Earlier, BA-100 wrote:

My question is, would it be possible to laminate
your own shell using vacuum bagging? Seems to me
even the wettest veneers would split if you tried
to force them into or around a male or female mold.

Well, it's pretty easy to try it and see. Get some strips of thin
veneers (I'm thinking 1/64" to 1/32" or so) and try it out. For a test
part you can use any compound curved surface of about the curvature of
your porposed surface. I'd be inclined to try it out using VW beetle
(the old ones) fenders or roof sections from a junkyard. That'll give
you both internal and external test curve surfaces. If you can make
that work, it should give you enough experience and confidence to
proceed.

There are still folks around who know exactly how Bowlus made his
fuselage pods, it shouldn't be too hard to explore that. I believe that
Jeff Byard even has photos of the Bowlus tooling. There are also a
multitude of photos of the Lockheed Vega tools that used (I belive)
concrete molds and pressurized rubber bladders.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24