Not much to say today except I got a couple of layers of gelcoat and CSM laid up on the buck for the side pod ducts, as you can see the under-layer of gel is orange, and (as you can’t see ) the top layer is canary yellow. the white section in the middle is a layer of coremat coated with some CSM. Today I also learned that laying up a moulding on a vertical surface is also a challenge, as at one stage the entire sheet of wetted out matting on one side began to peel away, and before I could stop it, pretty much the whole side had collapsed into the central tunnel. Handling wet CSM is not unlike trying to do origami with damp toilet tissue… a bit tricky.
But with 2 layers on the sides and 3 layers + 1 of coremat on the central tunnel I’m about half way through this layup. Dear FSM I hope it releases!
Not withstanding my little reference to “The Ancient Mariner” I’m beginning to see why having moulds made for a complete car is such an expensive and time consuming process (my friend Tony had been quoted 10,000 GBP for his Wolfe). This single mould is currently eating vast quantities of CSM, gelcoat and resin and constant stippling has made my RSI kick in. This is nothing like the normal pot of 3 or 400 CCs of resin that we amateurs normally use. Each layer of matting takes a litre of resin, and about 2.5 m x 1m of CSM. Then there are disposable gloves, mixing pots, brushes, acetone, gel coat, pigment, & coremat etc. No wonder my daughter’s stock greeting is now “You smell!” (of styrene I might add), plus goodly Mrs M is also being terribly tolerant of me traipsing GRP fibres around. Thanks Katie
Overall it’s still a pretty cheap, if very labour intensive) process. Yes Ok pattern & mould making is slow, labour intensive and smelly. But i did calculate that the second sidepod floor I made in the mould at the weekend cost me about £5, and saved a Kilo in weight. To make the comparable part in Aluminium is >25 quid, and of course not repeatable to the same degree.
I am glad that after this one I only have 1 front and 1 side floor left to go… very glad.
Of course I do have the problem of working out where to store the moulds from now on . hmm
And on that subject, while musing how to protect the important face surface of the side floor mould while it was in storage I had slow brain wave, well more of a ripple really…. refit the unwanted black moulding as a surface protector. It does after all fit!….. Well Duh! Adrian it only took you a week to come up with that idea.
Right I must get on and order some more glass tissue, CSM, resin.. and mixing cups.. oh and brushes…..
And acetone……erm and….