Spitfire wings at AREA-52


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crash_out
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Post by crash_out »

I worked in a fiberglass bathtub factory until I got laid off earlier this year(blah).

We used an air wedge to blow air around the perimiter of the unit to help seperate the tub from the molde, then used an attached air fitting to drive air into a plunger at the drain to pull the unit off...most of the time we wouldn't have to use Wylo (mold release) every time, just as long as the molds were wiped down well...Of course we sprayed gelcoat in there first...

I realize you couldn't really do it with a camo scheme, but have you considered using a gelcoat primer? May or may not help...

Keep up the great work...kind of wish I still worked at the F'glass plant so I could use all the scrap stuff they threw away...
THend
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Post by THend »

Actually you can paint in the mold and have it come out with the part.

That will be soon enough.. Imagine, a fuse popped and already painted!

Made another motormount jig tonight, and I think the measurements provided by Tower are off a tad. Taking it to work tomorrow to have our dimensional specialist measure it all up. I know the machine is ok, because I found my mistake in the drawing. My measurements for the width of the holes on opposite sides was 31.5 mm, and Tower said 32 so I went with 32 and it looks like it is too wide to me.

No big deal, just need to modify the drill sequence, everything else came out sweet! [:D]
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o1moregil
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Post by o1moregil »

I use to cut low tac vinyl flames disigns for a company in Modesto Ca. (Modesto Fiberglass Fixation), they used them for inmold painting for tunel boats, ski boat speaker boxes etc. the process was purty inerested, first they would apply the decal flame to the mold, then they would shoot a gel coat paint, next they would remove the decal and then shoot another color on top of were the decal was, then they layed the fiberglass ontop of the gel coat, the result of the finish was awesome, very high gloss, and the paint was very difficult to chip
THend
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Post by THend »

Thanks for that tip, I had been wondering how I might go about it.
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

Help me understand the right half/left half bonding process a little better, please. You do the layups in both halves, then trim one side flush and the other side gets a 1/2" more. Once the sides are bolted together, you roll out the the extra 1/2" to bond the two parts together. The ball bearings do the same thing as the roller, right?

So there is no separate 1" glass strip that goes down the center, it is just the extra glass flattened out. Some of the fuselages I've seen come with a molded in vertical fin. Do you leave the back open where the rudder joins, or is there some other technique to get the bond back in that tight space.

This is one of the better tutorials I have seen. We might want to consider re-packaging it once Terry is finished and put it in the Workshop section as a PDF.

Great work guys!
THend
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Post by THend »

I'll get an answer to you Ed. I think we can all learn from this.

When I get home, I'll provide some clarification.

TH
THend
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Post by THend »

Well, been busier than expected.

I am currently working on this Ki64 Rob from Bob Wallace. I have two of these for a very long time now, and decided to give it a shot since I have the router to cut the firewalls, and to see what it is like to work with glass and this kind of design. I think the reason this didn't take off is that it is not real easy to set up all the incidence angles etc... With the new technology of CNC, and some pre-thought about how to mount motors, maybe we can get some glass birds going, and in shorter to equal effort.

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THend
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Post by THend »

Well, I took a few minutes at lunch and threw this together as an attempt to explain the wet seam in mold concept. Each half has wetted glass extending beyond the mold one side has it on the upper half, the other on the lower. Then hold them offset and bring them together, getting the extended glass inside the other half.

Here it goes....[:p]
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draftman1
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Post by draftman1 »

that works Terry. great explanation!
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

Thank you ... the proverbial 1000+ words picture
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