GLS Plastic Trims

[haggis]

Been away for a while, great to see the forum has continued to be as helpful as ever.

Have been spending a fair chunk of the vic lockdown sorting a few issues the old girl has had. Smacked skippy and bent bullbar and guards lst year, so I Originally planned to trade for a 78 series wago, but the numbers just didn’t make a lot of sense when I looked at the mods which would be needed to bring it into being as useful a camping rig as the paj, so decided to fully refurbish the ol NH. Full respray(shed job, defo not a show car standard) new carpets, arb steel bar and vrs winch.

Anyway, back to the purpose of my post...
Has anyone taken the plastic flares and skirts from the GLS and made some plugs/moulds to make fibreglass/carbon fibre/Kevlar versions? despite hours of sanding etc. still not really happy how they have come up. They are certainly better than what I started with, but still a bit rough if you look close.

Alternately, anyone know where there might be some NOS sets?

Cheers
Haggis

[stumagoo]

I have to say try and find a wagon to grab some originals from - fiberglass will be a PITA if you hit anything and will crack - I have trimmed and glued NJ GLS plastic onto my NL blister side and they have taken a beating --- smashed against banks and branches and always come out with no more than a scratch

[haggis]

Thanks stumagoo,
yeah agree, fibreglass on its own will be a pita.
Iwould be using layers of woven kevlar/aramid to give it a flexibility and reduce the fagility of it. Then adding an additional layer of carbon fibre strengthens the whole lot. I have been using these materials to build human powered vehicles over the last 10 years, so have a bit of experience in using them. With the right layering as well as some basic corecell in the right places, I reckon they would be as strong/ stronger than the factory ones, without the hassle of trying to find some in reasonable nick to start with..
cheers
Haggis