'R0' dome build - 4.1 - 'final spray painting'

Another busy weekend but managed to finish everything off ready for Monday.

I cut out and applied silver tape to lid's 'groove'.

Next I masked off dome......

And cut out for the squares........

I missed (in the ref pics & also on Sigge's plan's) that the recess box are colour matched, so cut these out and masked them off too. 
I decided not to spray the two rear panels blue. Decided to go with the R5 'only red' style (which then matches R5's body).

Couldn't wait till Monday to spray, so back to basics and sprayed up the dome lid at home, outside. No wind which was a plus too.

pre-spraying......

removal of masking tape.

No paint bleed (hardly lol)

And once all the masking was removed.....

Think this was more paper saturated with paint rather than bleeding under the tape.

Later once dried, I trimmed down a paint brush suitable for painting the square grooves and upper two rear panel grooves. I sprayed silver into a small container and applied it with the brush. Whilst this was drying, I cut out more silver tape for the main lower edge groove as I wanted this to match the top lid groove.

Silver neck groove tape

Silver painted grooves

The silver paint is silver, which match's R5's grooves, but the tape is more 'chrome' than silver.

This morning I brought the lid & dome back into work, as wanted to get the clear coat on.

Clear coat on.

Next is:- the light panel & weathering the dome.

'R0' dome build - 3.7 'Primer spraying of Dome'

Dome lid - shaping the angle
Once the fibre glass had hardened, I used my block plane to remove any high spots etc. I want the surface to be below the angle so that the top coat of filler requires less sanding and shaping. Then I applied filler to the holes and uneven places and once dried, sanded it smooth.

Update:
This morning I took the dome, lid & radar eye into work to spray them up in primer, using my works spray booth/extractor fan unit with rotary table.

Next was the lid.....

I sprayed the underside edge first before turning over to spray the top

The primer shows up area's I've missed and need to touch up. Mainly around the square's where I've smoothed the edges to blend as a radius, and then forgot to PVA seal. Not the end of the world. Also the dome lid, still needs some filler.

Lastly was the radar eye.....

And a group shot lol......

Once dried and area's that need sorting are finished, some lite sanding and then I'll apply some more primer.

'R0' dome build - 3.6 'Skin'

Small update:

I made a start on cleaning up the lower edge filler. Now it has a flat angled face, I can apply filler to the inside under-face channel area.

 Lowe edge filler work, cleaned up and edge made 'sharp'.

Also finished and applied the last square panel.

Rear was grooved again to help the material to flex and bend to the shape of the dome.

'R0' dome build - 3.5 'Radar Eye - side gaps'

There was a slight gap around the outer edges of the radar eye as it doesn't still sit flush to the dome skin. So as I'd seen this done before, I used masking tape to protect the wood dome skin & located the fixing holes.

Next I mixed up some filler (not fibre glass) and liberally applied it to the edges of the radar eye. I then screwed it into place, so that the excess filler would ooze out.

Before the filler dried fully, I scraped away the excess (no picture of this), to make life easier later. Once dried I removed the radar eye and cleaned up the edges.

'R0' dome build - 3.4 'Skin - recessed box no.3'

Did some smooth sanding on the dome skin etc. Now silky smooth, ready for painting.

But first I still need to work on the last rear recessed box.

So I cut out the recessed pieces and started to glue them in place.

This time I cut the recessed pieces as two parts, not four. This was a LOT easier to glue in place.

There's a packing piece of wood to spread the load of the clamps, and this also helped the skin to shape more curved at the opening. I didn't take a pic of the other side, but it looks the same lol.

'R0' dome build - 3.3 'Dome filler'

I wasn't happy with how this edge of the dome skin curved inwards to much. This is where the extra inner support could of been better placed to help the skin's curvature, as the wood just wants to sit flat. So I decided to pack it out with wood & filler. Firstly I used a straight edge to gauge how far out it needed to be extended. Then I glued three scrap pieces of wood in place to fill in the depth.

In the above pic, you can see where I've pencilled in an a max area, as a guide. I then mixed up a small amount and started to apply it to the area.

Once dried I applied more filler, sanded and shaped.

In the second pic you can see that the lower edge is more curved. Feathering the edges of the filler to blend it all in.

Oh and I also glued two more squares in place.

R0' dome build - 3.2 'Dome PVA sealed'

I didn't get the chance to do this before going away the other week, but did, once I had five min's free on my return.
I mixed up normal PVA wood glue in with water and 'painted' it on to the Dome.

 Radar Eye, re-fitted, so I know what work needs doing i.e. gaps to be filled.

Once it's dried I can then sand edges and get it all ready for primer spraying. Still a few more panels left to make. But almost there.....

'R0' dome build - 3.1 'Dome lid'

Started work on the lid angle.

I should of made the lower of the two height discs, a larger diameter. So as to take up space, therefore, using less glass fibre resin. Packed out with scrap wood to a diameter of 140mm. Glued in place, then started with the glass fibre.

Building up in stages as then I can finish off with filler.

It was late, so this was as far as I got.

Wasn't able to do much more over the weekend.

'R0' dome build - 3.0 'Dome Lid'

Last nights work:

Cut out last piece of the lid sections.

Marked their positions on the main base ring (to be), then drilled holes and secured then to it.

The height of the lid is given as 9mm, so I measured and marked two 100mm discs, both 3mm thick (+ the base) equals 9mm high. I found the centre on the base disc and positioned where the discs would go.

Disc's marked out and cut out 

Positioned centrally

Next I glued the two discs together. These will be glued to the base disc, before the lid angles are created.


I then marked out the excess material not needed, to keep weight down, and used my jigsaw, cut sections out.

marked out area to be removed

And afterwards. The central hole will be used for a sleeve unit for the pop up system.
[If I have time before Celebration Europe, that is]

'R0' dome build - 2.9 'Dome Lid'

Next was the dome lid. I found the top ring cut out and marked where the centre was going to be cut out. This will help keep the weight down.

Then using what sheet material I had, I marked out the 'recessed' Lip ring (which will be silver) & the lower edge of the actual lid.These are half sections as didn't have enough for whole discs.

I've an idea how to secure the lid, but first, I'll finish this bit.

~~~

Lol, was moving bags hanging up in garage, when I found the leftovers of another project from years ago, Aluminium grill! Perfect!

It's not circular holes, like I've seen, but this is an R5 knock-off lol, so will do for this build.
My plan is to secure it to the inside of the pictured ring it's sat on. Cut down in height tho.

'R0' dome build - 2.8 'Squares'

Before and after of this panel fitting, still work in progress

Glued in place last two rear panel pieces. And then worked on the square panels, gluing in place and applying wood filler.

Almost finished these now, just four more to go....