Light weight fibreglass repair help

[Roop]

Hi all,

Kent senior very kindly bought me a r/c Hawker Hunter for a Christmas gift. It's got a lovely fibreglass fuselage but has unfortunately been stotted in transit and the nose is bashed in and cracked.

I was thinking of repairing it using expanding foam, shaping, then sealing, priming and painting but having never done this type of repair, I thought I'd ask here first.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Mods, I put this in GG as the fibreglass repair is more relevant here I reckon...

[Rowan138]

buy a fibreglass kit in halfrauds or at your local motor factor and patch it up and repaint

[elanfan]

Clain off the the Royal mail and get it replaced - or if it came direct from the suppliers they are responsible for getting it to you intact!

[Roop]

Rowan138 said:

buy a fibreglass kit in halfrauds or at your local motor factor and patch it up and repaint

I thought about this but am not sure what it's like from both a weight perspective or detail. I'll post a photo of the damage shortly - it's the nose that's biffed in so a small area and a very tight compound curve.

The reason for foam is that I can inject it easily, it's good structurally and easy to file down, seal and paint.

If it's crap idea, I'll go down the fibreglass repair route...

[Roop]

elanfan said:

Clain off the the Royal mail and get it replaced - or if it came direct from the suppliers they are responsible for getting it to you intact!

Problem is it's direct from China. I'm trying this route in parallel to a repair...

[Roop]

[Classic Grad 98]

If I were you, I'd insert and inflate a balloon in the fuselage, repair the glass with chopped strand matting and fibreglass padding, then pop the balloon once it has set. You can then sand and paint to your heart's content...

[Mr2Mike]

If you don't want it to look terrible afterwards you need to repair that from the inside (if possible), and then either flowcoat on the outside or sand, fill and respray. However you will need to ensure you don't add any significant weight to the model.

[Roop]

Thanks chaps. I'll wait to hear from the store first. If I have no joy, I'll try this inside out repair job.

[CanAm]

You'll probably get a lighter grade of glassfibre mat from a model shop than Halfords. Our local shop stocks it.

[Roop]

CanAm said:

You'll probably get a lighter grade of glassfibre mat from a model shop than Halfords. Our local shop stocks it.

Thanks. I'll see what I can find this week.