Fibreglass Experts Needed

[SKY 34]

hiya,

I'm trying to make my own fibreglass interior middle panel thingy, the radio stuff.

The idea is to use plaster to mould the interior panel from the inside, then do a reverse mould. and add some custom bits into the plaster.

Get fibreglass resin and voila..

the problem is, I have no idea how fibreglass works...I have seen those fibreglass pack thingy sold in bunning, do I get one of these and it'll work? or do i need like a seperate resin to stuck everything together?

I intend to make a sort of "sliding panel" to hide my head unit, so the fibreglass section have to be thin. From what I have read so far, I need to sand the fibreglass to get smooth surface. but if my fibreglass is thin, I think it'll crack the moment I sand it... can I just spray a really thick layer of primer making everything smooth?

How do i get the super glossy look the audio shops produce when painting the panels?

cheers

[dori34]

make the panel with 2-3 layers of fibreglass if you want it to be extra strong, mix up the resin itself and brush it over the finished product - then you can prime it up etc make it smooth & ready for painting.

the fibreglass repair kits they sell @ bunnings would be sufficient,

[Omurru]

either that or look up your yellow pages and find a shop that sells firbeglassing and moulding stuff, they will be able to help you out with supplying a proper fine weave glass (the bunnings kit's I have seen are only chopmat). Using a fine weave glass over chopmat will give you a better result with 'sharper edges' especially as it's only a small component.

To make the mould don't worry about making the inside mould just make the reverse one with the insert to begin with, polish the insert up with some floor polish so that it doesn't stick to the plaster mould. Then when laying the glass polish the inside of the mould with the same stuff so the resin doesn't stick to it.

For best finnishing results either do a gelcoat layer (this is easy and you dun have to mess around with sanding and painting and shit) the gelcoat layer just gets painted in before you lay the glass. The way they get the really shinny finnish is they use a 2pac paint and gloss out of a gun. Because it's an interior panel just bog it up with carbog to smooth it out and get a good surface for painting.

The sliding panel is a bit beyond me though, if I was gonna do that I would just use a plastic piece and paint it the same and find some plastic U channel for it to slide on and use some glass and resin to fix it into the back of the insert, as for keeping it open perhaps a small magnet or something.....

[Silent]

Heres my custom dash, is this what you mean?

I cut out a piece of arcylic to suit with a jig made for my router, then glasses it in from behind. Unless your good with a router I would nt reccomend it.

[Godzilla32]

I used to design and build fibreglass body kits. If you need help on mould making and replication using gelcoat and fibreglass i will be happy to help. Its tricky if youve never done it b4 but once you know how its all pretty much the same technique.

[SKY 34]

thanks for reply..wil try out soon after exam...

[Shaneomac]

and coz you aint use to the smell.... your gona get high..... yeah baby....

[SKY 34]

yeah they smell kinda pungent...I'll make sure I work with those anti terrorist mask..