I just cracked open the mould and pulled the first useable part from the plank mould! Overall, its very good if a bit heavy, but that does not matter. The fin seam is fine, the bladder came out of the fin except for a little bit in the LE. The fin is rigid - I reinforced it with spread carbon tow arranged in a cross pattern. I spead the tow on a rack, pics of which I will post later.
The only slight adjustment I will make is to the canopy opening as it is not quite symmetrical. Easy fixed by trimming one of the spacer halves before pulling the next part.
This one is four layers of 100gsm plain weave cloth. I think 3 would have done it, but I am aiming at a heavy plank, so no real penalty to have the heavier one. There is plenty of carbon tow in the fuse as well, four runs of 50k, spread as above.

I have now successfully made the canopy mould and made some canopies from it.
The mould is nice and cured now and I'm preparing to do a fuselage lay up. I cut out the glass today, the layup will be four layers of 100 gsm plain weave glass cloth with a doubler on the front half. I will add four runs of carbon tow in the fuse with some in the fin to stiffen it up a bit.
Presently waxing up the mould and hoping for some dryer weather. We are experiencing yet more very wet weather.
I'm now toying with the
idea of building moulded wings for this one, based on the flying success of the prototype. These will be my first attempt at moulded wings. I will cut foam cores and vac bag them. Then they will be very carefully primed, sanded and surfaced up using external airfoil templates as a guide and using long sanding blocks.
Finally, I will probably spray them with 2 pack paint prior to setting them into a parting board. The first mould will possibly be done with a product called "Trowel On" as a thick surface coat. Then I will back it up with either plaster or an expanding PU foam.
Currently, "Emufingers" is conducting experiments on the above products.

Jim.

I have now pulled the first part from the repaired mould. No canopy or openings, so this one will not be used.
I am now using the part to make a canopy mould from. When that has aged enough, I will make some conopies and spacers ready to make my first useable fuselage from.

Jim.