GMP Cricket

 

Cabin

 

 

 

Since a new canopy is hard to find and prone to accident damage it was decided that a mould be taken from an original. The mould was made from a hard type of plaster that further hardens under heat. It is most important to avoid distortion of the original since the plaster when fluid is quite heavy. This problem was solved by placing the originals face down in a bed of tightly packed sand.

The picture shows the plaster moulds.

 

 

Once the moulds had dried they were used in a vac-form process using thin clear lexan. A similar process was used on a later project that can be seen here.

This process quite simply includes the heating up of the lexan in a chamber and removing the air over the mould. One cooled we are left with a shape that resembles the originals as they would have been found in an original kit.

 

 

The two halves are glued together and the excess lexan trimmed away to form the canopy. Patches are applied to bridge the join to enhance the strength. Glue specifically designed for lexan was used

 

 

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