New Scratch built fibreglass/carbon mono build

[martno1fan]

Bog mix is just resin mixed with milled fibres to thicken and add strength to it,you can also use gelcoat the same colour as your mouldings in the same way,gelcoat is just a thickened resin but still add the fibres to it for extra strength.Yes its important to glass the seam as butting two parts together is very weak.The shoebox join is much stronger for that reason.For your small hull just do where you can and in the bow section you could just use extra bog mix mixed with chopped strands and brush this over the seam in the hard to get to places.
As for trimming the parts i make my hulls with 3 layers maximum and there done wet on wet so all goes off together,trim when theyre at the green stage using a very sharp knife,run it from inside resting the blade on the mould lip and it will work pretty well.

[minigazz]

I think I have it straight in my head now! Thanks again.
Just mounted the canopy on a board with plasticine and gave it a few more wax coats. Not decided if i am going to pva it or not yet.

I had a bit of a disaster with the hull - during the summer I dropped it and put a dent in the top deck, which I glued, filled and then painted over. While I was polishing it I must have pushed down too hard, because I popped it back through. This time I pushed it all through, sanded the hole into a circle, plugged the gap from below some balsa and then filled it. I also broke my paint gun so I am going to be on ebay...
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[martno1fan]

Pva might be a good idea for the moulds and also the first parts from them,once the moulds been used afew times and the wax built up more the parts will come out easier and easier so no need for pva and the finish will be shinier also,
Sory to hear about your little disaster,i could write a book on mine hehe.
Im in the process of reviving an old deep vee mould ive aquired from a friend shes 65" long and 20" wide shes massive lol,ive also got a 72" cigarette plug to finish and mould so im busy with those and also still building boats to order lol.
Once you get yours ready for production im sure you will sell lots of them so im sure you will need a few moulds hehe.
Mart

[minigazz]

Yea, I think that sounds like a good idea - I don't want to risk damaging the moulds. I have bought a new gun off ebay - £13, it can't be any worse than the one I broke. In the mean time I am going to have to go back to brushes.
That is massive! Good luck with that!
What sort of price could you ask for a hull the size of the one I am producing? I would honestly have no idea. I wouldn't be looking to make a huge profit on them, just cover the costs of tooling!

[martno1fan]

I would say look at whats out there at similar size and go from there,also if you plan on carbon factor that into the price.
I sell my 58 Apache and Arrow 57 for £155 each for glass layup,with carbon i sell for £185 both prices are very inexpensive when compaired to other companys but im told by many my quallity is better so im happy with that.I make enough to cover cost of making them and a bit of profit and thats fine by me as it means i can keep developing my range of boats and keep building up my reputation.
I hope to be able to keep the prices of the bigger hulls i have coming reasonably low while keeping the quality as high as possible.
Mart

[minigazz]

Good and bad news again today. The good news is that I managed to make a nice mould for the canopy - I pva'd as i said and it seemed to come out well! The repair I did on the hull deck came out relatively well too. However, yet again I have hit wood and I don't seem to be able to avoid it! Just as I flat off the mottled effect of the spray paint and start trying to shine the primer the wood comes through! Its so frustrating as I feel like I'm going round in circles and slowly ruining the structure of the plug.

[martno1fan]

Dont worry too much about getting the plug perfect you might be best getting it near then moulding and then wet sanding and polishing the mould once its made ,just be sure to put an extra coat of gelcoat so you have material to sand off and you will be fine m8.
Mart
HAPPY NEW YEAR

[minigazz]

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Yea, I'm really struggling with it. Its so disheartening knowing you'll have to repaint it, wait for the paint to cure and then sand it all again. Do you wait for the first coat of gel coat to cure completely or do it when its slightly tacky?

Happy new year to you too!

[martno1fan]

Let the gelcoat go tacky,test with your finger if its tacky but doesnt come off on your finger its fine to do another coat,i usually do 3 if im using a brush which is what i mainly use,Havent noticed any advantage in using spray equipment for gelcoat to be honest,too much cleaning up after too,use the brush throw away after your done ,simple.Azda have some cheapo brushes that work well,dont lose many hairs which is allways a good thing lol.
Mart

[minigazz]

Would you recommend doing two layers on parts as well as moulds? I pulled a hatch cover yesterday and it came out almost perfect! It had a slight chip in the gel coat where it grabbed an imperfection in the mould, but this has now been sorted. I have now come up with a new problem - the hatch has nothing to grab hold of to remove it! no big problem though. Im thinking of using rare earth magnets as a means of holding the hatch down, I don't know if anyone has had any experience with this? I also made good progress with the hull - there are bits of wood just poking through in places, but generally its all good and can now be waxed up. It seems once I have done one coat of wax that later coats are a little pointless as the shine doesn't seem to improve, am I wrong? Does anyone know a good surface to build my parting dam with, for the hatch I built it up on a kitchen cabinet door, but the plastic laminate surface reacted with the gelcoat and left an uneven surface which luckily I could sand flat - obviously I can't do this with the hull as it will compromise the fit of the two halves. I found screwfix to be a good place to get brushes from. I think you can get 5x 25mm ones for about £1, I have found sets cheaper elsewhere but because the scale of my project I need to use small brushes.

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[srislash]

That's looking good!

[minigazz]

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Thanks!

[martno1fan]

Hi gaz looks good so far,with the cowl just leave some glass untrimemd round the lip that you can get hold of to help remove the part,also buy some soft wedges to help.With wax make sure you dont leave it too long to dry before you buff,to be honest on mine i wax on and wax off within minutes and that has served me well as none of my parts stick.My moulds are bigger so by time ive waxed it all its started to dry to a dull finish so i just buff it,as yours is smaller leave it a few minutes no more then buff.Try the wax i use its fantastic stuff.As for the wood for the lip i use plain old hardboard as the surface is shiny and waxes well,you can also use melamine from cuboard sides ,the doors tend to be made from a thin plastic covering so wont work.
Mart

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honey-Plus-Wax-Mold-Mould-Release-GRP-Fibre-Glass-/110801915174?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item19cc4f0d26

[minigazz]

Cheers! If I keep waxing will it eventually become really shiny then? I use that wax, it seems pretty good! I think we have some cupboard sides kicking around. Might have to get some hardboard though as it might need some flex. Although I think the parting line line is flat. When i say i can't get it out, I mean from the complete hull, it needs handles or something, lol. Thanks again!

[minigazz]

I just found this on the net, how can they knock these out at this price?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RC-Turnigy-Cobra-Fiberglass-V-Hull-385mm-Hull-Only-ID-11983-/140648981342?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item20bf55235e