K9 Diaries - Saturday Morning and All is Well

K9's head ready for more glass

K9's head was a bit of a mess, as I'd managed to get runs of resin on the sides and top as well as bits of fibreglass strands stuck on here and there. Fortunately they cleaned off fairly well, but it's something to look out for in the future. I'll have to look over the areas I'm not working on after, and clean off any spillage before it sets.

Front, with dams.

Today I was supposed to crack on with K9's fibreglass, but life conspired against much progress.
I did manage to start preparing the front end of the body shell, which takes longer than you might think, but then had to stop, as the fibre glassing can take 2 or 3 hours, when you take setting time of gel coat and clean-up time etc.

So Sunday morning I managed to get back into the garage and get some glass on.
First you cut out the fibre glass into the sizes you think will best suit what you're going to cover. Then you mix the gel coat apply that and wait 45 minutes. I went for a walk in this time. I've taken to doing a 5 km walk at a brisk pace to try and get into shape, so this was an ideal time. On my return, it was straight on to mixing a batch of resin, applying a coat and starting with the first layer of fibreglass.

Front completed.

Getting into corners is always interesting. On some of the hardest ones on the head I've used chopped strands of fibreglass then applied resin. It can be a bit messy as the strands like to stick to your paint brush. It does seem to be a good way to get into corners though.There was the usual misalignment's and patching.

It's getting quite exciting now, just the sides remaining, which might take less time as there are boundaries to set-up as they are already there. Just a strip along the bottom.


I've not decided how to handle the panel cut-out yet. Perhaps I should set up a boundary of some kind where it'll be cut-out? It seems a waste to cover an area that isn't required.

The same with the monitor aperture, it will take a little extra setting up time, but will save materials.