(14 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
Getting ready to lay up the first half of the mold by applying polyvinyl acetate parting film
Spraying gel coat
Yes, Larry Lem, he's wearing a respirator ;-)
The canopy area
From the front
Pulling tape
Striping a mold is bass-ackwards from striping anything else. In this case, peeling the masking tape reveals a channel in the gel coat. The gray is the tooling plug, while the tan is the flange form.
Filling the channel with white gel coat
Covering the white with more black gel coat (remember, the stripe is "under" all that).
Filling the hard edges of the canopy with high fiber
Filling the sharp corner with high fiber, so the fiberglass doesn't have to make a sharp 90° bend at the flange (which it won't do)
Closeup, showing how the high fiber rounds the hard corner
Applying fiberglass
Closeup near the nose
Dad applying another patch of fiberglass
The first layup with 1-ounce mat is complete
From the front
Second layup with 3-ounce mat is complete
Closeup of the nose
Yeah, it itches!
Dusting off
Another closeup
Annie loves her dad