Bellypan building? Materials? Thoughts requested?

[mattc7]

I'm curious to see if anyone has experience and advise for building plastics, such as a belly  pan out of fiberglass. 

I have one currently, however, I want to modify its shape, and the only way I can think of to do this (adding to it), is to build onto it.

Does anyone have experience to reccomend fiberglass varieties/resins/epoxies that work well for jobs like this?

I've got a design partially done in foam, which will get sealed in order to allow for release afterwards, however, any advice would be appreciated for building.



** part of my post dissapeared, edited to add it back** 

[He Man]

the one you buy at the store.

[bunnyman666]

I have built many things from composite materials. I am not going to go into a wordy explanation about it, as there are many, many resource materials and web pages dedicated to exactly what you're thinking of doing.

West Systems makes the best epoxy stuff out there, and they also have a guide to building damned near anything you want to build. If they still sell that book, buy it.

I am in the sixth year of a seven-year non-compete agreement (which included showing my work on the internet, or I would give you a few examples.

Google is your friend. You are going to spend a lot of money on this addiction.

[He Man]

unless you have something against the 3M branded stuff. I have used fiberglass mats and fiberglass shreds to rebuild fairings with regular fiberglass epoxy from autozone.  The bondo and sanded over them for paint. I've reconnected parts that were torn off and also built up new parts with fiberglass. It works great  you just need to give it a nice surface to grab onto so it can extend otherwise it will break off if you hit it hard enough.

[silversled]

I second West System.  I mainly use the 105 epoxy system with 207 Clear Hardener dispensed from the metered pumps.  I  have had good luck painting the resin on the mold surface and letting it tack up prior to laying down the first ply resulting in a very nice surface finish (especially when using plain weaves).  The resin also wets fabric out quite nicely.  Excellent stuff and if you run out, many local marine supply chains (eg. West Marine) stock it.  This resin system can also be mixed with their 400-series line of fillers to make adhesive pastes and fillers.  I have no affiliation with West Systems; I'm just a user. 

[Syscrush]

West System is definitely good.  If you're lucky enough to have a fiberglass/composites supplier in your area, you might be able to go in and chat there with someone about how best to go about your project.