Well, was re-introduced to some seemingly oldtimey technology this past weekend.

A fellow was showing me how "back when" they used to make up 1-2 shot moulds for fiberglassing. He took the plug, and began overlaying it with strips of bedsheets dripping of blue starch from a bottle. He would lay on one 3 inch wide strip soaked in the blue fluid starch. And with other hand hit the surface with a hair dryer. This went on until he had a good 1/4 inch thick mould made up. Said they used to make whole models in reverse from this in the 1930's.

The mould was popped off in perhaps 10 minutes. It wasn't a huge one, maybe 24 inches long. It had to be handled carefully so as not to bend or crack it. He said it was good for about 1-2 fiberglass copies, as after that the surface deteriorates after that. However, he mentioned overall, it cost him about 50 cents to make the one mould and took ten minutes to complete.

Problem being is that my local grocery stores no longer stock the blue bottled starch.

My thought is once a fiberglass copy is made, a more permanent fiber glass mould could then be made. But this 50 cent item sure soaked up the detail (and the scratches) of the original plug.


Wm.