Why I love fiberglass
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 12:01 am
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
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