Here are two examples of GRP-over-foam and use of a hammer or gasoline to bang/melt the foam away leaving a tough, thin-walled GRP structure:
To melt away the foam later you have to insure it will melt when introduced to a solvent. Here expanded polystyrene foam was chosen as it will melt when exposed to hydrocarbons of sufficient strength -- gasoline, for example. Here I've turned the hull section on a lathe. The eventual model had to be hollow as the port holes along its sides were to be back-lit from within the hollow body.


Once the GRP hull had been laid up -- three laminates of epoxy resin saturated 10-ounce glass cloth -- gasoline was poured through the nozzle to melt the foam, leaving a hollow interior.

The completed model showing off the back-lit portholes.

Ellie going mid-evil on the foam of this HUNLEY model. A claw-hammer banged out the foam in no time. Good therapy too.

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