Half Shiny tub mould

Here we have a view of half the tub mould. It’s been flatted, sanded and polished. It’s not a fantastic mirror shine, but it really is quite shiny. in the left hand picture you can see some black gel-coat where I’ve had to make a repair or two. You can also see some white where I’ve flatted back to the undercoat. Not a problem here.

I’ve learned loads from this half, and now when I get time I’ll do the other half. Ideally finished this week. I think there were 5 hours of work in each half to get to this finish. Flatting was done with a P800 paper attached to a dual action orbital sander. Once flatted (and I’ve got other pictures showing how it looks so you can see if you’re finished the flatting process) I then ran over it with a P1200 to start the polishing. Then with a industrial polishing thing, a P1500 cutting polish, P2000 cutting polish, and then high-gloss and swirl removing polish.

Next steps are to apply mould cleaner and mould sealer. Then 5 coats of release compound. Then … I can actually lay up and pull a part.