ZorsT
6th February 2007, 09:32
Well, since I smashed one of my fairings a while back, I decided to build me another.
:mellow:
(on the attempt that worked) I started by covering my old fairing in sticky tape (the wide stuff). Epoxy does not stick to the shiny side of sticky tape.
I did my best to ensure there were no air bubbles under the tape.
Next I cut the fibreglass cloth into strips of different sizes. (I learnt from the failed attempt that you should have it pre cut, and many smaller pieces make it way easier to do well)
The smallest pieces were about 2 inches wide and about eight inches long.
I then mixed up a small batch of resin
(the failed attempt also taught me that its easier to work with a small batch of resin, because it hardens much more slowly)
and painted it onto the fairing with a paintbrush. I put fibreglass cloth down onto the wet resin (rubber gloves are good) and then painted more resin on top. More cloth went down. I did a total of 2 to 3 layers.
I then let it dry and mixed up some more resin, but then put in some glue powder in with it. I did one more layer of cloth with this glue powder and let it dry.
Once it dried I took the worst of the lumps out (sandpaper) and 'cut' the edges of the cloth to the shape of the fairing. I used a mouse sander to get good edges.
It is much easier to cut the edges off when the resin is only half set.
The final layer was only glue powdered resin (its easier to sand) and was quite thick (quite a bit of glue powder in with the resin mix)
I still have many hours of sanding before it gets painted, but I think its going to be a winner.
The black fairing is the 'good' one I copied. The tape is still on it, has been for a number of weeks.
:mellow:
(on the attempt that worked) I started by covering my old fairing in sticky tape (the wide stuff). Epoxy does not stick to the shiny side of sticky tape.
I did my best to ensure there were no air bubbles under the tape.
Next I cut the fibreglass cloth into strips of different sizes. (I learnt from the failed attempt that you should have it pre cut, and many smaller pieces make it way easier to do well)
The smallest pieces were about 2 inches wide and about eight inches long.
I then mixed up a small batch of resin
(the failed attempt also taught me that its easier to work with a small batch of resin, because it hardens much more slowly)
and painted it onto the fairing with a paintbrush. I put fibreglass cloth down onto the wet resin (rubber gloves are good) and then painted more resin on top. More cloth went down. I did a total of 2 to 3 layers.
I then let it dry and mixed up some more resin, but then put in some glue powder in with it. I did one more layer of cloth with this glue powder and let it dry.
Once it dried I took the worst of the lumps out (sandpaper) and 'cut' the edges of the cloth to the shape of the fairing. I used a mouse sander to get good edges.
It is much easier to cut the edges off when the resin is only half set.
The final layer was only glue powdered resin (its easier to sand) and was quite thick (quite a bit of glue powder in with the resin mix)
I still have many hours of sanding before it gets painted, but I think its going to be a winner.
The black fairing is the 'good' one I copied. The tape is still on it, has been for a number of weeks.