Source: 2015 Q1 Beartracks, Eric Parks and Brent VanDervort
What do you get when you combine a team of two Bearhawk scratch-builders, when one is an expert metal fabricator who strongly dislikes fiberglass? An all-metal Bearhawk, of course. Here are a few pictures the formed aluminum nosebowl that Brent has made. Eric and Brent are building in south Charlotte, NC, and they also have completed a set of aluminum wing tips, which reportedly look like small canoes. Material is .062” 3003-H14.






The photos show several of the steps in the sequence. The nosebowl is not formed entirely from a flat sheet of aluminum. Brent made a few strategic cuts to remove material in the curviest sections, which he welded closed with an oxy-acetylene process. As he says, the parts look all wrong right up until they are done. In case you are wondering as I was, they are not planning to polish the parts. Brent is counting on a little bit of filler to produce a first-class final paint finish.