TR2/3/3A tr3 leather cockpit capping dog leg

[sp53]

I am pretty sure it Geo and what he was taking about was putting leather capping on the dog leg of a tr3 cockpit. My question is I think he said something about preforming the leather a little by dampening the leather a little to help it conform to the odd shape of the dog leg.

 

[martx-5]

Here's a thread that i wrote about the subject. It has a link to the fixture that Geo Hahn made, which I copied. It worked very well. I did soak the leather before hand and also had to use a bit of heat from a heat gun. If you're patient, you will wind up without any wrinkles. Make one of those jigs, as it holds the dogleg very well and allows you to work the leather. Actually, I think it's easier to get it wrinkle free with leather then vinyl.

 

[Geo Hahn]

How time flies -- I look at those pictures and realize that was 3 houses ago. All those moves and my workbench is still messy.

For the benefit of future searchers who land here:

An overnight soak in hot (later warm, finally cool) water did the leather no harm and possibly rendered it easier to work with as it will need to stretch some to fit the curves. A heat gun was also 'used to advantage' as the manuals say.

You don't need a lot of adhesive, just enough to hold it in place as once it is installed the tight fit will assure it isn't going anywhere.

 

[sp53]

I guess I am confused about wetting the leather. So I build the jig and mount the dog leg on the jig then soak the leather in hot water and stretch it over the dogleg and then it dry? Then do it again with some warm water and work the leather around the curves then let that dry. Once the water is evaporated, now I start clueing from the center out using a heat gun and manipulating the leather down the sides. Once I have it glued to the face and sides, I cut the pleats and fold and glue the leather to the underside?

 

[Geo Hahn]

It's been more than a decade since those pictures were taken but as I recall --

What you see in the 3rd pic was done all in one go. I took the soaked leather, sprayed a light coat of 3M adhesive on the cap piece and the backside of the leather and went at it.

It's a tug of war -- stretching, peeling off and refitting, pulling every whichway -- with the heat gun being used as needed.

The adhesive works even if the leather is wet -- possibly not real well but that's okay, you don't want more than a little grip (hence the light coat).

Once I was satisfied with how it was laying on there (3rd pic) I began the folding, cutting and glueing to the inside.