March 29 - April 11 2004 During Spring Break, we discovered more bubbles in the tale of the top female mold. After the adventure of attempting to repair the previous magically appearing bubble, on Saturday decided that rather than try to repair the bumps we would just make a new female mold for the top. So we reattached the flange and began the process to make the new mold. After spraying several layers of gelcoat, we painted on a nice blue layer... which proceeded bubble up, talking all the other layers of gelcoat with it. So we gelcoated again. On the final painted on layer the gelcoast again bubbled, but not a seriously and we were able to cut away the bubbled parts before doing the layer of polyester and glass. This means that the interior surface of the top female mold will be both gelcoat and polyester. The first layer of polyester and glass also had bubbles which had to be cut out and filled with a combination of polyester and mircospheres before proceeding with the next level of glass. On the bottom fairing, using an industrial strength glue, Hysol, we attached the engine mounts to the car. We also did a layer of Nomex and unidirectional carbon. The first lay-up of carbon, popped A warning to all who pass Attaching the engine mounts using Hysol Our lovely blue Hysol The April 5th incident... the gelcoat that bubbled The third time we gelcoated the top Some of the areas where bubbled gelcoat was removed An example of the removed gelcoat Nomex laying in the car Previous | Features | Next Contact Cal SMV © 2004 - Berkeley, CA Contact Webmaster