Thread: Forming multi contoured upholstery panels using sculpted foam and fiberglass

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Does anyone know of a good website which covers step by step the process of forming weird shaped (multi-contoured) auto interior panels from foam, then covering them with fiberglass, to make "upholsterable" rigid fiberglass panels? The rear of the cockpit area in the roadster pickup I am building is a really strange shape, right from the back side of the doors , across behind the seats. I am thinking on filling it with a glue on foam, shaping it to what I want, then glassing the entire area. This glass panel could be removed, foam scraped out (if necessary), then the glass form upholstered and reinstalled. I could use some reference material.---Thanx

Brian, it's too bad you're not closer to the Detroit area. Ididit has been holding a monthly seminar during the winter months the last couple of years. The March seminar was last week and the owner of RodDoors in Chico, CA was in to show how to do trim panels.

RodDoors has 23 universal trim-to-fit trim panels with different patterns already molded in to them. The panels are made from .125" abs plastic. There are also 13 different arm rests as well as other interior items to make the interior look good.

They also sell a base panel as well, but I'm sure you could find basic sheet plastic to base the trim panels on. In the case of the demonstration, ultra leather was glued directly to the abs plastic. He started at the arm rest area and moved outward from there. He said you can use foam (typically 1/4") and glue it to the panel and them glue the trim material to the foam. The foam was trimmed around the molded pattern so that it's not washed out by the foam.

I had been a little intimedated by the idea of doing the interior trim. I'm most likely going to try my hand at doing the interior and trunk trim panels myself. As I can't sew worth a damn, I'll leave my seats and headliner to the trim shop, I think I just found away to save a few thousand on trim labor.

They sell a video tape for around $20-$25. They also sell the material. Check out their website. Sorry to sound like a salesman, but the seminar was extremely interesting and has me fired up to back in the garage .

The funny part was that roughly 20% of those there brough their wifes. Guess who has interior duty? LOL!

I've gotten a lot of good information from http://www.glassmanscustomforum.com (from the forums and I bought some of the DVDs). I plan on doing my doors and other panels this Spring.