A perfect storm of life events put this project in the deep freeze- a baby, a job change, and several commissions that are not exactly replicas of anything- but now I have recently been able to turn my attention back to the Mac. I shall do my best to keep everyone updated on my progress, such as it is. There've been some significant set-backs, and some learning and re-learning experiences, but that's the whole point, right? It is for me, anyway. This build seem to be self-organizing around the major components of the ship.
Here is where I've got with the engine pods. I laminated four good- acceptable- parts from my mold, two tops and two bottoms. Some time after demolding the sides began to collapse inward and were no longer square. I don't know what caused this as my first "pull", a quick and dirty prototype, never exhibited this problem (and still hasn't). Maybe it was the materials I used? Too thick, too thin? I used biased weave glass for the tester and square weave glass for the real parts. I dunno. I know my model and mold don't have any distortions. I chalk it all up to my inexperience with epoxy/glass laminating, but I was bummed because the parts started out great- for a while. They certainly sat around for a while before I was able to join them.
I struggled with the choice between junking the parts and starting over, perhaps using rigid urethane foam inside the parts to help keep their shape, or just bonding the parts together and filling the horrible seams. I flipped a coin and decide to work with what I had. I'm not totally happy with the results, but I can live with it. There was certainly no way to force the parts into shape, they are hard and strong. So began the fill/primer/sand, fill/primer/sand, fill/primer/sand ritual. A lot of work, one way or the other.
