Celerity Quicksilver Sport Coupe (EA racer)

Functional Artist · Monday at 10:56 PM

I got 'er all bonded together :banana:

Close up of overlapping junction/seam
* See how the screws help to "clamp" the overlapping panels together
** The screws will be removed after the resin cures &/then, the holes will be filled in

An issue I came across, was in a couple of "spots" the screws ended up "grabbing" some FG fibers, from the "glue strip", during screwing
...&/then, "bunched" the fibers up into a kinda like "goopy cotton ball"

These "goopy cotton balls" had to be removed (which was a "goopy" PITA)

...because the "bunched up" material was actually "pushing" the panels apart
...&/so/then, I upgraded to 1/4" nuts & bolts

A view of the body side panel, to floorboard, inner overlap (& bolting clamps)
* I must say...looks pretty clean...up in there :2guns:

ezcome-ezgo · 2026-11-03T07:27:40-0600

You need some Clecos: https://www.eastwood.com/panel-holding-system.html

Functional Artist · 2026-11-04T08:54:16-0600

ezcome-ezgo said:
You need some Clecos: https://www.eastwood.com/panel-holding-system.html

Hey Ez,

Yup, those would come in handy
...kinda like re-usable rivets

I've seen them (bullet looking) fasteners in many videos
...but, didn't know what they were

Thanks, for the suggestion & link :cheers2:

Whitetrashrocker · 2026-11-04T08:58:31-0600

Nobody ever listens to me.

Yeah. Clecos are nice.

Functional Artist · 2026-11-04T09:05:05-0600

Flipped 'er over so, I could work on makin' the wooden "spine" inserts

Kinda like this

Inserted, on the end, to double check that the curve matches

Yup, there will be (2) of them
...& they will "go" kinda like this :thumbsup:

Functional Artist · 2026-11-04T09:30:58-0600

I used the wooden "spines" to trace the shape onto a sheet of FG
...& I was able to get all (4) "spine" pieces, out of the FG sheet that I originally made, for the floorboard

Cuttin' 'em out

Again, I used a straight edge to help "guide" the long, straight cuts (makes a much prettier cut)

Functional Artist · 2026-11-04T10:10:31-0600

All cut out

I want to bond the FG panels to a 1/2" foam board core
...but, many adhesives aren't compatible with foam board, like Polyester resin (mainly due to the solvents)

* I've seen folks (on YouTube) bonding stuff to foam, using Contact Cement (like the kind used for countertops)
...but, they say, you can only apply it to the "other" material (not directly to the foam)
...&/then, you must let the cement dry, pretty well (letting most of the solvent evaporate) before assembly

So, I as a test, "glued" a piece of 1/2" foam to some scrap FG

After a couple of hours, I didn't notice any issues with the foam
...& the pieces seemed to be bonded together, pretty well

Even when prying up on the edge, the bond seemed to hold good

But, when I did a "flex test"
...the result was complete FAILURE :ack2:

ezcome-ezgo · 2026-11-04T10:36:16-0600

Functional Artist · 2026-11-04T10:51:24-0600

Next, I Googled "what adhesive is compatible with foam board?"
...& (1) of the results was Ultimate Gorilla Glue (available at Home Depot ~$13.00)
&/so
On my next tow, I stopped & picked some up :thumbsup:

I "glued" the same piece of foam
...to the same piece of FG
...&/also, another piece of scrap, to the other side

After a couple of hours, I tried prying, flexing & twisting the sandwich panel
...& couldn't even get any movement (which is good) :bannana:

Then, I wasa thinkin', let's try a brick test

So, I set up (2) bricks ~6" apart
...set the "test piece/sandwich panel" on top of 'em
...& then stood a brick up, on it, horizontally (the skinny way) on top of it

The panel still looks nice-n-straight