Why I love fiberglass

[klehman]

For your amusement here follows a numbered sequence of e-mails to my
daughter who likes to keep apprized of my progress... The project is a
nosebowl. - Ken


1. Have I mentioned why I love fibreglass ?

This all started when I went to get a 2" thick piece of blue foam which
I calculated would do nicely for a plug, laminated 3 layers thick. Paid
for it. But whoa there is no 2" foam in the yard. Closest yard that
stocks it is 20 mi in wrong direction and if this yard doesn't really
have any can I believe the next one does. Hmmm Accept the guys offer and
grab 2 pieces of 1" foam while griping about the extra laminations and
glue joints.

Make plug. Takes a day or so but maybe this isn't so bad.

Cut a v groove to remove hard glue from surface of plug at laminations
and then filling groove with plaster. Apply plaster to entire mold in
several steps. Another day goes by or is it two?

Apply coat of paint to seal the mold. Seems to take a long time to dry
and doesn't sand very well. More cutting and plastering. Apply nother
coat of paint. Whoa this primer sealer is not latex. What the?? Didn't
think I had any primer sealer that wasn't latex. Grab rags and jug of
varsol and clean off the still wet coat of paint. Make a little oven to
speed things up. Oops 300 watt light bulb gets a little too warm and
melts a little foam. More plaster. Nother day gone.

Add several coats of LATEX interspersed with plaster repairs here and
there. We all know that a coat of paint always highlights imperfections
and my advisor has said that gellcoat will copy even a fingerprint...
Notice that this is not getting any better. Each brushed coat of paint
just adds more brush streaks... Try to spray a coat. Too thick won't
spray. Try a spray coat of polyester filler. After all this thing has to
be sealed by now. Wrong. Polyester seeps through and dissolves foam in a
couple of spots. More plaster. Hmmm one batch of filler sands other
batch is gummy. Guess I didn't get enough hardener in that batch. Nother
Day.

Scrape and add more plaster. Oh well at least this thing is heavy enough
now to keep the wind from blowing it over. Succeed in spraying a coat of
latex paint but it is too thin and can't stop it from running. Sand the
runs. More plaster. Clearly this would be easier if all the coats of
paint weren't white which is also the colour of the plaster. Add some
tint. Tint plugs spray gun. Brush on the second coat of latex paint.
Plaster bubbles appear. Why now? Have decided that I have slipped into
an alternate universe. Or I'm just cursed!

By the time I get this sorted out it will be too cold to make the mold
anyway. Yes sequence is plug, then mold, then part, and I'm still
plugging...

K. pax?
alternate universe?


2. Nosebowl plug is presently resting under an infra red lamp.

Of course it's basically a hunk of foam so a new dent appears every time
you move it. More plaster.

Speaking of dents I have now made a dent in a large bottle of wine.

Things are looking up. I'll just clean off that plaster and replace it
with polyester body filler. It should harden quickly - you know before
the foam melts...


3. Some guys never learn.

Drank wine.
Sanded plug.
Added more plaster.
Sanded
Painted
more ^&%$ bubbles
you can actually see the gas forming but don't know what it is.
tomorrow I make the mold as is before it gets any worse.
Then it's Bondo (body filler) time or bonfire time...

I

[Drew Dalgleish]

very inspiring Ken. I keep thinking I should just whip up a set of hoerner
style wing tips since the Fife ones aren't in my budjet. Maybe I'll just
have a glass of wine and dream some more.
Drew Dalgleish




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[klehman]

Drew
I certainly would not want to discourage anybody but yes I now think
Dave's are an even bigger bargain ;)
Ken

Drew Dalgleish wrote:

very inspiring Ken. I keep thinking I should just whip up a set of hoerner
style wing tips since the Fife ones aren't in my budjet. Maybe I'll just
have a glass of wine and dream some more.
Drew Dalgleish

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[Brian Lawson]

Hey Ken,

Great chuckle! You should submit that as an "article" to some
magazine or other.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 08:38:00 -0500, you wrote:

For your amusement here follows a numbered sequence of e-mails to my
daughter who likes to keep apprized of my progress... The project is a
nosebowl. - Ken


1. Have I mentioned why I love fibreglass ?

This all started when I went to get a 2" thick piece of blue foam which
I calculated would do nicely for a plug, laminated 3 layers thick. Paid
for it. But whoa there is no 2" foam in the yard. Closest yard that
stocks it is 20 mi in wrong direction and if this yard doesn't really
have any can I believe the next one does. Hmmm Accept the guys offer and

grab 2 pieces of 1" foam while griping about the extra laminations and
glue joints.

Make plug. Takes a day or so but maybe this isn't so bad.

Cut a v groove to remove hard glue from surface of plug at laminations
and then filling groove with plaster. Apply plaster to entire mold in
several steps. Another day goes by or is it two?

Apply coat of paint to seal the mold. Seems to take a long time to dry
and doesn't sand very well. More cutting and plastering. Apply nother
coat of paint. Whoa this primer sealer is not latex. What the?? Didn't
think I had any primer sealer that wasn't latex. Grab rags and jug of
varsol and clean off the still wet coat of paint. Make a little oven to
speed things up. Oops 300 watt light bulb gets a little too warm and
melts a little foam. More plaster. Nother day gone.

Add several coats of LATEX interspersed with plaster repairs here and
there. We all know that a coat of paint always highlights imperfections
and my advisor has said that gellcoat will copy even a fingerprint...
Notice that this is not getting any better. Each brushed coat of paint
just adds more brush streaks... Try to spray a coat. Too thick won't
spray. Try a spray coat of polyester filler. After all this thing has to

be sealed by now. Wrong. Polyester seeps through and dissolves foam in a

couple of spots. More plaster. Hmmm one batch of filler sands other
batch is gummy. Guess I didn't get enough hardener in that batch. Nother

Day.

Scrape and add more plaster. Oh well at least this thing is heavy enough

now to keep the wind from blowing it over. Succeed in spraying a coat of

latex paint but it is too thin and can't stop it from running. Sand the
runs. More plaster. Clearly this would be easier if all the coats of
paint weren't white which is also the colour of the plaster. Add some
tint. Tint plugs spray gun. Brush on the second coat of latex paint.
Plaster bubbles appear. Why now? Have decided that I have slipped into
an alternate universe. Or I'm just cursed!

By the time I get this sorted out it will be too cold to make the mold
anyway. Yes sequence is plug, then mold, then part, and I'm still
plugging...

K. pax?
alternate universe?


2. Nosebowl plug is presently resting under an infra red lamp.

Of course it's basically a hunk of foam so a new dent appears every time

you move it. More plaster.

Speaking of dents I have now made a dent in a large bottle of wine.

Things are looking up. I'll just clean off that plaster and replace it
with polyester body filler. It should harden quickly - you know before
the foam melts...


3. Some guys never learn.

Drank wine.
Sanded plug.
Added more plaster.
Sanded
Painted
more ^&%$ bubbles
you can actually see the gas forming but don't know what it is.
tomorrow I make the mold as is before it gets any worse.
Then it's Bondo (body filler) time or bonfire time...

I

[Wayne G. O'Shea]

Looked like a good piece for the RAA rec flyer. Forward it to Gary Wolf at
wolfpack@sentex.net Ken!

Wayne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Lawson" <lawsonb@mnsi.net>
To: <murphy-rebel@dcsol.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 7:35 AM
Subject: Re: Why I love fiberglass

Hey Ken,

Great chuckle! You should submit that as an "article" to some
magazine or other.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 08:38:00 -0500, you wrote:

For your amusement here follows a numbered sequence of e-mails to my
daughter who likes to keep apprized of my progress... The project is a
nosebowl. - Ken


1. Have I mentioned why I love fibreglass ?

This all started when I went to get a 2" thick piece of blue foam which
I calculated would do nicely for a plug, laminated 3 layers thick. Paid
for it. But whoa there is no 2" foam in the yard. Closest yard that
stocks it is 20 mi in wrong direction and if this yard doesn't really
have any can I believe the next one does. Hmmm Accept the guys offer and

grab 2 pieces of 1" foam while griping about the extra laminations and
glue joints.

Make plug. Takes a day or so but maybe this isn't so bad.

Cut a v groove to remove hard glue from surface of plug at laminations
and then filling groove with plaster. Apply plaster to entire mold in
several steps. Another day goes by or is it two?

Apply coat of paint to seal the mold. Seems to take a long time to dry
and doesn't sand very well. More cutting and plastering. Apply nother
coat of paint. Whoa this primer sealer is not latex. What the?? Didn't
think I had any primer sealer that wasn't latex. Grab rags and jug of
varsol and clean off the still wet coat of paint. Make a little oven to
speed things up. Oops 300 watt light bulb gets a little too warm and
melts a little foam. More plaster. Nother day gone.

Add several coats of LATEX interspersed with plaster repairs here and
there. We all know that a coat of paint always highlights imperfections
and my advisor has said that gellcoat will copy even a fingerprint...
Notice that this is not getting any better. Each brushed coat of paint
just adds more brush streaks... Try to spray a coat. Too thick won't
spray. Try a spray coat of polyester filler. After all this thing has to

be sealed by now. Wrong. Polyester seeps through and dissolves foam in a

couple of spots. More plaster. Hmmm one batch of filler sands other
batch is gummy. Guess I didn't get enough hardener in that batch. Nother

Day.

Scrape and add more plaster. Oh well at least this thing is heavy enough

now to keep the wind from blowing it over. Succeed in spraying a coat of

latex paint but it is too thin and can't stop it from running. Sand the
runs. More plaster. Clearly this would be easier if all the coats of
paint weren't white which is also the colour of the plaster. Add some
tint. Tint plugs spray gun. Brush on the second coat of latex paint.
Plaster bubbles appear. Why now? Have decided that I have slipped into
an alternate universe. Or I'm just cursed!

By the time I get this sorted out it will be too cold to make the mold
anyway. Yes sequence is plug, then mold, then part, and I'm still
plugging...

K. pax?
alternate universe?


2. Nosebowl plug is presently resting under an infra red lamp.

Of course it's basically a hunk of foam so a new dent appears every time

you move it. More plaster.

Speaking of dents I have now made a dent in a large bottle of wine.

Things are looking up. I'll just clean off that plaster and replace it
with polyester body filler. It should harden quickly - you know before
the foam melts...


3. Some guys never learn.

Drank wine.
Sanded plug.
Added more plaster.
Sanded
Painted
more ^&%$ bubbles
you can actually see the gas forming but don't know what it is.
tomorrow I make the mold as is before it gets any worse.
Then it's Bondo (body filler) time or bonfire time...

I'm starting to understand how this could get annoying


4. Sanded the plug and gellcoated it. After all I'll get a chance to
clean it up a bit later. I'm a little concerned that it took more than

an hour for the gellcoat to start to harden. Left it in a warm place
(you remember the light bulbs?) overnight but the surface is still very
sticky. I think maybe I have laminating gellcoat without wax in which
case I think the surface should remain sticky before laminating and all

is well. Not positive though as last time I used a gellcoat to make a
little water pond the surface set hard. The vendor might have added wax

for that though.

5. Thanks for helping adding the two layers of mat and resin to make
the mold on the weekend. Oh yes we decided to refer to it as a smold
didn't we? That went well but you can see that it could have been a
challenge doing it by myself. Cutting the mat with sticky resin coated
fingers and such... Almost as much fun as proseal!

I ripped out the first 1" layer of foam and was delighted to find that
the gellcoat seems to be hard. Lots of work still but we have a workable

smold :) Hurray!

Maybe the curse is hidden under the next 5" of foam but it just might
have moved on to some other formerly happy builder foolish enough to
dabble with fibreglass!

The five coats of wax between the plug and the gell coat is a bit
tenacious but I think it will separate with some effort. Of course the
edge is held tight by the resin. That plaster just keeps hangin in

there.

..


6. OK we have a female mold with gellcoat and 2 layers of mat.
The additional dollar cost (we are definitely NOT tallying the labour)
was only about $35. to make the smold. I think this way will result in
a lighter part. The pro that I talked to wouldn't even consider doing it

without a mold and I now see that he may have been right. At least

I'm

starting to get a feel for this. Theoretically the smold will let me
try again even if I mess up the final piece but surely that won't be
necessary.

Spent a couple of hours chipping the foam out of the smold. Of course
the plaster stayed in, just the foam chipped out. However the layer of
plaster/paint separated cleanly off the 5 layers of wax once the foam
was removed. Well except for around the openings but that only took
another hour or so of chipping. Kind of like removing packing tape when
you can't find the end.

Smold doesn't look too bad. Sand, add some body filler here and there.

(no more stink'in plaster at least). More sanding, more body filler,

yo

u
get the idea.. Hmm at least the plaster did sand easily.

Put a coat of wax on. Shiny surface. Now I can really see the defects.
More sanding, More body filler. More Wax. OK deja vu, I could do this
forever. Besides I can always touch up the final part a bit... Quick
five coats of wax. OK not so quick - wax wait 30 minutes, wax again etc,

let dry for several hours after final coat.

Well I was never so deranged that I thought I'd get a one piece
separation of the plug from the smold but it does occur to me that I
won't be able to chip the smold off the nose bowl. Maybe a couple more

layers of wax wouldn't hurt. Wish I hadn't read that article

explaini

ng
that no matter how many coats of polish one puts on a car, the polish
layer won't get any thicker. The wax manufacturer calls for 5 coats

but

he might have a conflict of interest. Ahh but maybe wax is different
than polish eh?

A couple more light gentle coats so as to not remove what's already
there. That's the ticket! Gee you can really see the little surface
flaws really stand out now.

7. I precut all the cloth since the sun was poking through the clouds
nicely. Then the sun went away and it got too cold to use the resin :( .
Oddly now that I convinced myself that gellcoat wasn't supposed to
harden on the air side, it did this time. Guess I'll have to sand it
before applying the cloth...

8. Well the nosebowl layup didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. The
one time I would have liked the resin to take a really long time to
harden... Oh well went at it with the body grinder and some more
fibreglass the next day and I think it will be useable.

Presently filling the 4th green garbage bag with debris from this
environmentally responsible endeaver and that does not count the smold
itself.

9. Well the smold did not surrender the nosebowl willingly. I jammed
putty knives, strips of aluminum, etc. in to try and separated them. I
hammered it. I put it on the floor and jumped on it. Finally I started
hammering foot long tapered strips of cedar shingles in and ker-bang out

the sucker came. At 4 lbs it is about twice as heavy as a commercial
nosebowl. Oh well I think I'll touch it up with just a little more

Bondo.

..





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