Today, the team had some new members come out for the construction session who helped sand the the surfaces of both moulds.  Later in the evening, the team cleaned the moulds and sprayed on more coats of sanding primer.

Today, the team sprayed on a few more few coats of the gray sanding primer on the moulds.

Today, the team went over areas on the body moulds with finishing automotive putty.  This putty is much easier to sand and work with than the original putty that was used to create the original mould surfaces.  After spraying the last coat of the black sanding primer, more imperfections in the mould were discovered.  These imperfections would have made it almost impossible to separate the carbon fibre body from the mould after the layup process.  As a remedy, the team went over these imperfections with the finishing putty.

Today, the team continued to prepare the moulds’ surfaces by spraying on more coats of black sanding primer.  The test piece also received several coats of the black sanding primer.

Today the team lightly sanded the surfaces of the both body moulds.  Yesterday, the team sprayed on a second coat of sanding primer on the moulds.  A light sanding was required to allow the next coat of primer to adhere to the moulds’ surfaces.  It was was discovered that there was a slight problem with over spray during the painting process.  The over spray was caused by the lack of ventilation in the barn.  Once the paint was sprayed on, the residuals in the air would eventually settle  and cure the moulds’ surfaces.  This excess paint required sanding with a lower grit sand paper.

Today, the team sprayed on coats of black sanding primer on the body moulds.  The purpose of the sanding primer is to build up the mould surface and to create a suitable surface for carbon fibre layup.  The team also prepared a test piece with automotive putty that simulated the surfaces on the moulds.  The objective is to perform a mock carbon fibre layup on the test piece to reassure that the the layup methodology and layup surfaces are adequate.

Today, the team sprayed on the first coat of sealer on both body moulds.  This will ensure that all of the pores in the mould’s surface are sealed and will not adhere to the resin involved in the layup process.  In order to do this, the team installed air lines inside the barn.  The air compressor was generously on loan to the team by Jim Allore from UA Local 463.

Today, the team continued to clean the barn area.  The team also cleaned the surfaces of the both body moulds with damp cheesecloth to remove any traces of dust particles.

Today, the team began the first stage in preparing the mould for the carbon fibre layup.  The team spent the entire construction session cleaning the barn of any loose dust particles and debris.  The pre-layup process requires the use of an air powered paint gun to spray on the various coats of primer and sealer.  This spraying process would cause the loose dust and debris to rise up and eventually embed itself on the mould’s surface.  The cleaning process involved washing the floors with water and further enclosing the mould areas with plastic sheets.

Today, the went over the body moulds searching for holes and imperfections in the wood.  Once discovered, the team patched them up with automotive putty and sanded the surface to a smooth finish.

Today, the team continued to sand and refine the curves on both body moulds.

Today, the team spent the entire construction session sanding both body moulds.  The automotive body putty, once it hardens, needs to be sanded down to the desired shape.  A fine grit sand paper is required to avoid sanding off too much.  Since  the dome of the upper body mould consists of many curves, the majority of the sanding time was spent to obtain and maintain the proper curvature.

Today the team continued to lay on more of the automotive putty on both body moulds.

Today, the team began filling the upper body mould with automotive putty.  In order to prevent further dust contamination of  the putty, both mould areas were enclosed with protective plastic sheets.  Due to the complexity of the curves in certain areas of the lower body mould, more automotive body putty was required.  The team also installed a heavy duty bug zapper to deal with the onslaught of evening mosquitoes.

Today, the team focused their efforts in paneling the upper body mould.

Today, the team continued to work on the upper body mould by covering it with more putty.  After careful measurements, it was discovered that the cross sections of the upper body mould required some realignment.  As a result, some of the cross sections were removed, modified and then reattached to rectify the alignment problem.

Today, the team continued to cover the upper body mould with putty and finished the construction of the dome for the upper body mould.  The dome on the upper body mould was quite challenging to build because of the complex curves.  In order to work in parallel, the upper body mould section was enclosed with plastic protective sheets to prevent.  This was done to prevent dust contamination of the putty on the upper body mould.

Today, the team began to create the surface of the upper body mould.  The connection points between the individual pieces of plywood that make up the mould was covered with automotive body putty.  The putty will also be used to build up the surface and create the necessary curves at various points on the mould.  The upper body mould also began to take shape with the construction of the dome which will enclose the driver.  After the layup, the front portion of the dome will be cut out and replaced with a windshield.

Today, the Omega Solar team began fabrication of the cross sections for the upper body mould.  The process was similar to the lower body mould construction except the cross sections were oriented in the left and right direction.  Members from the team also finished installing the side panels for the lower body mould.