re-finishing old fiberglass boat hulls?

[proffesso]

hey guys, as some of you know my grandfather ran a model boat buisness, and sold all of his molds and leftover hulls before he passed, so ive been slowly re-buying hulls off old buyers! its a slow...and costly process!

but now I have a few in my collection, but they have some small dings / scratches and need some lovin, whats the best way to go about this? (the hulls interiors are covered in nitro/oil as well which i need to clear out)

cheers~!

[moto-steve]

I thought this was a car site ????? Hey i have a dumas scarab kv and i can give you some help, first wash all the dirt off with warm soapy water, then make SURE you clean that nitro fuel out so you dont have any contamination. Try acetone or even laquer thinner.You can use body filler (bondo) and when its dry sand it down, start with coarse grit and work to finer, and even wet sand.You can use fiberglass resin if there is a large crack or some big messed up area.Thats my take, if you like to know more just pm me, be glad to help.

[proffesso]

was at the hardware store today, picked up various sandpaper from 200 - 600 (wet) after reading though, sounds like I will need some 1200 or so to get that glass like smoothness.

acetone for cleaning? I picked up some PlastiBond for the dints / cracks, should do nicely

what kind of paint would I use to prep the hull for painting? (im not worried about weight, as long as the paint is awesome )

[moto-steve]

I used automotive laquer paint, but cleared it with a couple of coats of automotive enamel clear. That will hold up to a ton of abuse, you can use other paints but i recommend making sure to use auto grade clear for super protection. Just make sure the color coat paint you use, can handle the clear, always check if they work together to be safe. I have a dumas 38 KV scarab and i painted it like the boat on miami vice, she is too sweet to run but i will convert to electric, so that will be cool.PPG and DUPONT is the way to go as far as auto paint.Not sure what you have in japan? Any ???? just ask and i will help.

[proffesso]

man, i have a dumas scarab on my to-buy list. basically all the boats im collecting are from the late 80's to early 90's...Miss Circus Circus, and a Hotshot 1 (open cowl)...love those

so far I have 3 Full Ahead hulls....Avenger, Dominator and Super Stock...i'll take some photos of these to show what state they are in at the moment

[tommykart]

I have been fixing the topsides gelcoat on my sailboat and I used a marine gel-kote. I applied it with a foam brush. 16oz can I think it was $15. Easy to use and I am sure it would be stronger then paint since it is like a resin because you mix hardener with it. I mixed it on the light side so I would have more working time, real easy to use and had a self leveling property to it. Just make sure you paint it on a little thick.

[proffesso]

heya tommy, yeah ive located some marine epoxy filler (easily sandable aparently)

http://www.norglass.com.au/products/norfill-epoxy-filler

however this one is recommended, so i'll get this

http://www.norglass.com.au/products/shipshape-primer-undercoat


now, onto actual paint. I want to go a custom look -



how would I go about with these metallics? ive found color codes for automotive paints, ie Lava Orange and Toyota Lexus Spectra Blue

should I go to a automotive paint shop and get them done? im concerned about cost, as ive found touch-up spray cans for other cars for around $60 a can :/

should I just try to mix up my own and use an airbrush instead?

[tommykart]

this is more along the lines of what i was using, except the new formula seems not to need mold release, so even better.

http://www.evercoat.com/productDetail.aspx?pID=106

if you want some pics of my test sample i did on my boat I will post some but my prep wasn't as good as it should have been, but it was a learning curve. My topsides are toasted, and i was trying to see how big a crack and or void it would fill with the least amount of sanding. It did a pretty good job on filling but i definitely need to sand more . After it was hardened, it was glossy and tough,

[bearrickster]

man, i have a dumas scarab on my to-buy list. basically all the boats im collecting are from the late 80's to early 90's Hotshot 1 (open cowl)...love those

Thats cool I have 2 Hotshot 21's one was the first RC anything I ever had, and I have one NIB I bought a few years ago. I bought my first 21 used when I was 15 and was never happy with the way it was built. so when I saw a NIB one I jumped on it. I also have 3 NIB Dumas Short stuffs and a Miss Unlimited, and Skiddle 20 Wood kits. Dumas always mad great kits.

[proffesso]

hows the miss unlimited? thats also on my list, and probably one of the next i'll get

in australia in the 80's / early 90's all the racing was Multiboat...submersed drive, so most of my boats are. it wasnt until i started reading RCBM when i found out about riggers, hydro's, oval mono's etc

im learning a lot restoring this, which is good because I have 3 more hulls after this one....so far...still another 4 hulls to track down. no way I can find perfect, unused stuff alas, so it all has to be torn down and rebuilt

here's what I started with, and where im at now. all hardware removed, holes filled, sanded etc...just need some filler undercoat now to get the final surface imperfections out (in reverse order)

[bearrickster]

I havent started building the Unlimited yet, but as for the fiberglass treat it just like a real car. I paint mine with automotive paint. I have painted my Hotshot 21 about 6 times and its tore apart now because I split the hull seam. so I am rebuilding it once more but fixing it right.

[MOmo]

I have an old Dumas 36in hull I was thinking about re-doing (when I find time amongst my other projects) and wondering the best way to sand the old paint, fix the cracks and re-gel or glass it and get it ready for paint.

Prior owner had this boat had it set up for a single Nitro outboard. I ant to patch the holes and convert it to an electric brushless. Thinking about a couple of Dual Out-board BL water-cooled systems running 6S.

Very curious to see how your projects go.


Here's the outboard from ProBoat:


Pics of my Boat coming soon.


MOmo

[proffesso]

well its almost done re-finishing wise, im just painting now, taking a while but getting there. a lot of trial and error as well. found some good products, and some not so good

a few of my silly mistakes - used acetone on the hull to clean hull up a bit...just ended up melting the paint that was there so I couldnt paint over it at all. had to sand it all back, which took a while

used enamal over acrylic without giving it enough time to cure...orange peel effect...had to sand back again.

eventually got it all back to smooth again, sticking with only acrylics this time, found a great highbuild primer as well that wetsands to smooth as glass with no worries. I dont have an airbrush, so this is all automotive rattle can stuff

unfortunantly the inside of the hull is a bit ugly, the previous owner was extremly liberal with his epoxy putty etc, so ive ground down what I can with the dremel and chipped away, but there is no chance of getting it clean.

solution - paint the guts black


learnt a lot doing this, so the next 3 hulls should be a walk in the park (they are in much better condition too)