batbuilder's LP640 called "No Mercie"

[batbuilder]

Here is the rear deck lid functioning correctly. The louvers will be replaced with glass so they are really throwing the lid off.

[batbuilder]

There is the underside where a piece of angle iron is mounted. It will act as a support for the rear deck lid and a hinge point for the batwings. for some reason I've noticed the batwing does not fully set down. Looks like I will have to cut the body to create an area where the batwing can sit more fully flush. I wondering is the sides of my batwings too tall? Or is there a problem with the seat on the body?

[batbuilder]

looks pretty cool huh. Well here's the batwing frame set-up. Obviously this goes on the underside

[batbuilder]

Today was a good day. I was able to get my motorcycle project over to the weld shop. The Coupe is getting really close to being brought to my house. I did get my rims today and they look perfect.

[batbuilder]

its important to build the area up higher than you need it to finish. If its too low you will have to do it again. Putting layers and layers of fiberglass is not good either.

[batbuilder]

The chopped mesh and powder fiberglass was added to the rest of the first batch of resin and working fast I'm building up the areas that need filled. Now you could fill it with bondo but fiberglass is stonger and lighter. Minimum bondo should be used on your project. The main reason is shrinkage. Fiberglass panels and fiberglass filler will expand and contract at the same rate under say a hot sun. Bondo and fiberglass will expand and contract at different rates.

[batbuilder]

Now thats brushed and looking sweet

[batbuilder]

The resin can be brushed heavily onto the mesh until its fully saturated. Then lift with brush and gloved hand. As you set the fiberglass strip work the bubbles fron the middle outward. Bubbles are the work of the devil and will cause your project to lose adhesion. Don't over do the resin it has no strength. The strength is in the saturated fiberglass. Gobs of resin just makes the job look sloppy. No strength.

[batbuilder]

Mixing the resin. Its hard to say exactly how much catalyst to add but after a while you figure it out. More is better than less and here's why. If you add too little the fiberglass may never set up properly. It will just stay wet and goopy. If you add a little too much it will set up rapidly and you may lose a little resin and mesh but the stuff you put down will set up good. With my 2 inches of resin in a gatorade container its one full squirt and then a quarter squirt. When that catalyst hits the resin the clock starts. Not the time to answer the phone or leisurely talk to your friend.Its better to be standing around saying wow I got that laid down pretty fast than to be trying to beat the resin set up. Once it sets up and starts to solidify put your brush down your done. Drop you brush in the acetone container and start removing the globby mess no big deal.

[batbuilder]

The one strip is waiting to be covered in resin. Usually i will do 4 pieces at a time.

[batbuilder]

Usually I just cut up some fiberglass mesh but thought I would give this a try. I think cutting it up is just as good.Although this is woven and saturated quickly

[batbuilder]

The next step is to acetone the areas that are going to be fiberglassed then after it dries tape off the good area. The  tape gives a border to where the work is being done. A focus. After the repair much of the tape will be removed as you slowly sand down to it. So use the tape as a guide. in this pic it is too shallow to put in fiberglass mesh. If its laid in there the sanding would cut through a lot of the mesh. In this case I'm going to use some chopped mesh and powdered fiberglass

[batbuilder]

In this case I just had one strip and I let it overhang over the piece I needed to fiberglass. I did have some other parts on the mirrors that needed to have some fiberglass filler. So that was going to finish out my batch. After the resin sets up its easy to trim the ends

[batbuilder]

Thanks usmc-butler, thats very nice to say. I hope to get the rest of the pics up tonight. Here is a roll of fiberglass its important to keep it wrapped up and every time you touch it you should be wearing gloves. I only cut what I need. When I am going to fiberglass I lay out the strips with a 2 inch overlap before I make resin. I try to do four strips at a time and two times per resin batch. Like I said very little goals. You can alway mix another batch. The opposite of what I do would be to pour half a gallon of resin and add the catalyst. Then start cutting strips and figure out where to lay the strips. Oh yeah I did that before.

[usmc_butler]

I learned more in that 10 minutes reading then I did my whole MOS school in the Marines ! Keep it coming.... !