LudeMutt's Custom Fiberglass Wing

Hey hatchers,

I have been in the market for a wing for my EP for a while now but the options are very limited. From what I've seen, all we have are:

Stock
HFP
CTR
Mugen
(Replicas of each)

I really want something like the CCC Racing street wing, kind of a duck bill that goes out farther than the HFP one... So I decided to make my own! I've read a bunch of DIY forum posts on fiberglassing and even though this is my first time working with composites, I feel confident enough (someone remind me I said that in a few weeks when I firebomb my failed project).

Here are the supplies I plan on using (* = purchased just for the project)
*Styrofoam (insulation, 3 big panels)
*Bondo fiberglass cloth
*Bondo fiberglass resin
*Bondo body filler
Painter's tape
PAM (to make the mold break easy)
Protective surgical gloves
Respirator
Dremmel
Sanding blocks
Hand saw
Automotive primer
Hardware (bolts/ nuts)

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0123.jpg

Stay tuned for updates!

Reserved

Don't forget the buddy club wing.. I definitely wanna see you accomplish this so keep us updated

Sounds interesting. Fiberglass is tough, but a material such as fleece has made jobs much easier in the past for me personally. Hope everything goes smooth for you bro.

I will get pictures tomorrow, thanks for the comments guys.

If it goes well, I will consider making a few more. A side-project I want to do is make a smaler wing like the EK CTR one and custom make angle brackets for it. (thoughts?)

This is the styrofoam I got. It's insulation foam and that silver layer peels off real easy.
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0155.jpg

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0158.jpg

The first cut
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0129.jpg

Test Fit
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0134.jpg

The bottom (carving a concave)
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0137.jpg

Another test fit
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0144.jpg

The sides
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0174.jpg

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0165.jpg

All taped up!


http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0184.jpg

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0185.jpg

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...t/DSC_0187.jpg

Wow! You made it look easy! - Your whole sculpting skills are great.

I think it looks great, but I feel the squareness of it doesn't sit well with our rounded body. Definitely an awesome job though man.

Though you did make it look easy for us, I'm sure it took quite a bit of work. I look forward to seeing how it turns out. More pics!

i like where u going

Well, the tape I got sucks and it's coming up at the concave. I think I'm going to take it as an opportunity to round it off a bit and re-tape it in three pieces.

Took about 6-7 hours to get to this point. I'll be working on it more slowly throughout the week.

Update: The painter's tape I used sucked (BLUE Home Depot brand) and didn;t stick very well at all. Plus on the test sheet I did, the reson soaked through a little and ate away at the styrofoam. Since I want to re-use the mold, that's no good.

So I took off all the old tape and re-wrapped it in clear packing tape. I spoke with someone that has some ecperience with resin and he said it sticks better and shouldn;t leak through. I also decided to cast the "side" pieces separate. So I'm going to fully finish the flat top part and then work on the sides. Pictures to follow soon! (hopefully I'll be laying fiberglass tonight)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Smooth EP3

Wow! You made it look easy! - Your whole sculpting skills are great.

I think it looks great, but I feel the squareness of it doesn't sit well with our rounded body. Definitely an awesome job though man.

Though you did make it look easy for us, I'm sure it took quite a bit of work. I look forward to seeing how it turns out. More pics!

---

Believe it or not, I felt like making the mold was kinda easy. It took a long time and I made a HECK of a mess that I'm sure I will be cleaning up for months but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I haven't "sculpted" since high school and even then, the biggest thing I made was a bar soap sculpture. That first picture shows it cut by a wood hand saw, from there all I did was use a 36-grit sanding sponge to shave off a little at a time. I used a permanent marker to show myself where I needed to shave it down and eye-balled most of it.

I thought making the mold was going to be the hardest part but it wasn't. From here I am going to lay fiberglass on the bottom, mark the "seam" and then cast the top separate. I'm going to fiberglass in washers and hardware so it can be mounted just like the OEM wing. From there, I have to waterproof the holes I don't use and attach the two halfes together.

Then it's sanding, body-filler/ repeat, and primer.

Updates?

DA FAQ are you building ???????????????????????????

Nice work. Keep it up and let us know. It's going to be cool seeing another EP with a duckbill wing.