Sorry I am late into this discussion, I have been away.

I come from musical instrument bending, hot pipe and recently SOF Bending with steam. I think 3/16 is better to bend. Dont worry about the inside and outside finish, you will have one good outside and one good inside if you rip your wood into strips, put the less good pieces inside the sandwich.

Band saw "very" slowly and make sure your guides are properly adjusted. Use a "wide" a blade as you can (1/2 inch at least) Better still use a thin blade electric saw. Put your electric saw upside down in a vice, rig up a guide and rip it thinly. Take it to a mate who has a table saw.

All your pieces do not have to be Full length to the circumference of the cockpit. It would be nice to have the outside like that but I failed on that at the last jump! Scarf joints work very well and do not look out of place.

I used three 3/16th lamination's with a thinner one in there somewhere (!) It just happened that way.

: so, will 3/8" bend OK?

: I did rip some on a bandsaw but the blade followed the grain and the pieces
: aren't uniform. I wanted to get one uniform thickness bent around the form
: that I could laminate the thinner ones to.

: thanks for the responses.