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[nigel3a]

Hi one and all,

I'm very new to model boat building, infact any greener and I'd be a Leprechaun. . I'm in the process of scratch building a Sparrow.  I went to get some glass ply materials today from a local supplier, and when I asked for Fairing compound, he looked at me as though I had two heads. Said he'd never heard of it. When we established what I was going to use it for, he pointed me in the direction of Cab-o-Sil to mix with the resin.  At £13.00 for a 250g tub seemed somewhat expensive. They had 5kg bags of a material called Microdol for £4.60, and I was wondering whether this may be better to use.

Nigel

[Netleyned]

Get the cheapest talcum powder and mix it with the resin
works for me

Ned

[rmaddock]

Or flour.

[Mad_Mike]

what ya building?

[nigel3a]

Hi guys

Seriously. Something as simple as that will do the same job.
 He did mention chalk dust, which in essence is talc. But being the novice I am, just assumed you'd need something like Cab-o-sil

Nigel

[nigel3a]

Hi Mike,

Racing Sparrow 750. Probably a bit ambitious for a first attempt. But we all gotta start somewhere I guess

Nigel

[tt1]

Hello chaps, excuse me for butting in Nigel,  but this is new and unheard of to me being a novice also and would be grateful if you or the lads could explain what the this mix is and how / what it's used for.
         
                         Good luck with your build and kind regards, Tony.

[rmaddock]

Tony, you're basically mixing something inert into an epoxy resin so that it takes on a thicker consistency.....like putty.  You can then put it into places and it won't simply run out again.  Sand it down afterwards and you've filed a big gap or faired a joint.

[Mad_Mike]

obivously not that green if your scratch building a yacht. can we have some pics of your progress?

[nigel3a]

Hi Mike,

Trust me I am. This is a whole new experience for me.  I've done a small amount of builds, but that's with pre-cut stuff, never had to work from plans before.
I've posted some pics on the net, I'll try and load them on here.

[nigel3a]

Tony, you're basically mixing something inert into an epoxy resin so that it takes on a thicker consistency.....like putty.  You can then put it into places and it won't simply run out again.  Sand it down afterwards and you've filed a big gap or faired a joint.

Hi Tony,
I'm working from a book that came with the plans. It it says to use a fairing compund to cover the glass fibre. It's not so much for gap filling, but more of a smooth hard finish

[nigel3a]

Hopefully these will show ok















I know it's no where near the standard I've seen on here, on the bright side it can only get better

[tt1]

Thanks chaps, appreciated and understood

               Regards, me.

[dougal99]

When I built my Sparrow I found it difficult to get an even layer of resin/micro balloon mix on the hull. Icing a cake would be easier as its flat. If I was dong it again I would just use glass tissue and resin, probably two layers.

Cheers

[tobyker]

When I wanted to thicken up some epoxy to make a fillet I finally found a use for the awful Avon talcum powder my dear mother-in-law bought me for Christmas! (Many years ago)

[nigel3a]

I'm sure there's a right and a wrong way of doing things, I've pretty well got the basic hull done, except for some imperfections. Would there be anything wrong in filling them with something along the lines of P38 before fibre glassing it, or is there something specific I should use?

[gwa84the2nd]

p38 is fine for geting the serfice smoothe befor glassing 

[Terry]

Hi Nigel, I have just finished building a Sparrow from the book and plans, and like you it was my first attempt at building just from plans. I have done some things a bit differently from the plans though. I just have to play around with the keel bulb weight until I am happy with it, 1.3 kg seems a lot to me, the boat sits very low in the water. I have a Robbe Sirius which is a bit bigger and this boat has a lead bulb weighing 1kg, so I am a bit confused at the mo'.

Cheers, Terry

[Terry]

Hi Nigel, forgot to say, put your location into your profile. Some queries/answers are location specific. It will help.

Terry.

[dougal99]

I'm sure there's a right and a wrong way of doing things, I've pretty well got the basic hull done, except for some imperfections. Would there be anything wrong in filling them with something along the lines of P38 before fibre glassing it, or is there something specific I should use?

Just be sure that whatever you use is of a similar hardness to the material used for the hull (balsa?) otherwise when sanding you can end removing a lot of the softer material nad not so much of the harder. If using balsa I would try and fill any imperfections with balsa slivers.

[nigel3a]

Just be sure that whatever you use is of a similar hardness to the material used for the hull (balsa?) otherwise when sanding you can end removing a lot of the softer material nad not so much of the harder. If using balsa I would try and fill any imperfections with balsa slivers.

Hi Doug,
There aren't many imperfections the joints seem pretty tight. As for smooth, well that's another matter. Time to get sanding

[Mad_Mike]

I reckon you done a good job there nige. Its only a case off applying the tool skills you have gained from other occupations and just using them to make boats. Ive made a fair few boats now and your hull looks a lot neater than any of mine.

[Netleyned]

Just be careful with the sanding.
You've only 5mm of very soft balsa.
If its pretty smooth try a layer of cloth and resin and when it has gone off
try the fairing compound fairly stiff in any valleys in the cloth.
You can then start to rub down without the risk of rubbing through the balsa planks

Ned