March 16, 2000 Removing Aft Fairing Panels from the molds
| After all the skins have cured it is time to remove them from the foam patterns. This is called moldless composite construction. The foam pattern will be destroyed once the parts are removed. | |
| After some prying and struggling the aft side panel starts to pop off the foam pattern. | |
| As the right side aft fairing is being
removed, one can see the light blue foam pattern. (After shaping and sanding, this foam pattern was painted with epoxy, then waxed and sprayed with release agent to prevent the composite skin from being stuck to the mold.) |
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| Completed fiberglass epoxy F-18 Jet Bike aft side panel. |
The many blocks of foam that were joined, carved and sanded into the desired shape for the aft fairing were all destroyed when removed from the frame.