Glare-shield

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Glare-shield

It will be different for every plane. The boot cowls and frames are pretty different from plane to plane. I had a couple of pretty good looking ones in metal and none fit either of my planes or were the same as each other. I ended up using some poster board from the grocery store and just fitting it up as best I could and used tape to fill in the short areas and some small scissors to trim the long areas. Took a couple of tries but ended up with a glare shield pattern that was withing 1/4" all around. Laid that on top of the Hat Shelf material and cut it out to match. Some rubber edge channel seal closed up the gap and I put a piece on the aft edge for a nice finish.

DON'T get it wet if you use the hat shelf material!

Hank

I can trace some of the ones I have if you really need a starting place, but they won't fit.

[M Towsley]

Re: Glare-shield

Hank,

I will have to correct you regarding the part of getting the hat shelf material wet. I thought exactly the same thing, and if you got a raw corner wet I would agree it would probably cause problems.

Last year Tina was with me and we had some rather rough air. Even though she was OTC medicated she got sick, (couldn't get the bag out in time), all over the instrument panel and glare shield. I thought like you, I was going to be cutting and fitting a new one.

About fifteen minutes out from the airport when this happened, got back to the hangar and the clean-up began. Not one area damaged on the hat shelf material. I even used a wet towel, no damage whatsoever. I was impressed.

As a side note, have someone at an upholstery shop sew up a piece of welt for the back edge. It is basically a strip of vinyl, or whatever you want to use, with a rod/tube of pliable material. Sewn up there is a lip that slips between the glare shield and the top of the metal instrument panel with the welt covering the raw edge. It finishes off the raw edge, along with a Sharpie marker blackening the edge in case any shows.

[wmfife]

Re: Glare-shield

Speaking of hat shelf material, somebody had done mine with an overlay out of mahogany covered in foam and vinyl along with a similar locking lid for the baggage sling (all this on a 65 Lycoming, talk about adding weight-!) all of which I removed to reveal the original shelf which seems to be made of 1/8" non-perforated Hardboard or high-density fiberboard (HDF) sometimes known by the brand name Masonite. According to wiki it's almost as dense as water so at least the mahogany would be lighter (not to mention looking fit for a Deluxe, which I believe this to be), so have decided to use the (finished) mahogany panel stripped bare for the shelf instead of the HDF one.

That said, anyone wanting an (original-?) shelf of this Masonite material can contact me. But be advised it weighs at least half a pound best conservative guess.

Bill

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Glare-shield

Marty,
Did you ever consider that Tina is such a pure soul anything that came from her couldn't possibly cause damage?

Got to admit that the ones I saw that were water damaged were REALLY water damaged! Could be that they got wet from the bottom, but darned if I could figure out how the water would get to the underside. Might have been water wicking in from the front edge over a long time.

Hank

[M Towsley]

Re: Glare-shield

Hank, did I fail to mention the license plate on her Harley is EVL WMN? Just a joke, of couse, lol.

You probably are correct on how the water invaded the material. I have enough material to cut another glare shield, I will have to experiment on a piece of scrap.

And for anyone who wants to obtain the original type of material, (this has been mentioned before), a vehicle upholstery shop can order it for you if they don't have some on-hand.

[3Dreaming]

Re: Glare-shield

Even though I have access to upholstery material I chose to make mine from aluminum covered with a textured vinyl to match the original.

Edited to add: I did this because I thought it was lighter and more durable. I did prime and paint the vinyl to match the interior just like the cardboard would have been originally for my airplane.

[PA1195]

Re: Glare-shield

Mine is 20-25/K Aluminum painted with an old style black wrinkle finish. On the back I put some strips of adhesive rubber panel deadening tape to reduce drumming. Rubber U-channel was glued over the exposed edging front and rear, and finishing screws and cup washers attach it to the panel. I use a stick under the panel to push the forward edge up to meet the boot cowl/windshield when installing. Nice setup that makes behind the panel work easier than many I've had. Citabria's design was very good for servicing.

Gary

[wmfife]

Re: Glare-shield

I was told by a local shop mech that the best choice for glare shield surface material was felt. -Why?

Most compasses like the B-16 and Airguide use a relatively low-viscosity fluid like light oil or even Naphtha as a dampening medium. Soo- in case of leakage (these all being vintage parts and subject to any idiosyncrasies-) the porous surface will serve best to absorb any inadvertent spills. You know. Just in case.

Does anyone agree? I indeed have 1/8" felt that closely resembles the original ("taupe") color of the interior (which if need be can be stained or even painted to match-) I may be able to use. It seemed like a good idea.

I have also seen many with black felt installed here and also respect the logical reasoning behind it. Especially if an anti-glare panel has been applied in flat black on the clamshell and boot cowl (a requirement on all military a/c since the late forties...).

Is anyone doing anything with this concept? I will soon have to make a decision and the original factory photos don't support this but safety consideration does. And well - safety does trump authenticity most of the time. Right?

[M Towsley]

Re: Glare-shield

Glare is not an issue on the clam shell or the boot cowl. Not really that much of an issue with the glare shield. The flat black of the hat shelf material works just fine. I don't believe felt is original as the hat shelf material was also used for the kick panel under the seat. It is cheap and light. But, you will find just about anything used on these old planes nowadays. It would be a miracle if the original material survived seventy years.