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carbon fiber idea


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After seeing Carbon fiber laminating starter kits on the internet for a reasonable amount, and extra components not being anywhere near as expensive as I first thought a little idea popped into my head. Making a mould of parts of an F1 model and creating parts out of CF (ie the 1980s/early 90s F1 cars with the FG body shell over the chassis) I know for terms of scale it'll be nearly impossible to find Carbon Fiber with a twill/weave pattern small enough to be in scale but thats not really important for me, being able to make a model out of similar materials that the real thing was made from however is.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with working with CF on such a small scale. I do have an idea which car I want to build in this fashion but for the time being, i'll keep that to myself until it starts to fall into place (sorry!)

constructive criticism/advice more than welcome!

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After seeing Carbon fiber laminating starter kits on the internet for a reasonable amount, and extra components not being anywhere near as expensive as I first thought a little idea popped into my head. Making a mould of parts of an F1 model and creating parts out of CF (ie the 1980s/early 90s F1 cars with the FG body shell over the chassis) I know for terms of scale it'll be nearly impossible to find Carbon Fiber with a twill/weave pattern small enough to be in scale but thats not really important for me, being able to make a model out of similar materials that the real thing was made from however is.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with working with CF on such a small scale. I do have an idea which car I want to build in this fashion but for the time being, i'll keep that to myself until it starts to fall into place (sorry!)

constructive criticism/advice more than welcome!

look on ebay there are some sellers that sale it for model cars

here is one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professional-Car...=item8269ab7973

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I like the idea but as the carbon fibre needs to be cured in an autoclave to get it strength it might be difficult to do at home.

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I like the idea but as the carbon fibre needs to be cured in an autoclave to get it strength it might be difficult to do at home.

Take a look here http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/Category/Starter-Kits.aspx

There are methods of using CF that don't require an autoclave. For a model, which is non-structural in terms of stress loads etc a wet lay up cured overnight at room temp would suffice I think.

We'll see anywhoo.

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Very interesting, does open a number of possibilities not having to have an autoclave.

A 1/4 scale F1 front wing for instance!

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Very interesting, does open a number of possibilities not having to have an autoclave.

A 1/4 scale F1 front wing for instance!

definitely!! It doesn't look too hard to work with watching the 'how to' videos on the website I linked to. Bit of a process, but nothing prohibitively hard about it!

Depending on the application there are different methods for using CF looking into it and autoclaving is only really for using Pre-preg which is what motorsports use. For cosmetic pieces a wet lay up non too dissimilar from using fiber glass is ideal and even then its still strong material!

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Sounds like a fun idea! Keep us posted.

As for the autoclave issue, they are only really required when the resin system that is being used needs to be baked to cure off. When baked it's as hard as any plastic. The autocalve also apllies pressure to the pre-preg to ensure good compaction or consolidation of the resin/fibre is achieved - also only really required for structural and engineering applications.

CF is used quite a lot in the RC planes world where standard laminating epoxy resin is used in a wet-lay set-up. Perfectly acceptable results are achieved making cowlings, canopies (strange but true!) various fairings, spats and covers - even undercarriages themselves!

Try the local RC model shop or you may want to try this as it is the super-fine stuff used in free-flight.

http://www.freeflightsupplies.co.uk/hitech.htm

Hope this is of any help

cheers

Rick

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