Advice on fiberglass construction

[madvanman]

Im trying to make my own rear light clusters, i have made one using a block of polyurethene? (premade rapid expanding stuff) foam and some bodyfiller, i now want to duplicate this one to make 2 new ones in fiberglass.




(poor quatity pictures due to very cheap camera + bad lighting ,Ive still got to smooth the surface seen in these pics)

should i paint this first or is there a special preparation?
i would apreciate any advice from anybody with experience of reproducing parts in fiberglass, before i mess it up and have to start again as it took me a while to get the shape right.
i have a bit of knowledge of fiberglass but this is the first time i have attempted to make a mould to recreate somthing.

[steve]

if they turn out ok i will have a pair off you looking good

[madvanman]

ive only designed these around the lights that i already had (same as fitted to AA vw vans), it doesnt include provision for fog lights cos i am planning to fit round fogs in my bumper/step

[Luke]

Mate i think if you can get a mould sorted quite a few people on here would be interested!



personally i'd make the surface flat and do away with those grooves but they still look ace the way you have them!



I am looking into 'frenching' the back lights on my mk1 van and was thinking of using landrover lights



they are sold for £40 on ebay!!! but you can get them for less if you look around!!



but i am only in the very early design stages

[madvanman]

personally i'd make the surface flat and do away with those grooves but they still look ace the way you have them!

i made the ridges to let the light sit out a bit to try to avoid cutting the metal behind the lights (the bulb holders stick out a fair bit behind the lights).
i orginally bought these lights to french into the back of a mk11 i had about 6 years ago,but saddly the dreaded tin worm worked faster than i could back then , and ive been going to fit em to every van ive had since.

[Valsheda]

THEY LOOK PRETTY COOL , WILL YOU BE FITTING THEM ON TO A MK5 , OR WOULD THEY BE SUITABLE FOR A MK5 , LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THE END RESULT ??

[madvanman]

They are for my mk5 hicube but should be able to fit any chisel nose transit van.

[Luke]

Mate just a thought - do those lights have a reflector on - the ones i was looking at don't but its ok on the mk1/2 as the reflector is seperate!!

[madvanman]

No they dont have reflectors or fog lights,
Ive made provision for this else where on my van, but looking at some of the newer bus rear lights i think they will fit and they are combination LED units

[madvanman]

i got some advice on preping this for moulding.
what a lot of work its turning out to be,
its taken forever to smooth the surface (due to the awkward shape and alterations needed for moulding)
i now understand why companies charge so much for fiberglass custom parts.

[Valsheda]

MADVANMAN , HOW DID YOU GET ON WITH THESE LIGHT UNITS , WAS YOU ABLE TO GET A SET FINISHED OR WAS IT TO MUCH OF A NIGHTMARE TO DO ??

[madvanman]

these have been put on hold at the moment as ive go too many projects on the go and this is proving to be a lot of work. i will get back to them when ive cleared up some of my other projects.

[Valsheda]

NO WORRIES MATE , GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROJECTS , SOUNDS LIKE YER BUSY MAN !!

[madvanman]

yes im a little busy ive just managed to get yet another tranny, so even busier now.

[Valsheda]

NOT BY ANY CHANCE A 2.8 EFI EX POLICE RIOT BUS IS IT