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Formular Board is expanded polystyrene (foam). Pieces are easy to glue and shape but the material does have a downside — If you try to use polyester resin to impregnate glass cloth over a polystrene foam shell, the foam will just dissolve. Epoxy must be used at 2x to 3x the resin cost unless you spend hours and lots of money trying to successfully seal the styrene foam surface. It is virtually impossible to get an adequate seal to prevent styrene attack.
I do like the metal screen technique but have another suggestion — Why not leave the canvas top up, tightly cover it with polyethylene film (a large garbage bag might be large enough if split open), then laminate strips of kraft paper lightly saturated with thinned out white glue. The strips will slightly shrink while drying this will eliminate many wrinkles. 4 or 5 layers will create a good shell at very low cost — this is the way racing crew shells (boats) were made before fiberglass was available —
I posted in another thread several months ago per plans to make a fiberglass removable hardtop in Airline Coupe style for a replica TD that I was considering buying. I have lots of fiberglass experience in both custom cars and custom boats. Followup posts discouraged possibilities of any sales of HT shells to help spread costs of the molds and I just couldn’t bring myself to buy the replica.
Over the years I have come close to buying a TD replica at least 2 or 3 different times — but as a long time family of MG, Jaguar, and Austin Healey owners I felt the TD replicas had just too many serious discrepancies. Main one is the wheeltread some 20% wider than the TD — but I never could tolerate the home made looking windshields, the lousy canvas roof lines and the excessive slope of gas tank (usually made far worse by addition of an oversize rear tire).
I have always loved the MGTC but never could afford one — at 13k when I was younger and now usually over 30K — So I decided to build my own — a reconstruction of the J3 cycle fendered factory race car of the 1933-34 era. My fiberglass body tub would fit an MG Midget or AHSprite but 19″ TC wheels are really costly so I decided to use a Honda ATV as a basis from which to work. Wheelbase stretched to 80″, 42″ wheeltread, 20HP, etc — all the same as in the original cars.
So here again, I will end up with a set of body and fender molds — Might anyone have interest in undertaking a similar project??
I don’t understand EDSNOVA post cc below —
Jes, go here: http://www.speedsterowners.com/Get on the forum, look around. There is hard top interest there and the bux to make it worth your while.I went there and found much interest in Porsche Spyder kits, etc, etc — is EDSNOVA suggesting I forget the MG kit and go after a Porsche lookalike?? or perhaps that I try to make a hardtop for a Porsche Speedster??I need encouragement to pursue the Airline Coupe hardtop project for an MIGI as proposed in my earlier post — I am not convinced it would be worth the trouble —I have had a hobby of designing and making hardtops for a variety of convertables and sportscars including Fords, MGs, Austing healeys, Miatas, and mot recently an MR2Spyder — I have always wanted to make an Airline Coupe hardtop for an MGTC ot TD but never could afford the price to buy a car. I have a lead on a MIGI in reasonable shape and hopefully at an attractive price — I have always felt the worst design feature of the MG lookalike kit cars were the absolutely atrocious convertible tops followed in the MIDI by the ridiculously fake looking grill — I can make a really neat removable Airline Coupe hardtop for this car and if I do I will also make a new grill module to fit the MIDI — does anyone feel it worth the trouble??
