Mould making part 2

The canopy mould is made first ,so it has no seam line , the plug is all waxed with release wax,buffed up and then the canopy shape masked on with some sign writers vinyl tape, next the area below this is taped with masking tape and the whole lot waxed again. the shiney areas are
buffed up and painted with gel coat. When this goes tacky a layer of fine 104gr cloth is layed on and wetted out.

after 3 or so layers of 163 gr I made the mould rigid with pieces of off cut UD , as this mould may only be used a few times it does not need to be of a heavy construction.

The last layers are 163gr followed by a final 104gr for a smooth surface, I also make a label
of what it is and laminate this in. This will be left for two days to cure and then be pulled off the plug and the edges trimmed. The effort in mould making, pays off later with ease of construction and repeatability.


In this photo the canopy mould was carefully pulled free, the red plastic tape will have left a line on the mould and this is the cut line, it will also show on the fuselage mould, some guys scribe a line that also works.

The canopy mould is trimmed and the rough edges cleaned up , ready for waxing and the canopy layup which is clear 2k followed by carbon cloth to get a black look.

The rough splitter board is cut from some chipboard and will form a lip for the two fuselage half moulds.

The splitter will be fitted on the midline and the gaps filled with lightweight body filler once possitioned.