first fiberglass project shop display

Man that looks like a hell of alot of work you got your self into. If you need help with future projects let me know and I can give some pointer's. 1st one: next time go to a fabric store like Jo Ann's Fabrics and get some 100% Polyester Fleece, not a blanket from Wal-Mart. And make sure to use 100% Polyester Resin, and a fiberglass roller will help get out the air bubbles.

A good tip to have on hand the whole time your fiberglassing is a cup with Acetone in it. It breaks down the resin.

Good luck.

Hopefully you only take this as constructive criticism, if you want to keep doing custom jobs then I think you need a little better direction.  If this is all you plan to do and you think its OK then don't read on anymore.  When I saw the first picture I could forsee that you were going to have stuff breaking when you were stretching your fleece(or your blanket in this case) because it just didn't look that solid.  Your concept and idea did look nice so I commend you for that.  Probably the reason part of your skeleton broke was due to the excessively thick blanket you used to do your wrap.  Too many people think they need to get all the strength of a structure from their initial fleece.  The purpose of this first layer is to give you shape and a base to build on, start with some fleece from a fabric store and take your time to stretch it nice,tight and smooth.  Staple it to rabitted edges on your rings and secure it well to the back of your base.  When applying your mat, take your time, it is easy to get pretty smooth.  You can either roll it or work it flat with your brush, don't try and do too large of an area at a time or your resin will start to thicken and you will be working with paste.  Do a couple layers of mat till your desired strength is attained and apply Dynaglass to the enclosure.  Work it nice and smooth with a spreader, let it dry and sand it down with 36 or so grit to begin your basic curves and shape.  You may want to "spot" dynaglass a few areas you may want to blend a little more.  Sand again then get your final shapes and blends with some Rage Gold.  Get a carpet that will stretch as much as you need it to and you will have a nice looking project when you are done. 

If part of your initial structure breaks when wrapping it, don't break the other side to make it even.  Start over and restregthen what broke and most of your other supports cause they are probably weak as well.  The parts that needed to be blended better are the big hump over the amp and around the head unit it looks like the whole structure is just bulging out of the project, those two things caught my eye right off the bat.  It looked like you may have wanted to have the head unit have a flushed look but with the edges of the structure under the surface sticking out like that that took away from any "flushed" look.  Yeah its off center but my eye was so distracted by the other stuff that I didn't notice that right off the bat.  Take this as constructive criticism and not as a negative,,,

I wish I could find people with your kind of initiative here.

I cannot veiw the pics from my work computer here, but it sounds like a large project. Take this as a learning exp., & continue to play with it......I bet 1st time you had sex, it wasn't porn star quality...things take practice.

Not seeing the pics, so I am at a dissadvantage....but here goes.

1. Go to wallmarts fabric section & get some 100% polyester fabric. It is SUPER cheap. Look at it, one side is rougher that the other, put the rough side facing into the box, & the smoothe side facing outward)

2. Make a STRONG skeliton. prefer back & bottom (for a shelf top display). not only glue the MDF together, but either brad nail it, or screw it (depending on what tools ya have).

3. Staple the polyester starting form the center outward (i.e. if you are making a DVD display, staple the inner part of the DVD mount, then proceed to the back & bottom, pulling it as you staple, so all wrinkles come out.....starting at a corner can help, leaving the long straight edges to be pulled so you remove folds & wringles. Not need to pull WAYY tight, but tight enough to bounce a quarter off of, otherwise it will have waves as the resing dries.

4. apply resing to the outside & the inside of the display.....at the same time if possible. For a display, no need to add any actuall mat. (unless it is REALLY BIG) let it dry.

5. Cut off the acess, cut open the DVD hole & carpet. If you didn't have any drips, runs, or cracks, & put the smoothe side out, most carpets will hide any bumpyness that the polyester has. You can pull most carpets like the polyester, to pull wrinkles out, & most the time, keep from having any seems where people can see them.

ONLY if you are painting, or vinylin would I sand.

keep playing with it, the material are fairly cheap....try making a set of kick panels for a small worth while project.