Trim Piece MOLDING, Process, Pics!
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Hey Guys,
Customer came to me in need of a RARE Molding off her car that she cannot find anywhere. I didn’t promise her anything because I had no clue how to do it or if I could even attempting do a molding, because I knew nothing about it a week ago, but a special thanks goes out to the fiberglass forums, I picked up some great pointers there as I have been for years, and hey…youtube worked as well!
I had practiced on a couple small trim pieces of my own, then I was ready to give this a shot, it worked out very well since the sheetmetal acted as the flanging.
I will let the pictures do the talking. The final piece needs to be shortened to fit the driver’s side fender, I took a mold of the passenger’s rear quarter panel trim panel since they are identical in shape, just longer. Once the car rolls in this week I will be able to trim it down to reach its final destination, then the shop that painted her car will finish painting these.
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[IMG]http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/nexson1/IMG_9354.jpg[/IMG]thats pretty cool nex my hats off ta ya looks like ya nailed it :cheers
nex, that looks great. keep that mold!! only problem i see here though is you used gelcoat to cast the part out of. gelcoat becomes unstable and willl crack easily when its thick. it has no strength and is brittle. really the thing to use is a casting resin. a urethane resin would work really well for what you got there since it will be more flexible, about the same as the original piece. just for future knowledge, always use a resin made for casting your parts. good job on it though. here are some good links for you.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=33&PHPSESSID=20100606044232179345425
http://www.polytek.com/cart/index.php
urethanes and epoxy types are more flexible while polyesters tend to be rock hard.
thanks bondo!
———————-good call Jim,
I am going to sand down the back about 1/8” and add a layer of glass for strength.
the thickness of gelcoat shoudn’t really exceed the thickness you would have after about 3-4 coats of a 2k primer. i spent many years in the boating industry and have fixed many a crack in boat hulls. most are due to thick spots of gel sprayed in the mold from the factory. add a little flex to that and it just cant take it. gel is too brittle. rather than grinding out the back which in all honesty wont really do much, you should take the mold, spray in a couple good coats of gel, let it kick off then lay the glass in……or if you had to spray the gel in as i said then pour in some fiberglass resin like you did the gel. it wouldn’t be the ideal way to go but polyester laminating resin will be more durable than a kicked off piece of gelcoat.
Just being curious here..
Do you think this trim piece double sided taped to the side of the car is really going to be under pressure? I understand the thickness should be built out out glass, but just curious because it will just be sitting there, looking pretty. However it is no big to pour a little gel coat in there to get the mold shape, then add glass.
.
listen ta jim nex i think he knows his stuff on this 😉 trust me he brings up some good points :cheersvery nice, you got it right on dot!
nex, you did a nice job with everything, i was just giving you some info for future projects. as for this piece, what you want to do is your call. its one of those things, it may and probably will be fine and completely outlive the car or it might crack the day after you give it to the person…who knows. tough call. i guess if there was a problem with it down the road you could always just make a new one then.
I would listen to Jim and make a new one. You already have the mold. It would be easier to fix it now then to deal with it down the road. He knows more about this type of stuff than probably anyone on here.
Most moldings on cars are somewhat pliable so they can lay on the car. Most cars have a slight curve to the panels.
BTW very nice work! Making that mold is pretty cool. Very good attention to detail. 😉
Sounds good, I appreciate the help, since this was my first time and am a total noob at this. I still have the negative mold so this time I will just add a just enough gel coat to cover all parts of the negative, then fill the rest in with fiberglass? Does that sound about right?
yes, mix up the gel. you can reduce it a little with some acetone if you need to then spray a few coats into the mold. let the gel get atleast thick and sticky between coats. let it kick off overnight and you are ready to go for the glass.
Jim, quick question.
What would you reduce the gelcoat by (with acetone)? I had a tough time spraying the black gel coat out of my 2.3mm. I think i need a bigger tip.
gelcoat gets reduced with acetone. dont thin it too much. you dont want it watery. thinned just enough to get it to spit out of the 2.3 is fine. rememeber it doesn’t have to go in the mold looking good since you wont see that side. for future, one other thing you can do is if your laying up a part that will be painted is skip the gelcoat and use polyester primer. i have used featherfill g2 plenty of times in a mold. sands easier too. pop the part, sand it and its ready to go!!
Interesting, you still spray the PVA for everything right?
I actually have a 2 part flexiable plastic epoxy used for filling plastic scuffs on bumpers. Could I mix up a bunch of that stuff and pour it into the negative mold? Wondering if that would make a totally flexible part like the original.
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