Making head light ring

[Darren Henry]

I mentioned a few days ago that I was rebuilding the front end of a diesel push after it hit a deer. I finally got 'er painted today. WOO WHO!!!

My next problem is one headlight ring. They left the pieces of it and the headlights on the road. We found two headlights down in NC ?? or somewhere down that way but no one has a headlight ring for a '98 tradewinds by National RV and no one (at least who the boss talked to) will make us one. Back to the itching and scratching---I'll make one. Luckily they are interchangeable so I will use the driver side for a template. A plaster of paris or other runny substrate mold is a no go. I don't have enough room to lay the glass up on the outside of the good one so am sanding the back down to use as a negative mold. If it doesn't pop off though I'm in a world of hurt as I will only have one shot at using this for a mold. It crossed my mind today to make a positive mold out of home made play dough and let it set up. Positive molds are a lot more work, but if I mess up I can dissolve it off the original.

I guess what I'm asking is :
>Has any one done this often enough to say "oh it'll be fine, lay it up on the old one"
>I don't have access to the release  agent my old neighbours in the fiberglass plant used. What do folks like Gale and Karen etc.. use when they build parts like this?
>Any other bits of info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Darren Henry]

Quilting the 'glass and laying it up doesn't bother me on some thing this straight forward, but being sure it will come off scares me a bit.

[Darren Henry]

By the time I got that thread from Floyd (Brmax) about the used parts one I had already jumped into the fire. It seems to have gotten lost in the restoration. I'd appreciate you re-posting the site please.

Here's how it went down;

I sanded the back out to about 1500 grit wet paper---then screwed up and washed it in acetone. This scored the plastic. I hand rubbed it with heavy cut cleaner like you would use to detail boats or cars. I then applied two coats of cream car polish because we didn't have any of my Turtle brand paste polish I like on hand for one coat.

I then ground the points off of two screws and put them "just" through the mounting holes to mark their location in the new one and keep the 'glass out of the holes. A little cardboard and duct tape closed off the openings.

For a release agent I melted paraphin wax and painted it on over the ENTIRE surface. It was cool in the back shop that day and the wax had a tendency to set up too quickly and leave gobs all over the place. Once I had everything coated I used the heat gun to re-melt the "gobs" and let them drip off onto the floor.



I knew I couldn't get the mat to follow all those curves with what I had to work with so cut my mat to 4-overlocking layers of individual sections.



It laid in well with a little attention as it dried. I kept checking for air bubbles, lifting in the inside curves, etc...



It came off well although I would have like to have let it cure a bit more. It was still a little soft, but I was on my way out the door for Christmas shut down and I was too chicken to leave it there until tomorrow.





I think it looks pretty close. A little Bondo, some more itchy and scratchy, budda boom.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Looks to me like you did a fabulous job!  Hope your boss appreciates your hard work!

Virginia

[Darren Henry]

P.S I just checked the pics I inserted and realized i overlooked something. In photo 1 you see the cardboard in the headlight holes. The duct tape holding it in place is on the front of the ring protecting that plastic from drips etc...If you look really close you can see the masking tape I put around the perimeter on the front to mask it off.  :-[

[brmax]

Theres no end to your talents, Excellent job Darren.
1500 omg that's some work reminds me of color sanding (arm pains ).
As Virginia said I hope they awarded your abilities getting it done, You Rock

good day
Floyd

[Darren Henry]

reminds me of color sanding (arm pains ).

Thanks all, you're too kind. My arms are fine but hand sanding this because the sander doesn't fit or follow the inside curves did a number on my hand. the last couple of years I have been prone to cramps in the middle knuckle of my two middle fingers that actually fold them down below straight. I had a couple of them around lunch time, but it's done now.



Sorry the flash kinda bleached everything. It's not perfect, and I'm disappointed at how obvious it is that the one made from the inside is that much small, but at 30mph---hey.

[Mike]

looks awesome Darren I wish I could do that.   that's got to be one expensive bezel repair

[Mojo]

 Awesome job Sgt Major. Looks great.

The front and rear caps on these coaches have given many a body man headaches, stress and pain. You just do not order replacements and parts suppliers do not have them sitting on a shelf. So it boils down to someone who has alot of talents like you to make one or rebuild one.

I have a buddy in Elkhart that makes entire front or rear caps out of left over pieces from an accident. He is an amazing glass man and can fix nearly any damage as long as he has the majority of the cap. In the case that the entire cap is destroyed they have to get a replacement out of a salvage yard. His bill for the last front cap rebuild he did was $ 20,000 on a 45 ft Monaco. He replaced a rear cap using one from a salvage yard and the cap alone cost $ 15 K.

It scares me to think of what it would cost if I screw up and crash my own coach. The engine alone is something I baby and look after. An in frame rebuild on my 330 cummins is going for $ 20 K. One of our customers who had a 45 ft Travel Supreme had his ISM 500 let go. It was a catastrophic failure taking out the block and turbo. Cost with labor was $ 54,000.

You did an amazing job my friend. Kudo's. Obviously there is very little you cannot do. You are blessed brother. :)

Chris

[Darren Henry]

Thanks everybody. You're too kind; if you saw it in person you'd see flaws both in the cap I repaired and in the ring I had to make. Not bad for a used shoemaker---but I'm not ready to hang out my shingle just yet LOL. The upside of getting old is that you have seen alot of things and dug your hinney out more than a few jams. Maybe my third cap repair will be better.

that's got to be one expensive bezel repair

I'm glad the Col. put the price of those things in perspective. My motor home is '77 class c on a dodge power train that I bought for $1.00, so had no idea what kind of $$$ repairs like this fetched.  Up until a year ago I was 3rd string for autobody/fibreglass in the shop so never had to do much more than patch the bosses canoe.

Auto pac (provincial insurance) gave us 40 hours to fix the front including replacing a chunk of the generator door (that door in the middle of the nose cap). I didn't check my time but I was close I think. We low balled the bill for the custom made ring to make sure we didn't spook the horses ( we need the work this time of year), but they went for $950. I tallied it up this morning I was 12 1/2 hours plus material and paint. Better than me pushing a snow blower up and down the compound to look busy LOL.