Stevendavis
100cc
Wish I had your skills at glass work!
Scale Wendell Hostetler 30% PA-28 Cherokee Build
- Thread starter TonyHallo
- Start date
pawnshopmike
Staff member
Looks AMAZING!! 
TonyHallo
150cc
The mold is complete. There are a few bubbles that occurred, not sure why but suspect working in the sun had something to do with it. I can patch them up with putty. The balsa work plug was destroyed in the removal. Going to make two fiberglass parts then make the cement plugs. Rather than make a single plug I'm going to make three separate plugs for the windshield and side windows, the windows will be glued into the fiber glass canopy. It is a rather large mold, used 3 quarts of resin. I will use polyester resin again for making molds but work out of the sun.
TonyHallo
150cc
Put 15 coats of Partall #2 wax and 3 coats of Partall #10 PVA on the mold. then got the first 4 ounce glass cloth on. In the past I used West Systems products, trying a different product from US Composites based on reading here on the web. The US Composites products are cheaper also, $55 for 3 quarts verses $170 for 5 quarts of West System, figured it was worth a shot. I'm using their 635 thin system with slow hardener, it should set in 5 to 6 hours and reach full cure in 28 hours, tomorrow morning I should be able to place the second layer of 4 ounce after the epoxy sets then put on one layer of 8 ounce cloth in the afternoon. I bought the 4 ounce cloth from US Composites as well, it wet out real nice, there's only one piece of glass in the mold. With the thin epoxy I used a1" chip brush to wet out the cloth, I normally use acid brushes for West Systems epoxy. The black mold color really shows where the cloth needs wetted out to look clear.
Made a test piece of 2 layers of 4 ounce and 1 layer of 8 ounce cloth to check the stiffness, will will see what it's like before pulling the part put of the mold.
Made a test piece of 2 layers of 4 ounce and 1 layer of 8 ounce cloth to check the stiffness, will will see what it's like before pulling the part put of the mold.
TonyHallo
150cc
To hold the mold in place I used 1"x 10" sheeting, another $15 at Lowes. It really helps having the mold on firm ground. I started waxing without the supports and decided it wasn't goin to work. Before taking the photo I sopped up the excess resin in the bottom of the mold with paper towels. The glass fibers are now telegraphing.
I really hate thinking how much time and money I have invested in this one of kind piece!
Stevendavis
100cc
Can't wait until the big reveal !!
TonyHallo
150cc
I put the second layer of 8 ounce cloth on this morning. I should pull the part out tomorrow evening. I have the mold basking in the sun right now to speed up the cure on the last layer. My test piece with one layer of 8 ounce just didn't feel stiff enough. Layers 2 and 3 were installed as soon as the epoxy was set and still a bit tacky, those layers were rolled to layer under with a wall paper roller, it wet out real nice. The final layer this morning was after 15 hours and had become closer to fully cured, the final layer took a little more epoxy to wet out. Time to put the fuselage back on the and get ready to mount the canopy. It this point I can just paint the window and forget about the glass but I do like clear windows. Much of the fiberglass will get cut out
