air stapler to hold it in place. These staples are counter sunk and will be glassed over.
Here is a picture of the inside and the dash board. I made a curve to the dash board. This curve will follow the nose to the lift duct lip.
side view.
I know what your thinking "What is this mess". Well what I have done here is cap the foam spacers and sealed the seams with duct tape. I will fill these pockets with foam scrap and spray. You will notice that there is a couple of areas that you can see the duct. These are the areas for motor mounts and will be foamed after that section is complete. On the right side you will notice a plastic tube that will carry the control, electrical lines to the engine.

The tube runs along the duct and,,,,
,,,,,be attached to the front of the duct. As mentioned above this will carry control and electrical cables that will run from the dash to the duct, it then will enter the 1 inch aluminum tube of the engine mount and finally exit to the engine itself.
The following section shows the construction of a engine cowl, I want to cover the engine for safety and aesthetics. My thinking here is to be able to slide a engine cowl over the back seat and under the safety cage that will be attached to the front of the thrust duct. This should cover all moving parts.
This is not a sideways cake, it is several circles of 2 inch foam glued together with spray foam and has a plywood base. I then ran a length of threaded rod through it put a drill on one end and a piece of tube on the other. My plan here is to make a cone with this homemade lathe that will become part of the engine cowl.

This is how it turned out, a little rough but usable
I then cut a 1/4 inch plywood cowl support that will hold wood stringers between this support and the cone. A mirror image is cut into the ply at the bottom of the cone.
This shows it better. This is looking down over the thrust engine mount. The engine cowl sits on the engine mount between the duct support fins. This will be covered with 1/8 ply. The drive shaft is used along with some scrap 2X6 to center and position all pieces before it is glued together.
Just another picture, I needed to position all the engine components etc. so that is why you see a exhaust pipe taped to the engine mount.
The side and rear of the seat is glued and attached with staples. You can see the cone over the engine. The next part of the cowl will be create stringers from the rear of the seat and sides of the cockpit attached to the cone. But before I do that I will need to complete the sides.
I glued and stapled in place the rest of the side panel. As I mentioned before. The plans are not great when it comes to cockpit construction, I am making allot of this up as I go. I am not exactly sold on the big cone cowl thing, but I will complete it and see how it turns out before I try something else.
Well the big cone idea seemed to pay off. This is what it looks like from in the cockpit. Its still a little rough looking but I can fill and sand out any imperfections.
This is a side view. This cowl just slips into place, and covers any moving parts. I am pleased at how it turned out. Notice that I used a hot wire to cut a portion of the cone away.
This is a close up of the molding that goes around the cowl. It is made of aluminum and is in the shape of a "H". The construction that I used was stitch and glue. Basically what I did was cut all the 1/8 ply to size, then held it in place with duct tape, then filleted the inside seam with a thickened epoxy. The aluminum sheeting was just wrapped around the supports that I attached to the cone and pop riveted into place.
This a picture of how the front duct is coming along. Its now time to cut the engine mount, pictures are in that section.
This shows the throttle and choke cables, I cut a hole into the side of the duct and put in a rubber seal. The cable runs through a plastic tube that was foamed around the duct.
This a picture of the other end. Controls for choke and throttle also there is some wiring for the front light.
I have filled all around the duct with foam. I have also put a foam backing on the dash board. You will also notice my hot wire, I will be trimming all the excess foam.
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Using a hot wire I trimmed off all excess foam. I will be using one inch foam to cover this.
I removed the lift duct former. I then used canned foam to glue a sheet of 1 inch foam across the front section. The tie down straps and the rest of the stuff you see on top is used to bend the foam to make a good contact.
This is the front after I have trimmed the sides and lift duct. I ran into a little problem with gluing the foam using great stuff spray foam. I had to use epoxy near the dash board were the 1 inch foam was being bent.
Here is a picture of the dash board after trimming.
The beginnings of a lift duct inlet. The radius of the inlet will be 12 inches all around the duct. I cut a guide out of some plywood to get an idea of how much material to remove. I also drew a line around the diameter of the duct as a guide.
Just a front view.
I used light weight spakle to smooth out the inlet.
I used masking tape so that I can make a clean line after fiber glassing.
This is what it looks like with a layer of 4 oz FG. I will not add any more FG, I will apply one more layer of epoxy with micro balloons to make this nice and smooth. At this time the weave shows through.
I started to finish off the cockpit area, this picture shows under the dash, I had to apply a latex paint to the foam, then I applied a good enamel. If I did this again, I would Finnish this off better some how. I think it looks like crap, but it is under the dash. You will also notice the strip on the floor, this is a seam in the 1/8 ply that I put 6oz tape on and epoxy.
This is a picture of the seat that I installed, basically just some foam(the type you go camping with) and some cheap vinyl. You can notice that it is open under the rear seat. This is to allow airflow into the engine compartment.
This is shows the steering boot, that I made.
This picture shows the seat and the engine compartment without the cover.
With the cover.
Ready for paint and skirt.