Day 9 - Fiberglassing the skirt interior

(Originally posted on July 15th, 2013)

It really smells around my townhouse complex, heh ... I hope my neighbors don't complain too much ...

I went to TAP Plastics again today and bought the curing agent, but when I talked to the salesperson there, he basically said that the only reason I would need it is if I intend to not put any additional fabric or resin on my seams, which I may wish to later.  The topcoat just makes it to where there's a smooth, non-tacky surface you can't really adhere to anymore.  So, I could have done all this yesterday, after all, hehe.

Donning my mask, I prepared a few non-catalyzed 5-ounce cups of resin.  I did this so that if I ran out of one, I would just catalyze the next, and so on.  But, I soon discovered that 5 ounces is barely enough to apply 3 seams of the skirt.

I then made a bigger one of about 15 ounces.  I got about 4 more seams done, but then the cup began to get hot and the resin began to gelatinize and set right before my eyes.  Cool effect!  But dang it.

Made a final 8-ounce cup and that lasted the rest of the way.  8 ounces seems to be my current fiberglassing velocity. :)

The most difficult seams were the very front, where I needed to apply one strip of tape to each side the front spine.  I forgot to abrade the sides of it, so the tape slipped a bit.  When I walked away to let it set, it looked like it was adhering pretty well.  Oh, that reminds me, I should check it now ...

... well, looks like I'll need to apply another stinky layer to get some air bubbles out.  But otherwise it didn't look to bad.  I think my problem was in my rush, I didn't apply enough resin (and maybe gravity tugging at some of the seams when they were upside-down.

Also, after work, I discovered that my Dalek Builder's Workshop Manual had arrived in the mail!  Excellent information in there. :D

Tools:
5 - Wooden stir sticks: $0.25
4 - Mixing cups: $2.20
1 - small eyedropper: $0.25
1 - 2-ounce syringe: $3.10
Total: $5.80

Materials:
1 - Polyester resin curing agent (2 oz.): $6.45

Grand total: $12.25

Total to date: $568.61