hey guys,

what are some good techniques to make 2 separate pieces join flushly in a full hatch fiberglassing project. like, i want to make panels for each side and the back panel. i want to make a lockable(key and all) box with fiberglass to house a battery on the one side, maybe a trim to go around the subs up to the surrond so that the screws cannot be accessed. also wish to make a false floor.

just little tips on how to make things flush up to the edges of the trunk as perfect as possible, and building the panel around the latch hook and such. and i still want to be able to disassemble the works later.

i can take a short video clip describing what i want to do, and post it if necessary...

thanks guys, im lookin for fiberglassing guru type techniques - sorry to ask ya for your secrets, but im trying to achieve show quality here, i want to go all out and sand right to wetsanding and painting the same color code as the car and clearcoat.

pics with these tips would help me alot too.

If you are doing a 'stretch', meaning you are using a stretchy material like fleece to obtain a shape, what most people do is take the weatherstripping off the edge of the hatchback opening, pull the fleece overtop of the metal edge and then put the weather stripping back on. This sandwiches the fleece between the weatherstripping and metal holding it tight. Then use tape or whatever resin barrier you like to prevent resin from getting on the weatherstripping and resin as close to the edge as you can. After it hardens, trim away the fleece that was under the weatherstripping and you are left with a very close-fitting fiberglass piece.

sweet, how about the latch hook

anyone else have some tips for me?

If you want two panels to meet up I would suggest using two exact templates on the mating walls of each separate part. It's hard to explain but here is a pic of what I am talking about.
http://www./images/regal/P1010075.JPG
If you look at the two vertical pieces in the middle you will see that they are the same. They are where one panel ends, and another starts. You can see that they are spaced off from each other to allow for vinyl thickness when finished, as well as a rabbeted edge on each to allow the fleece to be flush with the wood, which will allow a perfect fit when finall assembled. If you want to see more of this just go here http://www./Regal_folder/..._the_trunk.htm

wow this is just the kind of stuff i was lookin for, if theres more tips, let em fly :D

you know how in the alpine civic theres a trim panel that covers the screws and outer diameter of the sub?

if so, what would be a better approach to doing this, as i dont have the willpower to just throw tape all over my unused 15's and then resin...

Go through the fabrication pictures on Alpine's Site... there are a tonne of tips there!