#4955798
It's been a while since I last logged on here, a couple years at least. Since then, I've gotten a new job, transferred positions, and promoted, and moved halfway across the country to Northern Nevada. During all that, my original proton pack has fallen into a state of disrepair from being packed into a container where the lid had broken, and with it being made primarily out of wood, I'm wanting to start on a replacement.

Thankfully a decent amount of the parts I used are salvageable and can be re-used without problem. I have the Spengler Neutrona wand and planning on using that, so that will help as well, and I can likely find a compatible mount to be able to use it.

A few years back when I originally wanted to start re-build, I ordered a vacuum-formed shell (in three pieces: two for the main body and one for the bumper) and I have some work ahead of me cutting and trimming it all down.

I DO want to reinforce it with resin and fiberglass. I can probably do the process over the course of a weekend, and I'm sure there's others that have done the same and I'm hoping to get some opinions on the process. While I was looking, I saw not only fiberglass mat, but I also saw fiberglass cloth. The cloth looks like it would be thicker, but I'm not sure if it'll fit well into the little nooks and crannys like the mat might be able to do.

Has anyone used either of these things in any capacity? I'd like some pros and cons of using the fiberglass mat vs the fiberglass cloth before I actually buy either one to try to use. I would appreciate any input on both.
#4956180
The cloth is a little easier to work with and place, the mat will indeed get into the nooks and crannys better but it also is more difficult to get to stay in place and kind of turns into a toxic cotton candy fiber mess. With the cloth you can pre cut it into a ton of different size strips, some medium squares for coverage and smaller strips for the corners ect. I would definitely recommend the cloth.

For a vacform shell you don't have to really worry about getting in every nook and cranny perfectly. You mostly just want to re-enforce the large flatter surfaces like the perimeter of the shell, the cyclotron walls, V-hook area ect.

Just make sure you do it outside with lots of ventilation (definitely recommend respirator) and with gloves. The fiberglass resin will get hot when activated, shouldn't be an issue with your shell but just FYI.

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