I respect your immense knowledge in fiberglassing. But isnt "building a mold" method better suited for if you wanted to make multiple copies of a piece? Building a "one off" piece would be easier and less time consuming.-jedi
I think that was the first question I ever asked when I signed on as a model maker. I don't remember the exact explanation but that was how I was trained to do it by the engineers who taught me whether it was 1 piece or 100. The pieces I built had to be (literally) show quality.
Nothing in my previous posts was intended to be an insult to how things are fabricated on the site. I love all the stuff you guys do with coroplast and other materials on this site. It's very low buck and easy to work with using simple tools. My methods cost more. My original rant was I felt some companies were ripping of kids due to their lack of knowledge regarding composites. Also I thought a superior product could be built for a lower price.
California98 brought up splashing and since I have a decent amount of experience with it I decided to give a heads up on what's involved to people who were interested in it and include some resources so people could learn more if they wanted.
The original discussion was on making fiberglas replacement parts to copy original body panels. He then brought up wheel arch covers and asked how I would do them (not the key word "I" ) and I described it. My method was based on function (including finished weight) and even more so on appearance. If I part a part on my car want people who see it to go "wow I didn't know honda built one like that" or "did you get that from Cervini's?" I want it to look OEM. The knowledge of how to do that is what I was trying to convey. Also the the knowledge in the resources would give ideas for making other cool and unique things (I made an alien head shiftball for the mustang along time ago
).
As for making multiple parts what happen if a grocery cart takes out you front arch? If you did a one-off you start from scratch. Also got any friends with a similar vehicle? I did a one-off piece grafted to an original factory part to a friend's monte carlo within a month 3 people who saw it wanted one. Had I molded it I could have made some extra cash with minimum effort as it was I turned them down.
In the end if your happy with what you created for your car (or other things) that's all that matters. Cheers! -GW