Dash gauge console

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hugejp
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by hugejp »

Looking good mate!
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by iandvl »

Cedric - that looks ueber awesome. Nicely done... :salute:
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Peter Connan
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by Peter Connan »

Ain't fibreglass fun!

I have been itching permanently for the last week, hope you have managed to avoid that.
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Michael
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by Michael »

Well done Cedric! I really want to see how this is going to look..... it will be 2 years of sanding this coming Feb, so it will be spotless Im sure :lol:
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by ricster »

hahaha... yeah good things take time .... :rolling: :rolling:

Peter, I cut the fibreglass into 300mm x 70mm long strips..... very very gently and a few smaller pieces to fit in between the spaces. I wore surgical gloves to avoid contact with the fibreglass directly. Luckily no itching, but I was super gentle when handling the strips. The only issue I had was that the resin I had may have been a little old and was not as runny as I wanted. So I battled my ass off to get the resin to soak into the glass.

Do you have any tips on how to get the resin a little more runny? I'm going to buy new batch of resin anyway. Any recommendations on brand?

I have decided to remove the plug from the mold to check what the surface finish looks like, and if i need to .... wait for it..... wait for it..... sandpaper the plug a little more ..... :rolling: :rolling:

Many many years ago I used to get automotive paint and stuff from a autobody paint shop there in Monument road.... That was about 15 odd years ago.
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hugejp
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by hugejp »

Tony's Colours in booysens is good!
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ricster
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by ricster »

Cool thanks bud.
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by Peter Connan »

Not an expert myself, but I have been getting all my kit and a lot of useful advice from these guys:

http://www.amtcomposites.co.za/?gclid=C ... oCBUTw_wcB
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ricster
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by ricster »

Great stuff.... thanks Peter !!
Regards
Cedric
Nissan Patrol GL 4.2 Diesel Turbo (Iron Maiden)
Nissan SANI 3.0 V6 4x4 (SOLD)
Isuzu KB 280 DT 2x4 ('ol Smokey) - SOLD
Suzuki TL 1000R "V twin" (Growler) - SOLD
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ricster
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Re: Dash gauge console

Post by ricster »

Ok.... so my first mold attempt was a fail..... I almost knew in the back of my mind that this might happen , but told myself that if it did come out perfect first time then I'm enlisting myself as a genius..... hahaha.... well clearly not going to be enlisting now am i.... :rolling: :rolling:

In a nutshell, the finish of the mold came out beautiful. however I only made it a 2 part mold and not a 3 part. What this did was make it extremely difficult to get the plug out without damaging the fibreglass. Once i cracked the mold I then realized that even getting the plug out was not going to be a fun task, to which it then broke, causing me to make use of lots of not often used words that start with an F and end similar to a "que" and no not Fortescue either.... :rolling: :rolling:

So deciding that the plaster cast plug was far to difficult to work with and massively time consuming to mold into the curvy shape that I want, so I went to a foam shop and purchased a block of foam... not cheap, considering half of it was going to be cut off and turfed out due to the curvy GU dash. But I plodded on and after much sanding and measuring and checking, I have a beautiful foam plug. I thought I had a photo of it on my phone, but I guess I didn't take one ( I'll rectify that tonight when I get home ).

This plug is absolutely fantastic, When you sand the foam, the texture comes out like suede leather. I would almost like to just use the foam plug as the console. Yeah it would work beautifully but sun UV and foam are not good friends, so I will have to either upholster that foam plug or continue making a proper mold for this to be able to make a few replicas. I don't think anyone, well anyone sane, will want to go through this process, so I would like to make a mold to be able to save the sanity of the sane people out there....hahaha.

Now, foam and fibre glass resin are not exactly compatible materials, so I still need to body putty up the foam plug and sand it down to the desired finish. and then I will be making a 3 part mold. This is going to be beautiful when its finished and upholstered.
Regards
Cedric
Nissan Patrol GL 4.2 Diesel Turbo (Iron Maiden)
Nissan SANI 3.0 V6 4x4 (SOLD)
Isuzu KB 280 DT 2x4 ('ol Smokey) - SOLD
Suzuki TL 1000R "V twin" (Growler) - SOLD
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