PRECATION for fumes: Wear a respirator mask! and use latex gloves

For all interior fab jobs unless it's a heavy item like a car audio box build or your FGing your trunk (FG = fiberglass of course)

http://www.uscomposites.com/mat.html

For normal work like kick pods ect use : 3/4oz Chopped Strand Mat (conforms well)


If you want to build a box for subs or FG your trunk you want 1-1/2oz Chopped Strand Mat

The Resin you need will be:
http://www.uscomposites.com/polyesters.html
B-440 Premium Polyester Layup Resin

MEKP avail at autozone - Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide) is the catalyst added to polyester resins and vinyl ester resins.

The process:


Take some everyday tin foil you keep to cover food and some 3M GREEN masking tape and put the foil over the part your working on. The foil should be very flat. Then take the 3M tape and tape the foil up also masking any parts you don't want resin on because it won't come off.

Say i'm doing my trunk like i'm thinking about doing... You cover your whole floor in tinfoil taping up the seems and for added protection put a VERY (cant stress this enough) smooth layer of tape over the foil. Once all foiled and masked you:

Take your mat and lay it out how you think you want it then you:

You take your B440 from USC (DONT USE BONDO BRAND! it's a bad word in the FG industry) and you put it in a large dixie cup or something just like a dixie cup made out of the same material. Can't use plastic it melts. You pour Resin in almost to the top and add about a shot glass of MEKP. Stir the mix with a wooden dowl.


Once your mix is mixed which only takes a few sec's you take a paint brush (have 7 on hand they wear out you will see what I mean) and you dip it in the resin mix and then dont paint it on like you would with normal paint. What you do is you take the brush with the brissels pointing straight down and stipple it or stab at the mat with resin on the brush.

After you have the mat totally saturated and "wetted out" you need to take your Fiberglass Detail Roller which you also buy from USC (I don't work for them they are just the best place to get all this from) and you roll out the bubbles in your mat which is VERY important that you dont have bubbles. Then you repeat you let it dry for 24 hours and put more resin on and more mat. You repeat this process for a week till you have a thick product and wont break easy.


The next step:
(IMG:http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/images/products/evercoat_FE112.jpg)

You take RAGE GOLD Premium body filler which you get from here:
http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/products...m?product=29779
the gallon lasts a long time!

Rage gold will help to give you the smooth surface you see on most plastic composites but you still need glazing putty. It comes with it's own hardener.

You spread the rage gold with a little plastic spreader you can get at walmart in there fiberglass section. You just spread out thin layers then let it dry for 20 minutes then sand with a mouse sander. Learn to use a sander and what the proper grits do. I use around 160 grit and go up from there once stuff is getting smooth. At 20 mins in the drying of the RG won't be totally dry but sanding like this is called Sanding in the green stage and will save you valueless time.

You have to repeat this process several times maybe 10 times.. till you start to see a really smooth surface. Just make sure you dont use a gob of rage gold because it wont fill up the little divits in your work like a little bit spread on will. You still need to cover the whole part though. Just thin layers...



(IMG:http://www.restockit.com/images/Product/medium/FIB400.jpg)
Once you have that done you need some evercoat glazing putty. You apply this pretty much like rage gold and use 900 or 1000 and even 2000 grit sand paper to sand this down. Follow the directions on the can.


http://www.restockit.com/Polyester-Glazing...?source=froogle





(IMG:http://www.tcpglobal.com/AutoBodyDepot/images/SEM39673.jpg)
Then you paint it with SEM self etching primer
http://www.tcpglobal.com/AutoBodyDepot/Ite...temNo=SEM+39684

(I use grey but if you want it to be brighter use green or white. Wear a protection mask for this also it's got acid in it.
You will need to lightly with a 800 or 900 grit sand this down so no bumps. Lay thin passing layers down too dont just do thick layers. Thick layers and paint never work.
Again follow the directions on the can. After you get your primer on:


http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/semindex.aspx - for promax paint and clear coat.
paint it with the paint you want to use then sand again going through the sanding stages (best to look up online the sanding stages so you know what your doing when sanding. Mouse sanders rock!

Then you Clear coat it. Clear coat protects your work.




Once your sanded glazed primed and painted clear coated your all done your product should look like this:


(IMG:http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL902/3695325/7616475/130971047.jpg)


The building of the frame for kick pods is another story :)

This post has been edited by Glock23: Jul 28 2008, 05:45 PM

did you do that??? if so that looks amazing!!! thanks for that thread because i'm about to work with FG.

no not that 1 I got lazy and posted a random pic. it's still got all the stuff above in it :)


Im trying to get a handle on CF hoods for us too btw :)

This post has been edited by Glock23: Jul 28 2008, 07:31 PM

btt