The Ship Model Forum

Fiberglass or not?

I am working on a 46" long APA hull which is Balsa strip over ply ribs. The hull is about 50 years old and I added a midship plug to duplicate the ship I am modeling. The hull is sanded, filled with Bondo and glazing putt and re sanded.

The question is should I apply a thin model airplane type fiberglass cloth such as I did for my 1:192 Missouri of similar construction?

Opinions?

Probably static, though it was one time motorized in the previous century...

Structurally the plug is quite sound, I sawed the ship in half between ribs and a new rib is glued to the existing rib at each end and a rigid foam fills the void to the next rib in the plug. It's probably as solid as the rest of the ship as the old and new shell are glued to the foam with lots of epoxy.

Glass would add extra strength to the rather lengthy bulwarks.

If the hull is hollow, and the walls thin, then fibreglass will add needed strength. Personally, I prefer putting it on the inside because I hate sanding it smooth, but most would put it on the outside.

If the walls are thick, or hull is solid, or filled with a material that is strong and won't shrink or delaminate, then I wouldn't fibreglass it.

You will still need to seal and sand the outside. You have many choices, fibreglass resin, dope, shellac, cyano acrylic, filler primers, bondo, etc...

Thanks for the input!

Currently going without the glass cloth. The model airplane cloth is about as thick as a piece of silk and not much thicker than the resin coat, but hull seeps to be sealing well so far. As the surface gets to become really smooth, minor defects become apparent so it's a process of minor adjustment and filling small defects with putty, sand sand, sand.

Cheers. T