Hello All 

I am rebuilding a Laser Z200 aerobatic aircraft. The aircraft was originally amateur built in the UK in the late 90s, and has gone on to win many aerobatic competitions in its time. The Laser design is thought of as the forerunner to the modern Extra and Edge aircraft designs which still share much of the DNA. The modern aircraft manufacturers have taken the design to the next level with the use of composites. Although I will not be converting my wood based wing to composite I will try and use this project to learn a new skill set, producing some smaller composite parts along the way such as.

Cowling
Turtle Deck
Heel Trays
Instrument Panel
Side Panels
Smoke Oil Tank
Below are some pictures of my progress so far. I started out small, making a set of carbon heel trays that my feet will rest upon below the rudder pedals. A simple shape I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to get a hang of the Uni Mould making process and Easy Preg system before tackling the larger and consequently more expensive projects. 
The plug was MDF and prepped with the Pattern coat primer. I managed to achieve a reasonable finish for a first attempt. As you can see I made my first mistake by making the plug the wrong way round forcing me to make a second mould from the mould.



Oops...rookie error



I was lucky enough to get hold of this industrial oven as surplus from work.



Reasonably happy with the result. I used the Surface layer easy preg followed by a layer of the backing, then a foam core down the centre then a further backing ply to close out. Been knew to the game I didn't realise how much the core would try and wick the resin from the surface plies. Considering my mistake the surface finish is reasonably good, the voiding is not too extensive. However where the core has not been used I was very pleased with the finish. The parts are light too at just over 100g each and strong enough to take my weight turned upside down as per the above picture.

The second project was much more ambitious!