SV650 - Relief!

A major milestone in the project has been reached this weekend! 

After months and months (probably more like years now) of work on the bodywork and styling of the bike, the first example of the finished article can now be seen! Hours and hours of design work, clay modeling and literally days of sanding have gone into every single piece and its so rewarding to finally release an actual part from the mold (and for it to release successfully!).

The fairings that were on the bike were refined and then screwed down to a board, with flanges added to create a solid plug.

 On the left is one fairing side prepared with the first layer of gel coat for the layup of the mold. On the right, the other fairing has just had its coupling coat applied with a couple of layers of fine 150gsm chopped strand matting.

 Close up shot of the 150gsm chopped strand mat, used to create a good bond between the gel coat and main resin layup, along with fitting the tighter contours of the plug.

 The mold on the right has now cured with its 4 layers of fiberglass matting and resin. On the left, the other fairing panel has been released from the plug (unfortunately these panels destroyed the plugs) and trimmed around the edge. Now its ready to be sanded and polished - a long and tedious job.

Now the exciting part! Templates for the glass fiber matting were made, the mold was waxed and then gel coat was applied. Once tacky, it was time to start laying down some fabric and apply the remainder of the resin. 

Today, it was time to release the part from the mold. The careful application of release agent and wax paid off as it gently peeled out of the mold. Huge relief - and the final result came out better then expected for the first one!

 Here is the finished surface, ready to be trimmed. This was laid up with 3 layers of woven glass fiber fabric and weighs in at just over 500g prior to trimming off the excess. But more importantly, its part 1 down, 6 more to go on the bodywork front. Getting exciting now!