Made a start on my petal extensions ..

[Vipersan]

.....and a handy mug of tea....

Ahhhh...tea ....life blood of a nation...
;)
..and not that weak watery crap either ..
Gold standard tea bags ..allowed to stew in boiling water for 30 seconds then squeezed with a teaspoon 30+ times...and a dash of milk
Arthur Dent would be proud of me ..

rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Finally ..the weather relented a little ...making it possible to do some more work on the rim curves /body filler..
This phase should have been completed 3 days ago ..but for the rapid temperature shifts and biting NEasterlies..
Got a couple more hours in today ..but set to rain again tomorrow..
Here are a couple of photos to show progress..
rgds
VS

 

[Topper]

Nice to see the progress and the full use being made of the council's recycling bins

 

[sonnetpete]

....and the full use being made of the council's recycling bins

Well let's face it, he never uses them. All his recycling goes into making dishes.....

 

[Vipersan]

..Got a lot done today ...
..worn a large quantity of skin off my hands and fingers ..so they are a bit sore atm.
Some very minor rubbing down tomorrow ...just a couple of flaws filled ..and the inner curve of filler where the filler walls meet the fibre glass surface .
All negative angles eliminated ...no sharp corners...
..and the mould is all but finished but for the waxing..
Soon be able to cast my first 'wing' in fibre glass..
A helluva lot of work ..and now topping the £100 to date...but having a mould means I'll be able to create more ..should I ..or the weather break one etc
rgds
A very tired
VS
;)

 

[Vipersan]

Now in unknown territory ...the lap of the gods so to speak ..
Cloth cut to a rough shape ..
Mould waxed to 6 layers ..
Latex layer added ...
Latex pre resined ..an allowed to go tacky ..
Cloth applied ..and smoothed..
rims applied in chopped strand fibre glass ...and ..
walk away ..
Sadly can't get far enough away from the fumes ...
Every window in the house opened ..and back door..
Had little choice but to work indoors ...errr..the kitchen ..
THANK YOU British weather...

So fingers crossed I can remove it from the mould once set ...or ..the whole project was a waste of time..
wish me luck..
VS

 

[nelson_b]

i can almost smell the fumes -- just , whilst looking at the pictures --

good luck --

 

[Vipersan]

i can almost smell the fumes -- just , whilst looking at the pictures --

good luck --

Looking forward _not_ ....to a banging headache later tonight ..
If this works ..the next panel will be done outside ...
..if some dry weather comes my way.

 

[lanab]

Looking forward _not_ ....to a banging headache later tonight ..

Top it off with some nice whiskey and you will be fine and sleep like a stone the whole night.

 

[Lazarus]

Best of luck, old fiend.

 

[Vipersan]

...
Not sure if I should call this a success or failure ..
One things for sure ...providing the mould will clean up ok ..its re-useable..
Normally I would have left the 'wing' to cure overnight in the mould ..
BUT ..I noticed air pockets starting to form under the surface skin ..this would have formed blisters which would have hardened unevenly ..so I made the decision to pull the cast from the mould ..
It was so easy its untrue ..but then ..this may be because the inner coating of resin was not hardeneng properly ...thus the blisters..
It may well be the fault of the Latex ...or ..the wax ..or a combimation of both ..and an odd reaction to the prime layer of resin...
Anyway ..the resulting cast appears to be holding its shape to some degree ..so I'll let it hang and fully harden ..
Clean the mould ..
Rewax ..and pop it back in for some re-enforcement ..assuming it retains its shape ..

Here are the pics ..
Good or bad ..???
You decide ..
But certainly looks do-able ..but perhaps a bit more practice ..and either the wax ..or the latex...not both..
rgds
VS

 

[Channel Hopper]

Arrrrgh, fibreglass matting in the living room, and the waft of curing resin and peroxide.

 

[Vipersan]

Arrrrgh, fibreglass matting in the living room, and the waft of curing resin and peroxide.

...Yep ...not much fun CH ...but that isn't my living room ..thank Gawd ...
I can at least shut the door on that one ....and keep the fumes to a minimum ..
It would be nice to close all the windows though ..
Blaady cold in here atm ..
I sense a nice hot bath coming my way ...
;)
Please Please Please ..can we have a few warm/dry days ..
..like they had darrn Saaarf last week..
rgds
VS

 

[Topper]

Please Please Please ..can we have a few warm/dry days ..
..like they had darrn Saaarf last week..
rgds
VS

Forecast is sunny spells for the next few days VS :-righton

 

[Vipersan]

...Doh ..waiting for the showers to cease ...so no progress today..
but ..since the 1st panel had hardened sufficiently to be handled ..
.(this one will have to be returned to the mould ..and reenforced structurally)....I couldn't resist the chance to offer it up to Christina just to see if I had my dimensions wrong ..
Yes the inner curve is slightly out ..but this can hopefully be remedied as the wings are fitted.....
But generally it looks good ..
what do you guys think ?
rgds
VS

 

[Lazarus]

I think they look the bog's dollocks, petal.

 

[Vipersan]

I think they look the bog's dollocks, petal.

LOL ...nice response ...and gave me a decent grin to take to work ..
Sadly ..no progress tomorrow either ..
Its that time again Gordon ..
Half a day at the hospital ...doh!

 

[Topper]

Well it is just a waiting game really for the correct type of weather, but I agree it does look good, at what stage is the reflecting surface applied or have a missed a post?

 

[Captain Jack]

Nice - any signal improvement with just that petal attached?

 

[Vipersan]

Not yet CJ & Topper....it has no reflecting surface as yet ...
Just fibre glass and resin ..
The Aluminium foil will be secured to the surface later ..then resin over that to form a laminate..effect...and possibly an aluminium webbing on the underside surface ..again laminated in resin ..

..and finally they will be sprayed cream.

Until then ...it remains a mystery as to how effective the 'wings' will be..
rgds
VS