For a couple of years I've intended to make a new glove box...a shortened one that in the right rear part includes a shroud for an air conditioning/heating duct and I remembered I had no more cowlboard left. You know a lot of the interior of an AD truck is made with cowlboard. I called around town and discovered nobody sells it or if they do, it is very expensive, largely used for hobby projects and you won't find any long or wide enough to make something like an AD headliner without sectioning it. 32" x 48" seems to be the largest common size today and you have to order it. The cost for 2 of those being $66 total. Sad because before the Covid mess there used to be a couple of places here that sold it for about $15 for a 4 x 8 sheet. USPS and other shipping limitations have made a 4 x 8 sheet just too costly to transport I'm told. You can buy a whole pallet of it and have it trucked to you but not a couple of sheets.
So what to do? Lacking other options, I went down to Home Depot and found they sell two different types of heavy floor protection paper (one is .022" thick and the other is .042" thick). Serendipity kicked in because on the floor lay an unwrapped and slightly damaged roll of the .022" thick stuff, the fellow working there said for $18 I could have it and so off I went. I would have preferred to have the thicker material, however you get what you get sometimes. Here is one example:
https://tinyurl.com/mr3eyytjHow to do it? Seems pretty much like heavy duty papier-mache, I think. I used 4 layers glued together with Wal-Mart school glue (common PVA) to make a board .088" thick. Original cowlboard was .0665" thick. The stuff will have a natural curve to it when it comes off the roll. If you cut the pieces you need for your project and draw them backwards over a counter top or work bench edge, the curve will relax. You probably could iron it if you wanted. As you see below, I spread and paint glue on the top of one piece with a 2 inch chip brush, paint with glue also the side of the piece that will attach to it, line those two up and press it down flat. Then repeat until I have 4 layers laminated. Then I walked away and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then I made any additional cuts I need on the back side (in my case it was to allow for the "board" I was making to form a curve) and once I made the basic shape of the piece I need, I used masking tape to hold it until it dries overnight.
Then I used Minwax Polyacrylic to seal it. Paint on 2 coats a couple of hours apart with the chip brush. Let everything dry for a day or two. I think you'll be surprised how much like cowlboard this "board" you've made is...especially after it gets good and dry. Very solid feeling. Once I'm finished, I'll paint with oil based enamel.
That's about it, but soon I'll add some notes and images of making a new headliner (because now that I've learned I can make this material I think I need one), new door panel pieces (need those too) and maybe some other things. The floor protection paper is normally about $35 to $40 for a 50 foot roll and I think I used a bit less than 4 ounces of school glue (I got the Wal-Mart brand for about $.75 for each 4 ounce bottle). You can see some of what I'm doing below along with the glove box I'm in the process of making.
