Springfield Flyer.

[tauruck]

Last week I asked Klingspor for a "few" things.
The few things will finish the build.
Flapper wheels, cutting discs and fan grinders!.
Enough already. Guys ask how a broke dude can build a long car?.
Here's the answer.

[tauruck]

I prepped the floor tray mould and modified my roller handle.
Maybe painters don't know but the offset creates uneven pressure.
In my case it means a lot. I'm using quite a bit of pressure.

Then I modified my stands I use for cutting full lengths of metal.
This was a smart move. I found some tubing and 2 old bearing inners from which I fabbed some collars.
I can change out rolls of fabric right at the mould.

[tauruck]

Then I modified my stands I use for cutting full lengths of metal.
This was a smart move. I found some tubing and 2 old bearing inners from which I fabbed some collars.
I can change out rolls of fabric right at the mould.

[tauruck]

The system works great.
Weird thing is the rolls of material are 1m wide and so is the mould with the two walls.
I haven't had it this easy ever. Zero offcuts as well.
Big panels and I was done in no time.

Once cured I'll remove the peel ply and bond in the high density foam to create a sandwich structure which gives great stiffness.
After that it gets the final lay up and more peel ply before vacuuming.

There's a step at the front of the panel where it will slot in under the panel ahead.
I used some fill there because the fabric will want to bridge and rolled out the layers.

I'm thinking with cure times each panel will be a 3 day process.

[tauruck]

Foam core bonding area marked and peel ply cut away.

I had to make an applicator from some 5mm plastic and it works.

This is so weird. The core is 2.2m x 600mm so I'm trying to figure how much Epoxy will do the job in one shot.
I'm eyeballing stuff here so 429gr mixed went in the container and I added thixotropic agents until I was happy with the consistency.
There's about a tablespoon left over!!!!.

[tauruck]

White pigment mixed in for visual and panel set in place ready for vacuum.

[tauruck]

I had every intention of adding the final layers and vacuum bagging the first floor tray today but late yesterday Malcolm from PMSA called to cancel our Monday meeting at his office and asked to come here today about the Basalt Fibre fabrics we discussed.

He would be here at 09h30.

PMSA is giving me all the remaining stock of all Basalt Fibres. Basalt has very similar properties to Carbon and slightly more expensive than glass.
Years ago I wanted to open an agency here to market Basalt. I built gas tanks and fenders for custom bikes with what I had and it was awesome.
Drawback was the colour. In the raw it has a Bronze like Ceracote hue to it but when the resin hits it, it turns dark brown. Not great for raw finishes.
Lately they manufacture black Basalt that even experts think is Carbon.

It's slightly flexible but not much compared to Carbon but on price for application can't be beat.
Basalt doesn't sell in South Africa and I guess only Geologists here know it. This is the good stuff.
Getting net in all apertures and I'm going to use it all.

[tauruck]

I couldn't wait for the good stuff from PMSA so I finished off the first floor tray.

You build a liner chassis and work around it every day. It's long but you don't realize how LONG until you start making floor pans.
5 to go. These panels are long and they chow material.

I goofed a little on this first one, not on integrity but on material choices.

I've got expensive light weight glass and Epoxy and then cheaper Polyester special resin and heavier glass. Carbon is a given.
I'll be using less of the expensive stuff and save it for the nose, cockpit and rear panel.

Here's the start. Peel ply was down and then the perforated bleeder film went down.
Got the biggest vacuum bad ever taped down.

[tauruck]

The part took a while to pull good vacuum because the bag had holes.
The little woman propped the 8' roll against some rough brick wall in the den.
My fault because I should take better care of my materials.

[tauruck]

It came out good and I got the final lay up done with some extra material on the side panels.
Thank God.🙏🏻✝

[tauruck]

1 down, 4 to go.
Living the dream here. No one on the planet has a better life than I do.✝✝✝✝🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[manta22]

1 down, 4 to go.
Living the dream here. No one on the planet has a better life than I do.✝✝✝✝🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Good progress, Mike!

[tauruck]

Thank you Neil.
It's awesome. Big things happening here right now.
I would love to be at Speedweek to see all the guys but I say that every year.
Motivation is high and although I'm impatient I'm pleased with how this build is coming along.

[tauruck]

I call the vertical stabilizer half done but this 1st floor try is fully done.

First pull on a mould is somewhat iffy especially on box shapes.
I removed the side panel of the mould, got my wedge and nylon hammer ready but went with air first.
The part sat. You get a little nervous. No need. One knock with old wedgie and she popped.

Real panel at last.

[tauruck]

The part came out great.
I trimmed the 2 ends and flipped it over just to check flatness.