Developping a new Bagheera part

[Spyros]

Hi,

A long time ago, in 2006, I started to develop a new panel for the Matra Bagheera.

What and why ?

What : the steel part supporting the front bonnetµ
Why : Very easy , it rust away. The aeration is not correctly done and humidity will get trapped in this part and rust start right away.

So, In 2006, I was given the last new steel part. The idea was to reproduce it in Fiberglass, Murena Like.µ

But of course, easy think and ... er ... well ... I'm affraid not easy to do

The first issue was that this part, albeit new, was not in perfect shape.
Some surface rust that I removed (all derusted zones in clear color)



Then I started to make the mold.

The second issue is that this part comes with lots of little holes and if you apply the fiberglass on top of them, you will not be able to remove it.
They have been closed by using tape



Then I applied molding wax :



3 coats, 1 drying hour in between each coat and polishing.
That was a mistake, I should have had at least 10 coats of wax ...

Then gel coat. If you don't know what it is or understand why the gel coat is important, let me know because this is really key.
That was actually the second mistake : I used colorless gel coat (only one available that day) and this make it difficult to see where you did apply it and where you forgot it

The next step was to fiber it. And here I learned that the quality of the mat and of the rooving that you will use is very important. Also these needs to be impregnated with a kind of powder who made them easy to impregnate.

If you don't use a good mat, the following will happens : in black the part to reproduce and in red the fiber µ

In the corners, the fiber will not adhere and you end up with bubbles.

Quite rapidly I ended up with a mold :


Reinforced with woods and metal rods :


But on the other side, ...


And some big zones with reaction between the gel coat and the primer I stupidly used to paint it after derusting :


In the end, all the zones highlighted in red were to correct :


So
Start again ...
I first sanded this original part and did another mold
Let me some time to find back these pictures