Congrats Ace....plane is coming on nicely! As I have never done any resin casting myself is the quality of the resin similar to structural epoxy that is used for making molds?

Originally Posted by F86_sabre

Congrats Ace....plane is coming on nicely! As I have never done any resin casting myself is the quality of the resin similar to structural epoxy that is used for making molds?

I do use the same laminating resin for casting for some types of parts. Mostly I use urethane plastics which are more robust.

Ace,

You have some serious moldmaking skills. Take a bow.

Are you planning on selling kits? Or is this just for your own personal enjoyment?

Bill

Originally Posted by Prof100

Ace,

You have some serious moldmaking skills. Take a bow.

Are you planning on selling kits? Or is this just for your own personal enjoyment?

Bill

Thanks Bill
I'll probably sell a few short kits to help with the materials cost. Problem is the physical size for shipping so may have to be local guys or when I go to meets. I want to do the wing in one piece but was looking at filling the center section with hi density urethane foam so that it could be split. I just don't want the hassle of wing hold downs, tubes etc. My need is to have two old fashioned dowels on the leading edge into a bulkhead and a couple of nylon screws on the rear. Once I get the wing skins molded I'll revisit the split wing option.

Today I cleaned up the molds and test fitted them all together. So far so good. I cut out the inner access areas to look at my options for joining. tomorrow I will layup a set for test and evaluation. I'll make this pull thicker for rigidity to test fit the tail and wings, firewall etc. I think that the first pull will be done in four sections with the rear section having a lip formed to join it to the front. I want to make sure that I get a perfect fitment so this way will give me full access to the seams.

So tomorrow another two coats of wax then PVA and start laying cloth.

Originally Posted by acesimmer

Thanks Bill
I'll probably sell a few short kits to help with the materials cost. Problem is the physical size for shipping so may have to be local guys or when I go to meets. I want to do the wing in one piece but was looking at filling the center section with hi density urethane foam so that it could be split. I just don't want the hassle of wing hold downs, tubes etc. My need is to have two old fashioned dowels on the leading edge into a bulkhead and a couple of nylon screws on the rear. Once I get the wing skins molded I'll revisit the split wing option.

Yes, shipping would be problematic unless you knew a cargo pilot to stow it away and fly to my city. Where is local?

Bill

Not sure where to start in regards to commenting on this thread......Ace.....Sabre.....Morgan.....and the rest of you.......You're lucky I'm not your neighbor, or I'd be showing up with coffee and bearclaws just to hang around......messing around with engineblocks and rearends is getting to tough........this stuff however.....very cool.....Steve in N.J....

I like bearclaws & coffee!

Ace,
It looks to have turned out fabulous! Congrats on some really nice work. Can't wait to see the rest of it. Keep it coming.

J

Thanks John... Coming from a master builder like you is a real compliment. Laying up the tail sections today to test fit etc. Doing it separately for now so molded a lip in so that I can join the tail to the main fuse if I want to. This is all just testing weights, adhesion etc.

Thank you for sharing, great work, cant wait until you do the Sbach

I'm currently laying up parts in the molds. Due to the winter weather my parts are taking longer to cure than I would like. It is becoming very expensive to keep the shop heated to cure a cowl! So with that said I'm going to build a large variable heat curing oven.

See pic for basic design. I had built one of these on a small scale to cure my smaller epoxy castings and using a light bulb worked very well. In fact, it got the cycle cure time down from 14-24 hrs to 2 hrs.

So this one will be eight feet long with removable compartment dividers. This will allow me to cure a small part up to a full size Eurofighter fuselage that I'm also building. Each compartment gets a couple of light sockets connected to a separate light switch for each. A thermometer at each end and one movable will allow me to monitor the heat. This way I can also cure different parts in each section at different temps if required.

This bugger just fits nicely under one of my work benches with the top being used for a shelf. Now I will be able to layup the part and cook it without the rest of the shop heat bankrupting me. Cost is about $80 to build and pay back will be about one month.

Cool, I need to build one of those too. I use my storage area or trailer to cure parts in the summertime but a hot box is a hell of a lot better. Being able to control the heat would be nice.
Trek on Ace!

J

You'll love the hotbox...
If your moulds have enough weight in them, you can pre-warm them too, which makes the layup even easier - the epoxy thins when it hits the warm surface, and flows much nicer.

I'm amazed at how quickly you've done this! I might consider maybe one day thinking about doing this for the Flanker...

Originally Posted by J Morgan

Cool, I need to build one of those too. I use my storage area or trailer to cure parts in the summertime but a hot box is a hell of a lot better. Being able to control the heat would be nice.
Trek on Ace!

J

John... You can control the heat using the light bulbs. I'm putting all of them on separate switches so I can enable or disable depending on the temps I want. On my smaller one I have a small vent funnel that can also be adjust. It also act as a safety valve... kind of? I also have a timer that shuts the power off after a certain time that I know the resin will be cooked.

Odysis...great idea on pre-heating the molds. I must try that.

Don't you want the bulbs on the bottom since heat rises?