ABS cowl reinforcement
 

Its been a while since I built a kit, and I forget how to reinforce an ABS cowl. I remember lining the inside with fiberglass cloth, but I don't recall how to adhere the cloth to the cowl interior.

Any tip would help.

RE: ABS cowl reinforcement
 

you can use PVC glue or the expoxy made for abs plastic.

RE: ABS cowl reinforcement
 

the glass and pvc glue works pretty well, but let it dry outside..cough, hack choke ! ;)

RE: ABS cowl reinforcement
 

I just reinforced an ABS plastic cowl that had multiple cracks and a chunk missing from it after a few hard nose landings in the grass. The cowl seemed paper thin and it sustained lots of damage.

I used SIG finishing resin and 2 oz. fiberglass cloth. I layed in three times, trimming each layer as it gelled enough to cut with an Xacto.

RE: ABS cowl reinforcement
 

Epoxy will peel away from ABS after you run the engine a few times

Take a can of PVC pipe cement and use the swab attached to the lid to paint on fiberglass cloth. It will remain flexible for a few days but eventually gets harder and harder.

You can get epoxy to stick to the fiberglass cloth

RE: ABS cowl reinforcement
 

Use thin (like .6 oz.) glass, and thin CA first. Will smoke a lot, stay away from the fumes. This welds itself to the plastic. Then you can use 30 minute epoxy and thicker glass (4 oz. even 6 oz if the cowl is large), and the thin glass base gives the epoxy something to really grip. Best system I have seen yet, other than throwing away the plastic cowl and ordering a fiber glass cowl!

Another hint for wheel pants.......get the two halves so they fit fairly well, then glass the inside of them with 1-2 oz. cloth and thin CA, before you glue the halves together. Much easier to work in an open half. After gluing the two halves together, epoxy in several strips along the seam line. You can also epoxy in the plywood reinforcement at this time.

Hope these ideas make your modeling lives better!

Clair

RE: ABS cowl reinforcement
 

I've used CA hinge material with epoxy to reinforce and repair cracks from the inside on wheel pants and cowls. Also use this method as a reinforcement for screw mounting holes on cowls.