I used glassfibre cloth and epoxy
resin
successfully when building my 46โ RAF Crash Tender and I chose to do the same with the Police Boat.
See: https://model-boats.com/builds/view/23951 for the Crash Tender blog.
The application of the cloth and
resin
serves to strengthen the hull enormously and produces a completely watertight hull, and after additional coats of
resin
are applied and sanded between coats
resulting in a surface that is absolutely smooth and the perfect substrate for the subsequent paint process.
With the benefit of my previous experience and greater confidence working with these materials I used a โfastโ hardener with the
resin
which gives a working time of 30 minutes and a much shorter curing time where previously I had used a 90 minute โslowโ hardener.
The basic process is to cut the cloth roughly to shape with a good margin of overlap and then use masking tape along one edge so that after the
resin
has been brushed onto the hull the cloth can just be lifted over onto the
resin
. I then lightly brush the cloth into the
resin
and push the cloth into any tight angles, without any further
resin
on the brush, until the weave of the cloth is filled and there are no air pockets and the cloth is completely flat. At this point DO NO MORE as the
resin
will start to harden and any more fiddling with it will cause the cloth to lift and bubble, less is definitely more in this instance.
The
resin
should cure completely overnight and can be trimmed with a sharp blade.
I tend to cover a hull in five stages, as there are five โfacesโ to the hull and thus itโs a five day process for me, this may be time consuming but I think the results are worth the effort.
I will brush on two further coats of
resin
when the rubbing strakes and gunwales have been added, this will completely fill the weave of the cloth to create a nice flat surface but itโs essential to rub down each coat after curing.
All the materials were bought from โEasy Compositesโ
https://www.easycomposites.co.uk