Just wondering what you need to build a mold for body parts.I paid $400 for some parts today and I'm thinking of making some molds of these parts and build some fiberglass ones and putting them on and keep the original.Has anyone on here done this before?



Luis

you will need some mold release wax,gel coat ( tooling and regular gel coat) , resin, MEK, fiberglass matting,and some wood or something else to stiffen the mold before you release it from the part so it doesnt lose it shape. You will also need rolling tool to roll the air out of the matting as you go. You will need different weights of matting.



You have to polish the part to a high gloss, put about 3-5 coats of mold release wax on it, wiping it off with each coat.

Spray the tooling gel coat on it, you will need a special gun to spray it as normal guns cant atomize the gel coat unless you thin it, and you cant thin it if you are using for a mold. Then when that kicks you put a layer of 3/4 Oz matting on wetting it out with resin, then when that kicks you put 1.5 Oz matting on until you achieve the desired thickness of the mold. Then you add stiffners to the mold before you release it.



Some notes:

If its a intricate part you may have to put a hole in the mold to blow air thru the mold to get it to release.

Make sure you dont set the resin or the gel off too hot because you can distort the mold.

You dont have to spray the gel coat in, you can try brushing or rolling it, but chances are a few months down the road when the part you pull off the mold sits in the sun the brush or roll marks will show thru the primer and paint, this also happens when you put wood or balsa core in the part as well.





Then you can look forward to pulling parts from the mold. Polish/wax the mold, gel coat, etc...