Had a thought recently after reading about the shaped foam board construction of an aerodynamic prototype which was used to make a mold. ... Ever since I made the Kardboard Kammback, I've been thinking about foam/fiberglass construction approaches.
I went up to the Home Depot and picked up an $8 pressurized can of high expansion urethane foam this evening.
"Cured foam dries rigid and can be shaped, sanded, trimmed, painted or stained."
Hmmm...
I'm going to try this stuff out making a couple of things on the car:
- shaped deflectors ahead of all 4 wheels/tires
- radiused transition at the aft edge of the front wheel arches (I've got lots of space between the arch and the tire to do this)
- possibly also boat-tailing behind the front wheels/tires
- this might make a good grill block plug material - custom fit! - though I've already got a "bra" on that does that job.
Tin foil taped/pressed in the area that will serve as the base of the object being created makes a decent non-reactive "release agent", and will protect the paint.
It'll be a bit of an experiment to see how well it adheres to vertical & upside-down surfaces, and whether I need to approach it in layers, or do it all at once.
Then of course the big issue will be discovering how nice or not it is to shape/smooth & what techniques work best.