8255 Build

[Shooter]

Taking my PTSS to the GF's place on the weekend since she has a tub to test in...

Ray is going to his girlfriends house to play with his toy boats in the tub.

[ray schrauwen]

What don't you and your gf use 'toys' in the bathroom?

Ray is going to his girlfriends house to play with his toy boats in the tub.

[flraptor07]

What don't you and your gf use 'toys' in the bathroom?

Sounds like good clean fun to me....

[Shooter]

Well it starts out clean at least.

[T.S.Davis]

Alright then.

First of all, there is no canopy making molding laws. This is just how I decided to do it on this particular canopy.

So I cut out a profile of the canopy and traced it onto some foam. I then used my wire cutter table that I made a while back. I only cut the bottom profile at this point.
20150221_190002.jpg

Next I cut a piece of ply the exact shape of the canopy where it sits on the deck. My foam is 4" wide. I glued the ply on the bottom of my foam on that curve. There's a special adhesive for that to not eat the foam.
20150221_194433.jpg

Next I cut the top curve on the wire.
20150221_201440.jpg

You'll have to visualize some of this. I market the center on the new curvature (top of canopy). To that I glued a piece of ply that is shaped like the top of the canopy (from the plans).

At this point I have a solid piece of ply on the top and bottom. I used the wire cutter to trim the foam very close to the ply. Then used a sanding bar to get the foam even with the wood.

more pics coming

[T.S.Davis]

20150221_211159.jpg

Next I peeled that top piece of ply off. I used a file to shape the cockpit area.
20150221_212036.jpg

Coated the whole thing with epoxy
20150221_213619.jpg

Hogged out the cockpit.
20150222_102348.jpg

Frosted the cake with faring. This is where I left off. I'm sure I'll be doing this multiple times.20150222_105348.jpg

[longballlumber]

Very Nice Terry!!!! Thanks for sharing. This is something that I would like to try some time. Like the hot wire foam cutter. I need one of those too!

Later,
Ball

[srislash]

Alright then.

First of all, there is no canopy making molding laws. This is just how I decided to do it on this particular canopy.

Hey, this is just how I have done a few of my lids. The last one being my Pursuit lid. Works great, a bit of elbow grease goes into it but you get that 'one of a kind' charm. Good work T!

[T.S.Davis]

Mike, that foam cutter is an easy thing to build. If I did it again I would make the wire with a spring tensioner kind of thing. When the wire gets hot it grows and you end up with slack. PIA.

[ray schrauwen]

I rigged up a really crude foam cutter to drag across the top of my Whip 40 cutting the excess foam block that was above the framing before skinning the top. I just used an older 12vdc AstroFlight PS, wire for foam cutting I bought 10 yrs ago and a haaaaaandheld wood frame. It saved me so much time and mess sanding. I did have a couple minutes of fine sanding leftover. Maybe I'll start a thread asking how to power foam cutting wire properly.

Very Nice Terry!!!! Thanks for sharing. This is something that I would like to try some time. Like the hot wire foam cutter. I need one of those too!

Later,
Ball

[ray schrauwen]

Mike, that foam cutter is an easy thing to build. If I did it again I would make the wire with a spring tensioner kind of thing. When the wire gets hot it grows and you end up with slack. PIA.

Now I know what the heck was going on.... jeese, no wonder it was a pita.

[Shooter]

That is awesome, Terry. Always wanted to learn how to do that. Several words now added to my vocabulary like "faring", "wire cutter", "special foam adhesive".

[T.S.Davis]

20150222_170853.jpg
This stuff. Sorry, it's fairing compound. I use it as a filler. It's basically micro balloons and cabosil. Pretty sure.

[T.S.Davis]

Sanding and fairing and sanding and fairing.

In this pic you can see the first dose of sanding. 80 grit with a bar and then a little block for the tight spots. Every place you see a dark spot is either a hole or a low spot. Added another layer of frosting.
20150222_175448.jpg
Could have been an easier way. If I had framed it and skinned with wood it would have been less finish work but more front side. Compound curves this tight are annoying in wood. At least for me they are.

[JimClark]

are you making this to vacuum form one or glass over it?