Help Building a Fibreglass Hull

[GaryParticipant @gary]

Can anyone help with a detailed description on how to build a one off hull. I believe the simple method is to make a balsa hull and cover it with fibreglass.However I have no idea as to how I can obtain a quality finish.

[ARHParticipant @arh]

Go to http://www.modelwarships.com and go to scratch build and r/c, look at HMS IRON DUKE build, by me , ARH

[GaryParticipant @gary]

Hello, Couldn’t find the Iron Duke build on that site,however the finished job here looks absolutely superb. Found your USS Moffett build which now gives me a reasonable idea of what to do.If I can build anything that even starts to look like your models, I think I will be happy.
Thanks for the reply Regards Gary

[ARHParticipant @arh]

If you found Moffett on the same page at the very top are two sticky,s part 1 and part 2 of the IRON DUKE build ,it was 80 pages long but I have taken out most of the replies and its down to about 24 pages.This is a plank on frame build, where Moffett is a plug build.

[GaryParticipant @gary]

Found it,looks like old age is catching up, the brain seems to need a little coaxing.
That’s great and easy to follow so I can now get underway. Thanks for your help.

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

Making a one off GRP hull can mean a lot of rubbing down if you make a balsa hull first and then cover it with GRP resin and mat. I assume you intend to remove the bulk of the balsa from inside the GRP, once it is finished. Of course if it all goes wrong you can risk mucking up the original as well and not quite ending up with what you intended. The alternative would be to make a nicely finished master (plug), take a mould from it and then produce an exact copy of the original, the benefit being that you could produce a few hulls for onwards sale if you wished and could easily reproduce the original if need be. I find sanding fibreglass to be quite hazardous, so you must be very careful of the dust. Even if you use wet or dry paper, at some stage you will ‘dry sand’ which produces this fine dust that is not good for you. The HMS M15 series commencing September 2006 started with the building of a ‘plug’ and the production of a hull from a mould. There have been other articles in the magazine as well from time to time. I believe some modellers have used expanded polystyrene foam as a former for a fibreglass hull. Epoxycote as used by aeromodellers to finish wings will also give a very nice hard finish on wood and can be used with mat or tissue for added strength.

[GaryParticipant @gary]

Thanks for the advice Paul.I have two hulls I am building and I will try different methods with each and see how they come out.ARH has put me on the right track and if my models look anything like his finished products I will be very happy. Thanks again for your help.

[Mike DavidsonParticipant @mikedavidson22772]

Me again GaryThe quality of the finish that you get on your plug will be reflected in the final production hull. I was most pleased that I had a rusty old car because I had tins and tins of P38 body filler epoxy puttyI found that I could grind out a patch ofhull that was not to my liking and fill out the groove with P38, and then sand it smooth with ever finer sandpaper, finishing off with wet and dry 800 grade. I sprayed the finished article with cellulose paint again from my car box, and finally applied the 12 coats of wax on top of that. That gave a finish second to none, and the glass fibre didn’t stick to it either. I tell you what made the whole job easier, that was a Humbrol spray gun kit. p.s. if you follow this, get a face-mask and safety goggles

[GaryParticipant @gary]

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