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Old 31st March 2011, 08:01 PM
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Wynand Wynand is offline
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The nose cone plug is now finished and tomorrow I will take a mold from that What an experience it was (elbow grease) and very fulfilling by achieving a pleasing result from the challenge and gives meaning to the saying "necessity is the mother of invention".
Would I do it again? No, period. Would rather buy a Locost nose cone, cut it in four pieces and make it fit and live with the less than perfect shape and curve resulting from such surgery....

Here are some pics of the finished plug.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Lotus 7 011b.JPG (64.7 KB, 100 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus 7 012b.JPG (55.9 KB, 86 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus 7 014b.JPG (71.1 KB, 90 views)
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Old 31st March 2011, 08:43 PM
shaun shaun is offline
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Good job there Wynand, maybe you can sell those to SA builders...reminds me of the saying...' 'n boer maak a plan'
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Old 1st April 2011, 07:49 PM
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looks awesome mate, how many hours did you put into it?

nathan
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Old 1st April 2011, 08:22 PM
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Wynand Wynand is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shh120m View Post
looks awesome mate, how many hours did you put into it?
Shaun, goeie dag vriend, hoe kan jy in daardie nat en koue plek bly?
Sorry guys, some private gossip meant for Shaun eyes only

Nathan, from start to finished plug took total of 56 hours...

Thanks for all the compliments chaps - made the effort worthwhile
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Old 26th April 2011, 09:13 AM
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Wynand Wynand is offline
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Just an update on this project....

The mold was made - split mold which split on the bonnet flange and easy to sand off the joint on gelcoat of molding - and the nose cone molding taken off mold.
The nose cone has 3mm CoreMat sandwiched between 450g CSM layers and the nose cone is so stiff, one can stand on it without deforming it! Total weight of the nose cone is 5.1kg

Here are some pictures of the mold taken and the end result. The white gelcoat is streaky and done on purpose. Since yours truly hates gelcoat (repair boats daily and knows its sins) I only used enough to get a smooth finish on the laminate. This will be flatted down and the nose cone painted with some proper epoxy paints that is light years better than GC....
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 005a.JPG (63.0 KB, 75 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 007a.JPG (57.4 KB, 63 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 008a.JPG (59.1 KB, 64 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 012a.JPG (63.5 KB, 60 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 016a.JPG (68.5 KB, 80 views)
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Last edited by Wynand : 26th April 2011 at 09:22 AM.
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Old 26th April 2011, 09:21 AM
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Wynand Wynand is offline
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and here are the final pics of the nose cone made....

Some awkward camera angles causes optical illusions here and there, but all is true and symmetrical
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 028a.JPG (68.3 KB, 67 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 006a.JPG (61.0 KB, 58 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 009a.JPG (67.0 KB, 59 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 024a.JPG (65.1 KB, 59 views)
File Type: jpg Lotus Molds 025a.JPG (54.3 KB, 75 views)
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Old 26th April 2011, 11:15 AM
Tilly819 Tilly819 is offline
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top job, roughly how long do you think it has taken you to do the nose cone from the start of making the plug to pulling the part from the mould???

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