Duplicating the Mako Shark Q40 Molds

[DonStegall]

I didn't know if this should be in the Q40 forum or Building Tips ... it is Q40 related so I've put it here for the time being ... Trey may want to move it to Building Tips. I will go all the way from making male molds to making airplanes and getting them ready to fly ... it will be a journey, but I'm trying to get these ready for the 2019 NATS.

I bought the molds for the Shark Q40 from Jerry Small in 2016. I have not made any parts from the molds yet. The main reason being that there is only one set, and I don't even know if the fuselage and stab molds even exist anymore. The wing molds were CNC cut and are heavy as lead.

The name of the plane was changed from the Shark Q40 to the Mako Shark Q40 to distinguish it from the Mace Shark Q40.

I now have male molds in progress for the stabilizer.

After I get that done, I will start on the wing panels. I'm looking forward to having smaller molds that are easier to handle.

The fuselage molds are going to need work. They have been filled and ground to adjust the engine compartment, the engine cover, and the pipe tunnel.

I will make male molds, and then make another set of females. From the females I will make another full plug at some point and make some adjustments to the engine compartment and nose area.

After I get the male molds made, the females will go to off-site storage in case of something happening to the house.

I have a lot of other female and male molds in progress. Many of the project \s that got put on hold in 2017 and beyond are now back on the burner.

The epoxy is flowing and the cloth is getting consumed.

I'm flying RealFlight 8 everyday including some 3 pole EF1. If all I race at OJA on May 4th is EF1, I will be happy. But I'm trying to get ready for 424 and Q40 as well.


One of the better angles for this plane in my opinion

You can see that work was done on the "engine cover" area.

On the bottom of the nose you can see that the pipe tunnel was moved around some. The wing panels currently have the servos outboard. I may try making wings with torque rods to the radio compartment.

These are the stabilizer molds from the inside. The areas in the center are there so that the tubes can be put in with a rod between the two halves when they are joined.

These are the stabilizer molds from the outside

In between my other female and male mold making I have been working on making male molds from the stabilizer molds. I use 50K carbon fiber tow as "stringers" to keep the molds from warping. I will put about 1/8" more cloth/mat on these, then more CF, then a couple of layers of cloth too seal them up. I have been videotaping the entire process

[DonStegall]

The right wing panel molds.

The left wing panel ,molds

The right wing panel molds still have the primer in them from before I got them

The left wing molds. I removed the primer from these using masking tape. It takes a while..

The right wing panel molds showing the tips.

The root of the left wing panel. The groove are for the tubes like the wing joiner tube and the locator pin tubes.

[DonStegall]

The left outside of the fuselage molds.

The right outside of the fuselage molds.

The right inside of the fuselage molds from the bottom. You can see modifications to the engine compartment area.

The right inside of the fuselage molds from the btop. You can see modifications to the engine compartment area and the pipe tunnel

The left inside of the fuselage. The pipe tunnel has been changed some.

[DonStegall]

The radio and compartment access belly pan mold

The engine cover mold.

While the plane molds are in good shape from the front of the wing back, the nose is going to requite some work.

I will make male molds from them the way they are.

Either after making some fuselages from the duplicated molds, or after making a new plug from the duplicate set of females.

More than likely I will make some complete planes the way the planes come out of the duplicate molds.

Then I will modify the nose on a new plug that will have strategic areas of high content of micro-balloons for easy modification.

I will have to get a new approval. This may be a year or two in getting stuff squared away the way I want it.

But getting the molds duplicated will free me to work on it and get it ready for more serious racing.

I have the Jerry Small Swee' Pea fuselage molds, the Norm Johnson 52" wing molds, and my V-tail molds. I will be flying the Swee' Pea until I get the Mako Shark ready for competition.

I also have male molds of Dan Kane Jr's Rivets and will probably create new females. I may see about reconfiguring that plane as the Thunder Chicken or Sump'n Else

[DonStegall]

I did a lot again today. Got a late start because of the Benadryl for the Remicade IV Infusion yesterday. Knocks me for a loop for about 24 hours.

I mowed, took some photos, mowed some more, did some fiberglass work, did some radio work, did some more fiberglass work, etc.

I put two layers of fiberglass mat on the Mako Shark tail molds. Getting ready to do two more shortly.

The darker half is dark because I used some old WEST SYSTEM 206 hardener that has turned brown. I have almost a full quart of brown 206 from years ago.

I'm making so many molds that I decided to try it on one half of these to see if it cures properly and in the same amount of time. So far both have cured at the same rate.

It took 8 ounces of epoxy for each half. Since you only get about 100 squirts per container, I want to use the older hardener if I can on molds, as a container is around $50 for the 206 hardener itself. Since I make my surface coat from 209 hardener, I wind up with more hardener than resin as I only keep one gallon of resin active at a time. The pumps wear out and maintaining the epoxy in a ready to use state takes some effort. Especially if I don't do much fiberglass for a while.

I would not think of using the old hardener for plane parts. But for molds, it is not as critical. Except for the time and materials in the molds.

I was trying to put 4 layers on in the first layup of the day, but 2 layers was all I could get in one layup.

The mat I'm using appears to be 6 ounce mat. I need to cut some and weigh it. It is from the 70's and my Dad had a big roll of it. I have used more than half of the giant roll. I think it was over 100 yards.

[DonStegall]

I was doing 2 more layers of mat on the Mako Shark tail molds. I decided I wanted to finish them up tonight and try to de-mold them on Sunday and not be a fool on Monday. I would rather be a fool on Sunday and not ruin my work day if they don't come apart. So I went ahead and put the final layers of cloth on them. This is what I've got to unwrap on Sunday.

Kurt Bozarth has been asking some guitar questions. I had told him I would make a little demo video.

I recorded a little demo and uploaded it to YouTube completely raw and sent him this email.

Kurt,

I closed out the making of the Mako Shark Q40 stab molds tonight after a very long day.

I felt like playing a little guitar.

I did a little demo of Brighton Rock by Queen and recorded it.

The video will be online at https://youtu.be/5AS797MZbc0 by about 12:30 - 1:00 am EDT.



This is completely raw. My face is red and I'm sweaty from working hard all day and my face is puffy because I haven't taken my diuretics for a few days in prep for my Remicade IV Infusion on Friday. If I take the water pills, they can't hit my veins. I gain 5-10 pounds in just a few days. Got to take them on Sunday so I don't look so swollen on Monday at work.

I will edit the video and possibly publish it. I may wait until I have my new full video studio upstairs so I have better lighting. And I'm going to work on re-learning the whole song again

Feel free to share this with others for some laughs and giggles if you want. I'm sharing it myself. And I haven't even watched the whole thing yet.

I laugh at myself all the time. I like to say ... "I might as well laugh at myself because everyone else does" ...

Get yourself an electric guitar .., It will be way better for you than an acoustic in the long run ... If you don't believe me, watch this video ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7qIBoo63w0

Now I gotta learn to fly R/C all over again .. Heads UP !!!

Frosty

[DonStegall]

I de-molded the Mako Shark Q40 tail male molds from the original females today (March 31, 2019) around noon.

There is only a very tiny flaw in one corner where the elevator joiner goes. It will be a very easy fix.

I video taped the whole process and when I have time to edit the video, I will post it here and on https://www.facebook.com/Q40Racing

Now I'm going to start on the right wing panel. And at some point the fuselage. Maybe both at the same time. The fuselage will be much more work than the wing panels, so I will likely start it shortly.

I want to have duplicate molds by NATS time so I can have one of my produced planes at the 2019 NATS.

This is the bottom half popped out of the mold

After cutting most of the excess off before washing the PVA off

After washing the PVA off

The top half after trimming

Both sides that will be further trimmed and prepped to make the new female molds