Thread: Fibreglass guard repair

A bit of judicious tapping, and the plaster broke off in sections to reveal an almost perfect repair.

I will lay a few layers of glass on the inside to build up the thickness and add strength, then shape the circular cutout in the side wall. The cutout is there to fit over a shaft.

Looks crook in the pic, but looks a lot better than a busted guard. The sections of white are plaster still clinging, yet to be sanded off.

Buggered if I know why the wax didn't act as a release agent, I put enough on.

Ken

Originally Posted by neksmerj

Buggered if I know why the wax didn't act as a release agent, I put enough on.

Ken

I suspect this is the reason.

"The plaster mould was given a coat of aquadhere, followed by a coat of the good old fashioned Joseph Liddy clear wax."

Why did you use the aquadhere? To seal the plaster perhaps? If you used it thinking its a release agent then that was your mistake. Whilst aquadhere is called a PVA ( Polyvinyl acetate) it is not the same PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) used as a release agent with fibreglass.
Also you say you "put enough on" of the wax. Does that mean you put a lot of coats on, polishing each one before the next or did you just put the wax on thickly in one application?
The other thing is the wax goes on the mould before the PVA. The PVA is the last thing to put on before you start laying up with resin and glass. Lucky your mould was only a one off, plaster mould. If it had been a fibreglass mould you would have had a major "stickup" and would have probably wrecked the mould and the part.
Anyway you have repaired your guard so all good
regards
bollie7

You'll probably find that the Joseph Liddy wax (like many common waxes) is soluble in polyester resin, so it simply went into solution in the resin.

Same reason why you don't use waxed paper cups for mixing polyester resin - it strips the wax right off the paper!

After thinking I had the repaired guard looking good, I was disappointed when the first layer of undercoat went on.

The paint hi-lighted many blemishes and did not fill the micro cracks.

Q1. Is there a cream type product that I can smooth on without resorting to body filler, eg, spackle? The body filler just won't go into the cracks.
Q2. Should I sand back the blemished areas before applying anything, or will what ever you suggest, go on over the undercoat?

Here's another crook picture.

Incidently, how do you delete uploaded files, I been all over the Manage Attachments area, and can't find anything.

Ken

Hi
You can get spray putty in a spray can this will work well or us a high build undercoat is you are spraying it yourself.
My $0.02

Russell

Thanks Russel, I had not considered spray putty. Just Googled spray putty, and it seems there's a product called Septone Blade Putty.

That might be better as I can control where the build-up is needed, it dries fast and is easy to sand, so they say.

Good tip

Ken

Yes, blade putty goes before the spray putty. Blade or spot putty is for 'oopses' and spray putty is for sanding scractches.

After applying many thin layers of blade putty, with sanding in between, I finally got around to applying a couple of coats of paint.

Since I had no success with my touch-up gun last time, I decided to try my Paasche air brush. Not much luck with this either. I reckon I could have applied more paint with a tooth pick dipped in paint. The paint must have been too thick, but I wasn't game to thin it down and risk paint runs and a change of colour.

Anyhow it's done now, I'll have a subjective look at it tomorrow in the light.

Final snaps.

Ken