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[shaneH]

Hey everyone,

     I have a quick question for everybody? Can any of you point me in the direction of a website are even a book or magazine, that will show me how to make my own fiberglass hull. I've been looking, but haven't really found anything of any help.


Thanks for your time,

shaneH

[A Model World]

Hi? shane

I dont know of a website as such and one of my colleagues family spent ages looking to do his own reserach but he didnt find much but if you google glassfibre companies i am sure many will advise on fibreglassing.
I can also post on the basics of how it is done.

A question though do you have a mould to work from or will you be making a mould out of fibreglass or wood so we can start you of at the point you need which is first to make a mould or known as a plug. This can easily be made from wood ply with sanding sealer applied or pond sealer. or do you have  a mould or a boat to take one from 

regards MArk?

[Malcolm Reade]

Just a note of caution....

Making copies of other manufacuturers hulls can get you into a whole lot of trouble.  Best make sure that the work is all your own.

Regards

Malcolm

[shaneH]

Hello again,

? ? ?To A Model World- I would be making my own mold from plans that i already have bought. So I would need to start from the very beginning. I'm pretty sure about making the master, what I'm not sure about is the whole gelcoat and fiberglass laying.

? ? ?To Malcolm- NO copies of other manufacturers hulls, these if i could figure out how to do them would be my very own.

The plans are for a clemson class destroyer, and i figured that if i could figure out how to make a fiberglass hull, not only could i do a destroyer but any number of ships, since alot of the destroyers were converted into seaplane teander,minelayers,and fast attack transports and so on.

Thanks again for the help

shaneH

[pakirk]

Hi shaneH,
I have just compleated a final RGP hull from scrach.
If I dont say so myfelf the result was stunning.. Far superior to comertial Hulls!!!
I spent may months reserching this prosedure.
I found nothing on the web to help.

I have catalogued the hole prosess from start to finish and was hopeing to publish an artical. I have only started writing this up and will take me a few months to do so.

I have listned to all different teckniquesfrom many pro builders and "analized" ther mothods, and come to my own conclutions. Picking and chusing what I considered all the best approsh to all the diferent stages to the prosess.
I have lernt a lot of doos and donts throughout the prosess and as I said documented them all.

The Main advise is DONT TAKE ANY SHORT-CUTS. it's not worth it.

Now I could talk you throuth the hole thing but where do you want to start.

[A Model World]

Pakirk is right Shane there are a myriad of tips out there ways to do etc much the same as decorating or any other thing its best to find your own technique. the order and the things to do remain the same its the way that may alter. There isn?t room or time to type out a full explanation on fibre glassing but as a basic

OK well the first thing to do is to make a plug - the exact replica of the article you want, made from ply would be my tip 1/8th you may even need thinner to bend somewhat and placing cross X sections in the plug you are effectively building the boat.  Similar to plank on frame but with bigger pieces the more round edges you have the more pieces of ply and cross sections you will need. The plug must be finished to the quality you want your finished product to emerge from the mould as. Everything on the plug is reproduced exactly, apart from sanding out blemishes and defects either on the plug or mould; these will appear on the article. a good tip to finish the wood is G4 pond sealer available from glass fibre merchants you will also need to wax it like mad but gain when buying your fibreglass most sales outlets will have some instructions on this.   
2. Make a Mould - the mirror image of the plug, taken off the plug. The plug must be prepared with release agent to prevent sticking of the fibreglass laminate laid over it. The construction of the mould will vary according to whether there is any inverse angles as you may need to make it in two pieces. so you can get it off the plug you will be using gel coat with resin and a catalyst to impregnate the glass fibre matting with again the supplier will have a leaflet or will explain how to do this as it is to long for this forum

3. Make the Article - your final product constructed according to final use and the quality dependant on the effort gone into the previous two steps. It costs no more to make a product with a first class finish, than one with a terrible finish. The extra costs are in the previous two steps. and the time factor

A reasonable website for this with more concise details can be found here there is also a fibreglass supplier in Southport who is quite good and as far as I know has fibre glassing instructions.  This is a time consuming affair making a hull from scratch well worth it in the end but as a novice you have to consider the worth.   
http://www.pittelli.com/nabs/HULLS.HTM

[shaneH]

A Model World,

     Thanks for the information. In the four to five hours I spent looking on the computer for information, that was one of the websites that I came across and could actually understand what they were talking about. That very link is now in my favorites. Thank you for your help.

Pakirk,

     Any advice you could give, I would be a willing to listen too. Making the plug is not the problem, the problem is in the gelcoat and so forth from that point. I would definatly be interested in reading your finished article.

thanks for the help,

shaneH
 

[Guy Bagley]

contact strand glass fibre supplies, i used them many years ago-i presume they are still going !!!-  they supply the resin and materials but also publish books on laying up GRP.... this includes boatwork - admittedly on a full size sailing dinghy but the process is the same for us modellers.....

 alternatively get hold of a copy of supermodels, the programmes put out on discovery channel home and leisure.... produced by oval films, they procuded a  model boat from scratch over about 12 episodes, it showed how to make a plug and then how to make a mould and finally how to make a hull,

 all in glorious technicolour- often way better than reading pages and pages !

[anmo]

Bad news. Strand Glassfibre disappeared from the scene around five years ago, they were taken over by Scott Bader Ltd, who gradually closed all the small retail outlets. SB established a number of larger regional distribution centres, but last year they closed all these as well, and now supply only through head office in Wollaston Northamptonshire. Their minimum order is currently something like ?300, so you can strike that one off your list. A good alternative are GRPMS who have a website, though I doubt if they can handle orders for less than 25kg drums of resin and full rolls of mat, and current health & safety legislation makes it almost impossible to supply these materials by mail order. I can only suggest that you look in your local Yellow Pages for a fibreglass moulder who may be willing to supply small quantities to callers. If this thread is going to continue, could everyone please note that mat is only ever correctly spelled with a single 'T', matt is a paint finish.

[flag-d]

Halfords and probably other automotive parts retailers usually sell mat, tissue and resin, though only small amounts.

Mike

[johno 52-11]

Try http://www.polyfibre.co.uk/Default.asp

John

[Welsh_Druid]

Try -

www.glasplies.co.uk/

I have  moulded four hulls and had all  my materials from them.

Don B. 

[Malcolm Reade]

Been using Glasplies for years - good company.

If you're going to collect from them, aim in the general direction of the gasometer in Southport - they're quite close to it.

Malc

[RC John]

Hey everyone,

     I have a quick question for everybody? Can any of you point me in the direction of a website are even a book or magazine, that will show me how to make my own fiberglass hull. I've been looking, but haven't really found anything of any help.


Thanks for your time,

shaneH

Go to http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/[/color]]http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/. They have 72 page PDF format manual online and their 72 hour service was (in my case) 23 hours from order to delivery.

[colin-stevens]

done a few fibre glass hulls myself. all rough and ready, impatient b****. i get all my stuff from my local model shop. use cloth and resin, cant remember who knocks it out, may be a touch more pricey but i get the benefit of nose to nose advice. if you are near Surrey give Mick Charles a try. what he dont know aint worth not knowing.

[mike javelin]

Hi,
newboy here,

I've been playing with full size yachts and dinghies all my life and in the process had a fair amount of experience with polyester and epoxy systems.

I recently decided to make an RC version of one of the dinghy Classes I sail.

Using the drawings I knocked up a hull, 670mm long,  out of foam and glassed over it.
Then coated it with three thickish coats of Topcoat Gel. Essensially this is Gellcoat with wax added so it will set in air as normal gelcoat will always remain tacky when exposed to air.
Then spent god knows how long sanding her down to get a reasonable finish.


I then turned her over and removed most of the foam from inside and started to create the deck based on a drawing I did in MS Word.




I used the result as a plug to create a mould and then the subsequent mould to produce a hull and deck as below.

Unfortunatley in the process of producing the mould, the plug had to be destroyed as it stuck fast even though I'd put at least 7 coats of wax on it.
I've subsequently heard that Polyester resin has a tendancy to ignore wax and bond to car body filler which I had used to produce a radius or flange all round the top edge of the hull to aid in bonding the deck.

Also I found it easier to improve the finish on the completed hull/deck than on the first mould so the above completed hull deck is now going to be used as a new plug to achieve a higher quality mould.

Got loads more photos if needed.

[cbr900]

If your using polyester resin wax is not enough on it's own, you also need a release agent, then the plug and mould will part company quite easily......



Roy

[Dave Leishman]

For the Ebayers out there I've found the Ebay store Mould Making and Casting Supplies to be very comprehensive and efficient. The guy that runs it, Nick, is also very knowledgeable and fast at giving advice when asked.

That store is the Ebay presence for Tony Maguire Plasterers Supplies - Your Only Choice for all your Mould Making Needs! and is based in Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire.

The product range covers almost everything that I can think of that a model boat builder would need to make all kinds of mould/casts.

I'm not associated in any way - just a happy customer :)

[Goran]

Hi Shane,

Some time ago I too wanted to make my own fibreglass hull for a tug which wasn't availabel as a kit. One of the books I came accross when researching the subject was The Glassfibre Handbook by R H Warring, ISBN 0-85242-820-0. Available from Nexus Special Interests press. I found it really informative and quite in depth, and I have to say it was reading this book which put me off making my own hull. It sounds like a difficult process to get right. Maybe I will try it one day.

Good luck!

Goran

[martno1fan]

hi try this site  they deliver next day also and resonable prices as well,they also have some good guides on the site telling you how to do things from making moulds to laying the glass!!.lhttp://http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/store/index.php

[cbr900]

Also if you intend to make a mould of a plastic hull, be very careful of the mix ratio of hardener to resin as the reaction to set the resin causes heat, and a mate found out the hard way to much hardener to much heat no more plastic hull....



Roy

[mike javelin]

In support of this I have found that even a little too much hardener and subsequent curing heat can cause some of not all the release wax to melt or at least lose much of its releasing properties.

[cbr900]

Mike,

Call in to your local yacht repairer, and ask him if he has any release polish for fibreglass, it looks and feels and smells a bit like car polish, but it has a release agent built in, polish your mould with it in the same fashion as you would polish a car, then paint with a water based release agent, you will find the hull or what ever will release from the mould with relative ease, wash down to remove the release agent that sticks to the new resin, and you will have a very smooth shiny new hull....



Roy

[mike javelin]

I've heard that mome people us PVA watered down as a release agent on top of the wax.
Does anyone know how much it's watered down?

[cbr900]

I suppose you could but for the cost of the release agent, not worth mucking about with, I bought a 500ml bottle which I have used for five hulls so far and there is still over half left it is like water so you only need a small amount, cost from memory was over here 6 dollars Aussie, cheap as chips....



Roy