Now that the foundation for my plug is laid, I can start building a fender. At this point I will just take a moment to regress.
When I was younger, I am sure that this plug would have been built from a much more difficult process than what I have outlined. I am not sure how I would have done this but it wouldn’t have been easy – I probably would have used a template of the rim, done complicated measurements of the total tire diameter and so forth. Building plugs for projects like this are much easier and more likely to provide a nice product if you can use the base object as the foundation for your plug. In this case, I used the actual rim itself. In one of my manuals, I actually used the hood of my jeep as the foundation for building a plug for the hood scoop. This method of plug building takes much of the guess work out of the building process.
Getting back to the plug, I begin building the plug by laying a layer of 1 ½ ounce mat and resin over the foam. Once this cures, I follow with a plastic spreader and bondo to smooth out the surface of the fender. Once the bondo is cured, I smooth out the surface with my electric sander with a course (100 grit) sandpaper to smooth it out. Like with any plug build, I go through many bondo applications followed by sanding to smooth out the surface.
As with many plugs, just about the time that I get this thing smoothed out I see a problem with it. From a side view, it appears as though the center section of the fender, when viewed from the side, isn’t as thick as the ends of the fender. In order to check this, I drilled a hole in the end of a 1/8 inch, inch wide by 36 inch long piece of aluminum stock. The hole is just large enough to slip onto the hub of my rim. I then clamp an L bracket onto the stock aluminum and slid it down until it makes contact with the fender at what I perceive to be the highest point. As I sweep the L bracket around the top of the fender from one end to the other it becomes obvious that not only is my center section low, but I have many uneven points along the surface of the plug.
Fixing these uneven points is pretty easy. I now have a way to measure the outer diameter of the fender and I can use this tool to obtain consistency in the outer diameter.
To smooth out the surface of my fender, I lay a bead of bondo in the center along the length of the plug. While the bondo is still able to be spread, I drag the L bracket which is still attached to the hub through the aluminum stock along the surface of the plug at a level that represents the highest point of the plug. The L bracket levels the surface of the plug creating consistent thickness of the plug.
After this application of bondo cures, I can begin spreading bondo over the surface again to smooth it out. This time I am careful to use the newly laid central ridge of bondo as a guide.
Happy Glassing
Steve
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