Thread: Laquer?

Originally Posted by meissenation

There are CF twill that you can buy on ebay for about $20. I bought the sheet, it looks really good, I think it just needs a layer of resin over it to give it the finished look. I've never fiberglassed before, but I guess it's meant to take the place of the fiberglass sheets.

CF for cosmetic purposes are tough to work with. The stuff you usually see, like hoods, and wings, are built using molds (and usually vacuum bagging). The molds are coated with a tooling gel, to aid in the removal of the plug (the piece you built) and the mold. When its popped off the mold, the tooling gel is what gives it the smooth clear finish.

If you tried this at home, without a mold, it wont come out as well.
Without the proper tools, CF is a pain in the a$$.
I've tried working with CF and Aramid a few times, but as far as cosmetics go, they never came out very well. (I was still using a mold, but no vacuum bagging). I still to fiberglass now. Its cheaper and easier to work with.

If you can get your hands on the tools, give it a shot. Any college or university that works with composite construction, like building airplane wings and fuselages, would have the proper tools.