I kept on working on my bulb plug but did not follow the plans....
I was supposed to sand the extra foam from the 20 sections to get my keel plug to the final shape.Instead, I decided to "fill" it with fairing putty.
I did that for 2 reasons:
First, to account for all the lead that will be removed to fit the keel inside of the plug. Second, because I would rather have a little bit too much weight on the bulb than not enough. I will still try to be within class limit but that is not one of my top priorities.
Anyways, I have no idea how much my bulb will end up weighting but I do not think I will be too far off.
The picture below is after the first layer of epoxy and fairing filler.
It looks terrible ans that is why I am posting it ! I love working with this fairing filler but this batch kind of started kicking off just too quickly ! So I rushed to apply the stuff as fast as I could. Ugly job but I knew it would be really easy to sand off.
I repeated the process and apply a second batch. It looked much better. Some of you might actually think I am crazy but I really enjoyed applying the fairing filler and sanding, shaping, sculpting and watch the bulb suddently comes alive.
Than I then joined the halves to make sure I had a symetrical bulb, applied a last batch to fill minor spot ..............
and sanded them both together .
The end result was pleasant so I separated both halfes ........
and laminated them just to give them more strength and a smoother surface .
Finally, I wrapped them in saran wrap and plunged them into the mortar / plaster / ciment I bought....I am not sure what it is cause everything is written in Turkish on the damn package... :). But it mixed good and looks good ! I will let it dry properly before I try removing the plug. I am curious to see what it will looks like.
As far as weight goes the mold is already a monster. The wood box I made was already pretty sturdy and heavy, about 5kgs each. I probably added about 23 kgs of plaster on each box so by now I have 2 28 kgs molds. Add 40 kgs of lead in each and you end up with 70kgs monster bulb molds !
I will definitly build a little trolley just like Kevin did to move his bulb halfes around.
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Looking very nice. Good luck with the "monsters". I let mind dry 2+ weeks before pouring lead and the heat of the lead still pulled moisture out of the plaster. Your heat there in Turkey should help.
ReplyDeleteKevin.
p.s. Funny comment about the Turkish. So you speak French and English. Anything else. I'm always impressed by people who speak many languages because I've never been able to do that.
Thanks Kevin for the post. I will let them dry for a while, I am in no hurry to pour the lead. Weather in Turkey has not been so hot in the last 10 days. It is raining today and temperatures have dropped. Fall is on its way.
ReplyDeleteps: I happened to speak Portuguese because I have spent most of my life in Brazil. And Spanish because they are similar languages and I lived in Florida fo a while. Spanish is a must in Florida ! :))