Once the fuselage plug has been completed it may now be used as the basis for the fabrication of the fuselage molds.  This process starts with the fabrication of a parting plane.  The parting plane, as its name implies, is used to form the plane between the two halves of the fiberglass mold.  It will only be used for creating the first half of the mold.  The second half will be laid up against the first half.

To create the parting plane a rough cut slightly smaller than the body is made with a miter saw into a plywood piece.  This is then carefully sanded down so that the fuselage plug just fits.


Rough parting plane being sanded

Once the hole is finished, the entire board is sanded, painted, sanded again, and then waxed.  Once this is complete, the parting plane should have an almost mirror-like finish to it.


Mirror finish on completed parting plane

To support the parting plane and hold the plug halfway through the hole, a sub-structure is created under the parting plane.  It is important to ensure that holes drilled will be beyond the area over which fiberglass will be laid for the mold.


Parting plane with sub-structure and plug