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I’ll be wanting to refinish the glareshield on my second-hand Onex - the medium gray paint has cracked and peeled in several places.
Any consensus / thoughts / experience on refinishing, especially considering desire to minimize reflection in the windshield as well as minimizing heat production on sunny days?

Thanks!

Jeff Ackland

Wanttobuild25 wrote:I’ll be wanting to refinish the glareshield on my second-hand Onex - the medium gray paint has cracked and peeled in several places.
Any consensus / thoughts / experience on refinishing, especially considering desire to minimize reflection in the windshield as well as minimizing heat production on sunny days?

Thanks!

Jeff Ackland

A few years ago I replaced my glareshield covering with some speaker carpet from Autozone Aviation supply. Used some 3-M spray glue to attach it. Light weight and works well. You can even hold things in place on the carpert using the "hook" side of velcro. See it here in this walk around video (4:00 mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg0fgs4cFuE

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel

I was all about minimizing reflections. Flat black paint (maybe primer) for me.

Mine has "wrinkle" black applied by a previous builder and I'm not a fan. Has more gloss than I'd like, and it cracks. I've seen cheap felt from Joann's used, and I like that idea better, or Dale's speaker fabric.

Whatever you decide on, just make sure it's black. Anything lighter will show up as a reflection in the windscreen. We started with a really nice grey outdoor carpet. Couldn't see crap out the window.

.

I installed a super thin and light weight black felt. I had to be careful not to stretch it as this causes a few gaps to appear. I am happy with the result and haven't noticed any reflections.

I often have to wipe down my glareshield. It gets dusty. The fabric probably does too, but harder to notice. So I think that is one advantage of paint.

The kit for Sonex A #0525 came with a suitable (matt)black fabric from Sonex to cover the glareshield. It has ben sitting there since 2005. Since then no hiccups, and the view through the window is good (as long as I don´t spill autofuel on it!). The only thing I regret concerning the instrument panel/glareshield construction, is my strict adherence to the plans. I should have devised some means (hinge, detachable cover- whatever) to get behind the instrument panel once finished. As it is, any form of rewiring, inspection, repair etc) is something for the younger generation with considerable more agility then I can muster. I vented my concern about this to Sonex at the time, but was informed that the design was structural and I better not mess with it. Now I´m stuck with it.

I used black, lightweight, fire rated, UV resistant, fiberlock, marine carpet.
Cut to exact shape and stuck in place using some adhesive Velcro.
Easy to remove. No glare.
Metal surface matt black - just in case I forget the carpet:)

Kai wrote: The only thing I regret concerning the instrument panel/glareshield construction, is my strict adherence to the plans. I should have devised some means (hinge, detachable cover- whatever) to get behind the instrument panel once finished. As it is, any form of rewiring, inspection, repair etc) is something for the younger generation with considerable more agility then I can muster. I vented my concern about this to Sonex at the time, but was informed that the design was structural and I better not mess with it. Now I´m stuck with it.

I will contend that a 4-40 machine screw in a minature nut plate is scructurally equal or better than a 1/8" Stainless rivet. From various web sources:
"4-40 X 1/2 Flat Head Cap Screw Alloy Steel Black Oxide USA: Has a minimum single shear strength of 950 lbs and a minimum tensile strength of 880 lbs"
"The shear strength of a 1/8 inch stainless steel rivet with a steel body can range from 420–550 lbs."