Ok, i've been thinking & i'm going to try to describe it so you guys might be able to point out any oversights
1/ use a 1.5-2mm aluminium to keep it flat & to get the bend at the right angle (where the seat meets the face of the hump). There will be 4 holes in the aluminium for rivet nuts so the seat can be flat mounted to the main seat base.
2/ use 10 mm MDF & shape it the same as the aluminium base, the aluminium base will be 10-15mm smaller all the way round to leave a wooden edge so the upholsterer can staple the seat material to the wood. The only tricky bit i see here is getting the angles correct where i have to cut the wood to get the right angle (again where the seat meets the hump). The MDF will have 4 larger holes in so the rivet nuts of the aluminium can expand on fitting
3/ Glue the wood to the aluminium, round off the edges.
4/ Glue the 15mm seat foam to the wood (yes the seat is supposed to be low profile).
5/ The easy bit (for me). Send the seat to the upholsterer
. I would try it myself buy i want some black piping around the top & bottom edge.
6/ Attach seat to main seat base from underside
If anyone has experience of upholstering i'd be gratefull if they could let me know if the 10mm or so of edge wood is enough room for him to use a staple gun to attach the leather?
Cuff wrote: You may want to apply your padding to a 1/4" piece of plywood and wrap the covering over that. Before this though place your templated plywood on the seat pan and drill 4 holes in the corners through the ply and through the seat base. Then get some Chicago bolts and mount the female side of the bolt to the top side of the ply. After padding and wraping the seat (with the female Chicago bolt inside) place it on your pan and attach with the male part through the bottom of your seat pan. This way you can remove the padding if you don't like it and re-do it quite easily using staples to secure the cover.
Don't know if I've made sense but in my little brain it works.
btw: the more round your corners are the easier it is to get a smooth corner. As well a heat gun is your friend.
Not far off what you're saying at all!