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This section wants to give you an overview of the most valuable resources for hands-on information about working with composites, ranging from websites over YouTube movies to DVDs and books. The resources have been classified in the following categories:


General skills top

[1] You Tube videos by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)
This series of videos shows a lot of composites manufacturing processes.

[2] You Tube videos by a young enthusiastic composite user LAYOP
This series of videos shows the moulding of a composite with carbon fibre fabric.

[3] You Tube videos by the MojaveRobotics
This series of videos shows how to do a composite lay-up.

[4] You Tube videos by the Stanford University
This series of videos shows how the Stanford team has built their solar car.

[5] Instruction videos for sale by Bill Hayman
Two DVDs for sale "Vacuum bagging made easy" (featuring Phil Barnes) and "Composite molding made easy" (featuring Terry Luckenbach).

[6] Renting DVDs on fibreglass in USA
Smartflix rents DVDs about fibreglass to customers in USA

[7] DVDs about vacuum infusion
Series of DVDs about vacuum infusion and closed moulding techniques by Andre Cocquyt.

[8] Do-it-yourself resin infusion starter kit
DVD about resin infusion by a Dutch engineer who has built his own trimaran.

[10] Fiberglass Mold Making & Repair Manuals by Steve Jones
Manuals for Fiberglass mold making and composite repair

[9] Advanced resin casting with vacuum injection
Detailed step-by-step instructions for resin casting (with a lot of pictures)

[10] Cheap vacuum pump design
"The cheap little sucker", how to build a vacuum pump for 20 USD

[11] Fiberlay How To's
Under the section "How To's" you can find a lot of practical information about working with epoxies and polyesters, making moulds and casting resins.

[12] Learning Center from Fibre Glast Developments
Very nice free online brochures on the vacuum bagging and vacuum infusion process, and a lot more.

[13] Gelcoat application and spray-up
Under the section "Technical support" you can find more information about applying a gelcoat and using spray-up.

[14] Mixing epoxies
Some practical guidelines about mixing the resin and the hardener in case of two-component epoxies.

[15] Lost foam technique for making fibreglass parts
Detailed description for using the lost foam technique, a fast and straightforward technique for making your first composite parts.

[16] Technical documentation by Hexcel
Free online brochures and datasheets about composite repair, prepreg technology and resin transfer moulding.

[17] Making fibreglass moulds by Steve Jones
Instructive manual about making fibreglass moulds

[18] The vacuum infusion process by Fibre Glast
Detailed practical description of the vacuum infusion process

Organizing your composite workshop top

[1] Alistair Cunningham's workshop for resin infusion
Alistair Cunningham has set-up his own composite workshop and shares his pictures on this webpage.

Modelling top

[1] Ryan Aircraft's homepage on World War II warbird models
A lot of short tutorials on sheeting foam wings and using glass fibre.

[2] Winship Models' homepage on model airplanes
This website gives a very comprehensive overview on the use of carbon composites in model airplanes.

[3] Covering models with fibreglass cloth, by Jim Ryan
How-to article for covering models with fibre-reinforced glass cloth.

[4] Articles about radio control (R/C) sailplanes
A lot of short articles and tutorials for building radio control (R/C) sailplanes with composites.

[5] How to vacuum bag foam wings with balsa skins, by Ralph Weaver
Instructive overview of all steps in making a fibre-glass wing with foam core, using the vacuum bagging process.

[6] Technique of vacuum bagging to construct foam core wings
Chris Fouquet explains how to use the vacuum bagging technique to construct foam core wings.

Home made bikes top

[1] Home made carbon composite bike by Damon Rinard
This website describes the complete process of building a carbon fibre/epoxy composite bike.

[2] North American handmade bicycle show
This website advertises the North American handmade bicycle show.

Building surfboards and snowboards top

[1] Anthony's surfboard building links
Anthony's surfboard building links with a detailed description of the manufacture of a surfboard.

[2] The Complete Surfing Guide for Coaches
This website contains the web version of a book, describing the fibreglassing of a surfboard.

[3] Build your own surfboard
Building your own custom board: detailed overview with a lot of pictures.

[4] Build your own snowboard
This website contains detailed step-by-step instructions for building your own snowboard.

Boat building top

[1] Boatbuilding ring
List of websites about boatbuilding.

[2] FiberGlassics
Classic Fiberglass boating contains a lot of articles and tutorials, but navigation through the website is very difficult.

[3] Fram sailing and building pages
This website describes home building a F-39 trimaran.

[4] Building a foam core boat
A book written by Ron Palmer (Trafford Publishing, ISBN 155212455X)

Car tuning top

[1] Building a fibreglass body mould
Building a fibreglass body mould for a Plymouth Coupe oldtimer car.

[2] Car tuning tutorials for carbon fibre
List of links about using carbon fibre in car tuning (quite cumbersome navigation).

Homebuilt aircraft top

[1] Homebuilt aircraft (Wikipedia)
Short introduction to homebuilt aircraft.

[2] Builders guide to safe aircraft materials by the Recreational Aviation Australia
Scroll to "Part C. airframe materials – fabrics, composites and coatings" of this Builders guide to safe aircraft materials

[3] Mark Langford's KR2S aircraft
Mark Langford's homebuilt airplane and online builder's manual.

[4] Berkut #013 homebuilt aircraft
A lot of useful information about building your own homebuilt aircraft

[5] Homebuilt Cozy aircraft
This website describes the complete process of building an aircraft from scratch.

[6] Building a composite propeller
This page describes a simple method of making a two bladed composite propeller. The basic idea is to make an open mold using an existing propeller as a plug. The curved side of the new propeller is made in the mold and the flat side is filled, ground, filed and sanded for the proper shape.

[7] Finishing a composite airplane
This website describes the proper methodology to finish a composite wing of an airplane.

[8] List of homebuilt and experimental aircraft
Long list of links to homebuilt and experimental aircraft.

[9] List of homebuilt aircraft
Very exhaustive list of links to homebuilt or kit-built aircraft.