Finishing your Sidestick Consoles

By Joe Ozegovich

We have provided you the dimensions. Now you can see first hand, one way that you can finish the consoles. I will take you step by step through the procedure I used to finish the consoles. One of the nice things about me prototyping it and posting the results is, you get to learn from my mistakes! And yes, you will make mistakes. Many small, that can be covered up. Some that, well, you just have to do it over. Always allow for error. Remember, every time you go back to fix something small, you expose your self to making a bigger mistake. That happened to me during the assembly of the Captains upper console. I just wasn't happy with the little bit of extra wood that stuck out. Well, I had to start all over again, because I cut the piece too small. A good tip, you can always take more off, but if you cut too much, you have scrap. I will assume that you have assembled the pieces. The first thing to do is fill all the holes and gaps that you made during the assembly of the pieces. Use quality wood filler, it is easy to use and does a good job. The directions say to "dampen surface before application", this is good advice, otherwise the filler doesn't want to stick. Refer to figure 1 for an example of the wood filling application.

Wait at least two hours to sand the filler down, more like a day. You don't want to rush a project like this, humidity adds to the drying time. When you are ready to sand, use fine grit sandpaper, 100 or finer. Make sure to wear a dust mask when sanding. It will get very cloudy wherever you do this. Don't be concerned if you have to do a second coat. This step is critical to the final appearance. When you think that a small blemish won't matter. Guess what, it does. I know this now. I thought that I had finished the back pretty nice. Well, there were still some little dips. Now, I look at the finished product, and I cringe. So make sure all blemishes are removed or treated. Keep plenty of sandpaper handy. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the pieces that are sanded.

Figure 2

Now that you are comfortable with the results from sanding, lets move in the next phase, cleaning and painting. Make sure to clean up well, because paint doesn't stick too well to dust. First, you want to prime all the pieces. Use a good water based primer, it is easier to clean up. You will need to prime these pieces, otherwise, the paint would be inconsistent and will just soak into the wood, and wood filler. Again, be sure that all holes and cracks in exposed areas are filled and sanded. Figure 4 illustrates the primed pieces.

I tried the method that Peter suggested for simulating cracked vinyl. Smart man, worked great. All the trim (cushions) pieces, console tops have the cracked vinyl look. I used a brand that had a spray can. I spent US $7.50 for a set, two cans in a set, one for the base coat and one for the crackle coat. I almost finished one set for the upper console pieces. You will need this paint for the Pedestal, the Glareshield, and the Aft consoles if you choose to build those pieces. First you have to apply the base coat (Figure 5), you should apply several coats because that will give you a larger crack, more realistic. Wait for the appropriate times. You don't want to have to the whole thing over. Don't spray too far away, because the paint will dry before it hits the pieces. This happened to me on the crackle paint part. The distance was 6-8 inches. I must have been farther, because I had a lot of paint just rubbing off. Some of the paint didn't take; therefor I only had a little crackle paint applied. Because of this my cracks were small, and different than the correctly applied sides. I simply wiped off the paint that didn't take. I purchased the only colors that seemed to go, somewhat, with the true cockpit color was Midnight Blue and Gold. I suggest waiting a week for the paint to cure, before applying the final paint. Otherwise, it can start peeling off.

Now that you waited, it is time to paint the finishing coat.

Figures 6&7

Now that your paint has dried, it is time to add the hinges. I added hinges to the outboard side of the console. Out of view and works well for access. I also added Velcro to the inboard edges to provide more stability to the upper console. Use the cushy side of the Velcro on the base. Refer to Figure 8. Figure 9 illustrates the console after the hinges are installed

Figures 8&9

Time to make the consoles stable, and to make sure the edges don't get scraped up. I figure I will be moving them around a lot, and if you move around, its nice to have the bottoms that won’t scrape .Use washers as shims to ensure the base is level. Put the base on a flat surface, and check if it is level, use the washers if you see any imbalance. Drill the holes first, so that the wood doesn't split. Once it is level, install the skids on the four corners, make sure to add the shims before installing skids. The only thing left to do is to apply a coat of high-gloss clearcoat, to give that vinyl look. I have to wait a week for that.

Figure 10