Stingray Build

[RCnut]

Thanks David

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Stunning work!

[RCnut]

Put the amount of filler you want the add resin then the catalyst.

[Subculture]

So how do go about catalysing the mix of polyester resin and polyester filler. Do you pre catalyse the resin then mix with some catlysed filler?

[RCnut]

The resin bits.

[RCnut]

Done! heres the first one out of the moulds, I have to say that I am utterly totally well happy with the results. :D

[RCnut]

No Idea yet, I will have a go and see what I can do to it, but your right it does seem to be really tough.

[Subculture]

I looked that up, and saw it's acrylic modified, which sounds good. I've used acrylic modified glues and they're incredibly tough. Do you know if you can you polish this stuff if it gets scratched?

[RCnut]

Nope, its by Polycraft, (Polylite) Got me a tad worried at first, Was green in colour then went clear. lol.

[Subculture]

Only polyester gelcoat resin that doesn't go off in rubber tools. Is it the bonda brand you've used?

[RCnut]

Polyester, and dispite warnings of doom and not ever going off and such I poured it last night and demoulded it this morning. Quite chuffed (Happy) really.

[Subculture]

Looks great. What clear casting resin did you use, a polyurethane or Polyester base?

[RCnut]

Whilst waiting for the rubber to go off I thought I'd do a cast of the Ratemaster and lets face it the whole model depends on this being nice and clear. So it is with great joy that I can say its come out dam well, no stickiness and virtually no shrinkage.

[Subculture]

Ahh well, Your knowledge on this is way over and above my own. I did try Gelcoat in a rubber mould a few years back and it came out very tacky so never did that one again. lol.

No not at all- always done hard shell tools up until now for hulls, but have a master to mould in rubber, but I am going to lay that up in epoxy resin not polyester. Side steps the issue altogether, plus you get a very strong cast, and the pot life is longer.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I've done a lot of lay-up work and I too shy away from commercial gel-coat blends. My first layer in a lay-up is catalyzed resin, neat. I keep it from doing the fish-eye trick by making my last layer of mold release PVC, which has the texture to prevent such pooling of the resin as it cures hard. I then thicken up the next layer of resin a bit, to radius the hard-edges in the cavity, and eventually graduate with light weight, then heavier layers of glass cloth.

However, I'll tint the first layer of resin so I can see things better. Look over the 212 threads by Chris and Manfred and you'll see the blue tint I put into those GRP hulls.

David