In a previous post, I asked if epoxy can be used for resin panels for my Thrailkill Pig project. The answer was yes. I started this thread as a more direct way to save the information for others in the future.
Any advice or tips? Anyone done this before?
I want to keep this old school in the vane of the pictures attached. I’ll be using 6 oz volan cloth. I plan to apply a one inch red panel on either side of the stringer and then a 3 inch yellow panel outside of those.
I’ll be using RR KK epoxy. I wonder if I need to thicken it a bit to keep it from flowing all over the place while it cures?
I think I should pull the tape when the epoxy curing is at the cheese consistancy stage?
You got this! Lay the tape down ,mix up a hot batch of resin with color , paint it on , pull tape when gelling , pin stripe if your feeling classy , clear coat that mofo … worth 2 cents? Maybe 3 …# hoot and holler is pretty good at this! Wait for the chime in…
I´m only a lousy backyarder, but that´s how I do my epoxy resinpanels:
I use my coating epoxy, which is a bit thicker than my lamming epoxy. (potlife 20min, fliptime 2-3h)
I mix a batch, stirr a healthy amount of pigments in it. Let the reaction start in the bucket for a few minutes.
When the bucket starts to get warm, I lay it down. Warm means “getting closer to body temperature”, don´t let it get hot, it destroys the epoxy.
(I ruined some of the first mixes by waiting to long. Don´t even think about pouring those on the board. I throw the bucket away and make a new mix.
You´ll get a good feeling for the right waiting time after a couple of tries.)
On horizontal panels I pull the tape a couple of minutes after applying. It´s like thick honey at this point. The edges are a bit smoother for me this way.
When I do panels on rails, I wait ~1h before I pull the tape. My epoxy is cheesy or like rubber than and doesn´t run/crawl anymore.
For rails I sometimes add a little thixotropic agent to the mix. Helps with the running on vertical surfaces.
The results are far from perfect, but o.k. for me.
The light colour on the nose is in the lam. The three darker triangles in the back are panels (top and bottom).
My trick is to use a gel coat = a tixotropic resin. You make one by premixing silica in resin part around 2% by weight of final resin+hardener total weight. mix long time until silica dispersed then finish mix quickly then let it degazing long time (days) before use or degaze it with vaccum. Had a touch of solvant with hardener and pigment to easily mix and spread, help leveling too
Mix your epoxy like normal, paint your panels, babysit - pull when they are about 80-90% cured.
crisp clean lines.
do some tests on scrap so you get your timing
lay out some strips of tape and paint epoxy over them and then pull when it’s cured to the point it will still leave a fingerprint if you touch it but it’s set.
when you mix your color half of the epoxy, mix extra and stash it cause your probably gonna need it (burn through , fisheyes, etc…) and evening if you just use a pigment right out of the container, if you don’t have the same exact concentration of pigment to resin your touch up will most likely look off.
get as much pigment in the mix as you can without causing problems. You want solid color.
I would think you could thicken a bit with Cabosil. Wouldn’t take much. Don’t overdo it. I’ve always found that if I can get the material at a proper viscosity that it will stay in place and not run or sag. If you can get that part of it right you will not have to baby sit your work… you can lay the material down and by the time you mop out your bucket and rinse your brush you can pull your tape. Pulling the tape ASAP allows the edge to flow out enough that it is a blended soft edge. Hard tape edges left by pulling the tape too late, have to be knocked down with a scuff pad or worn out 220.
Slightly OT, but the main question appears answered:
I’m looking at dropping in a panel of cerex on the foam for an epoxy swirl with tape border and then trimming back to the tape and glassing over as normal.
Any advice apart from ensuring bond between epoxy layers?
lam over when resin is still in green stage. from 3 hours to 12 hours depend of hardener and temp. work in dry constant temp climat. RR additif F is make for avoid blush no need prep. More you wait more you need to prep, a fast “hard clean” with water and scotch brit on orbital is effective.
