hey im thinking about making some custom parts for my car out of fiber glass. My question is I have herd that if u wrap something with aluminum foil then fiberglass over it the fiberglass wont stick to the aluminum foil. Tht way u can just peel the fiberglass off the part after it drys , does anyone know if this is true.

 

http://www.fiberglassforums.com/index.php

 

Aluminum foil sometimes still sticks to the fiberglass and it sticks pretty well if you have ripples in the aluminum foil. Turtle wax works alright for a release agent. I've used a combination of duct tape for a water proof layer, aluminum foil and masking tape over the top of that, and turtle wax rubbed on that. They do make a special release agents. The one I've used was called PVA. You can find it on www.uscomposites.com It's basically a watery green liquid you paint it on and let it cure ahead of time. It forms a thin plastic type layer that will peel or flake off the finished product. I've used it a lot with molds and gelcoating.

 

it will stick if there's nothing coating the foil, as previously mentioned. if you're not going to be doing a ton of glassing, then it would probably be a waste to get the specialty stuff for 1 or 2 jobs. i used car wax before too with good results.

 

I've always used waxed duct tape (cover it in tape and then wax it) with good luck, but I have had a few cases where the 'glass resin melted some of the adhesive at the edges of the tape and stuck along them (still much easier to separate then if the whole surface stuck a little...)

 

thanks that info helps alot

 

I am resurrection this thread I Have recently made a new custom dash pad with some airbrushed skulls on it,( if you want to see it look for my thread has anyone done this or seen it done) My new idea is to take this small about 5 in tall skull and use it as a mold to make several fiberglass copies of the front of it the "actual face part" then molding them into some other custom fiberglass interior panels i.e custom t-top headliner or center console. So I was wonder ing how about to do this, maybe take the skull cover it in duct tape wax it then fiberglass the front of it.?..or is there a better way

 

How detailed is it? Are you just trying to get it down to a general form are are you trying to get it right down to the hair line cracks in the skull? I think you may have trouble getting the duct tape to work for something like that. I dont think it will conform to the shape well enough to get any sort of detail. Which leads to the next issue if you mold it like your saying all the details of the skull will be molded on the inside of the fiberglass part where it will not be seen. In order to get the details to be molded to the outside you have to make a mold of the face part and then lay your fiberglass into the mold you made. Because this isnt a structural piece you also may not want to use fiberglass at all. It would probably be better to use some cheap clearance fleece cloth dipped in the fiberglass resin. Same general idea as working with fiberglass but a bit easier to work with and will most likely yield a better result for something like this. Also what is the skull your trying to mold made out of? By chance any pictures of the skull your trying to work from? Whats your budget?

 

I can post pics tommorow maybe it is made out of like acrylic plastic, and I prefer to go cheap for at least the first try. So if I like make a mold of the face of the skull in like plaster then lay some resin and fleece into the plaster mold would that be good to get the shape and detail of the skull.

 

That could be a good way to go about it. Its the right idea anyways. However using plaster could be kind of iffy. Plaster is great for a lot of things I made many molds using the stuff however depending on you detailed your part is the plaster may have a tendency to stick to the part and pull off on finer points. For example between teeth there will be a fine line and that thin piece of plaster is not very strong and it may have a tendency to pull apart and stick to the skull rather than the mold ruining that part of it. You could do a really good job waxing it to try to prevent that however that really good waxing has a tendency to fill in the finer details (which may or may not be a big deal depending how detailed it is). The other problem is once you pour plaster onto it you will have to be able to pull the skull out of the plaster once its dried. However it may get stuck in areas like the temples they tend to be a bit sunk in and obviously that will prevent you from pulling the skull out once the plasters dry. Kind of like if you were going to mold a ball if you only mold half of it or less your fine but if you go beyond half that the opening in the mold is smaller than the widest part of the ball forever sealing your part in your mold. To get around this you can use a mold thats comprised of 2 or more piece that can be disassembled to remove your part (which could be done using plaster).

 

Yeah i think that if I use plaster I will I will only put the face part into the plaster to make the mold thats the parts I mainly want anyway as for details I would like as much as I can get but I plan on airbrushing it after I am done so i probably can add some detail myself