Re: Citicar shell

["Richard W. Cowan" <gt1040a@prism.gatech.edu>]

At 06:48 PM 8/30/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Hmmm, do you suppose one could lay a coat of fiberglass cloth and resin
>over the plastic if it weren't absolutely crumbling?
>
>     David Roden          THE VIRTUAL PD         roden@ald.net

Yes this should be possible, but make sure that the resin system you choose
is compatible with the type of plastic.  (You don't want the resin to
dissolve your plastic body!)  If you want a show-quality exterior, this may
not be the best way to go.  It will require quite a bit of work, especially
if you are using the hand lay-up technique.

Something you might want to try is to create a female FRP (fiber reinforced
plastic) mold using your existing Citicar body as a plug for the mold.
Basically you thoroughly prepare the car surface with lots of waxing and
add a parting agent.  Then you do the hand lay-up technique in
reverse--gelcoat, mat, cloth, etc.  Add parting flanges at several points
so that you have a multi-part mold and it will be easier to free the plug
and future parts from the mold.  After your mold is done and removed, you
put the mold together, prepare it, and lay up what will be a new citicar
shell inside of it.  Using a female mold in this way will give the car an
outer surface that is just as good as the original from which it was molded.

This is way over-simplified, but if it sounds like something you might want
to do here are some resources:


http://www.fiberglast.com  (Get a free catalog from their website!)

_Fiberglass and Composite Materials:  An Enthusiasts Guide to High
Performance Non-metallic Materials for Automotive Racing and Marine Use_ ,
Forbes Aird, 1996, ISBN = 1-55788-239-8

_How to Build Hot Rods, Customs, and Kit Cars_, Leroi Tex Smith, 1994, ISBN
= 1-884089-10-0

Richard

http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~vaps1rc