Polyurethane Side Strakes first cast
 

Well, last night I made my first mold. I used the Upper Right side strake as my first relica piece. Here is the picture of the mold it's self.

The second picture is is of the first casted polyurethane strake being removed from the mole.

The third picture is of the first casted polyurethane side strake with the original aluminum model.

The fourth picture is of the original aluminum, a first coated silver polyurethane cast version and an unpainted polyurethane cast version.

These are identical to the originals and will be mounted the exact same way and will be offered in a variety of colors including custom colors. This material is not glass hard, it is indeed polyurethane. I am also going to cast a couple of other materials such as Polyester Resin and I might also attempt a CF strake set.

These will be made affordable for those who have resisted purchasing the strakes for as much as $195 - $210. This is only the first accessory I will be attempting to cast and mass produce. The next item starts next week and will be the front fog light strakes and soon afterward, the oil cooler grilles to accompany them.

I promise this will happen. I will produce these and offer them to our forum members for a reduced cost. They say membership has it's priviledges, this I believe in for our RX8CLUB.com forum. :D

I am taking suggestions as to what colors to offer these in. Anyone interested in some input here, speak up now. :D

make them in gunmetal (or some sort of shiny dark-gray) to match my future wheels..my check will be in the mail. definately keep me(us) posted!

I'd like to see white, but definitely some sort of aluminum metal colour for those of us that like the look of the aluminum ones.

If you don't mind, look into a reproduction of the rotary accents, please. I'd like a set, but the alu prices are excessive. Thanks.

As far as white goes, that is the color this material comes out as when it is done. However, it is a flat white but with a few clear coats over the top of it they would look marvelous.

I have been thinking about the rotary accents and what would be involved. The most difficult thing with them is it would be a two part mold but this could be done. I am also thinking about eyelids, a front billet grill, different side vents and a few other things. Once again, it all depends on having time to get these done. I do have two sons who are 15 and 17 that I can employ (for a slave wage to start :D) to help me in this. Eventually I will need to find supplies in larger quantities that will be less than retail such as the 3M foam tape for installing certain parts, more permanent molds than silicon and larger quantities of casting materials.

If some of these things take off big, I will have to take some time off of work, figure out some marketing stratetgy and become a vendor on here so I can peddle my goods in public.

First things first, I need time to make the molds and designs that I have already planned and put on paper.

First of all are these strakes still put on with screws and tape or just tape. Because i would like to still have that screw for added security.
And as far as colors go I think you should do all of mazdas colours. Including a gun metal and a white remeber keep it tastefull....
Sounds like u got urself a good thing going Just don't let mazda see what your doing; they might get pissed. And those fender strakes and oil cooler strakes you should offer those in all of mazdas stock colours and white and gun metal so you can have a theme going on dont forget rear bumper strakes. Good luck hope you take to some of my suggestions.

Ps for stock cars we have very different cars almos no 1's is the same

D Menac said, "These are identical to the originals and will be mounted the exact same way and will be offered in a variety of colors including custom colors. "

So if im correct, it uses glue and a screw. correct me if im wrong. dont have strakes.

But im interested, looks good. im fine with black or the polished silver. Keep it the good work.

You Are MY HERO. I was waiting for somebody to come out with teh side strakes. If you need any help im a marketing major.

You can email me at Bluerx804@aol.com

I'll buy if the price is right. I vote for velocity red as an option.

Also, if someone can find me a nice closeup shot of a velocity red car with the OEM silver side strakes on, I can photoshop them to be red so people can get an idea of what that would look like.

What up D? As soon as I get back from the Desert I will definitely want to get a set! Can't wait to see what color options you come up with! From the looks of your first set I don't think you'll have any problems selling these!

SIGN ME UP!

To cap things so far:

They will attach with a mounting bolt which is tapped into the back of the strake just like the stock. I will also include the 3M mounting double sided foam tape just as the stock strapes have. The instructions are already on a DIY thread on here though they are much easier to put on than that one shows. I will post a shorter version of how to install them when it comes time.

Colors? I know that there will be black, gun metal, Velocity Red (I already have the paint), white and I just casted a clear strake last night as a test. I am thinking about most likely there will be all the colors of the 8 and then some.

Cost wise, these will be very affordable and I am thinking the unpainted version ought to sell for a price that rhymes with nifty but until I can get the revenue going for vendor status I will not be able to post an actual price. Dare I say 25% of the aluminum strakes and 5% more for most finished colors? (do the math)

I'm finding that the most labor in this so far is sanding and preparing for painting. Each one will be hand sanded to remove the center spline from the mold and then the final rear angle will be sanded to match the mounting side of the car.

I will post another pic or two later, one of them will be painted Velocity Red as I am painting a center wheel cap for another member today.

well i see whos your baba stayed up later then I lol. Sounds like a plan
I spill this beer for my homies aka dmanac

Here are few shots comparing the original aluminum with one of the polyurethane strakes I casted last night that is now painted Velocity Red. I have included the mounting hardware that I intend to supply with each strake. The bolt is threaded into the polyurethane strake and has a washer and lock washer. This hardware is stainless steel as is the original.

Here is how it looks mounted on my RX-8. :D Ignore the guy in the reflection. ;)

looks slick. good job.

i like the aluminum ones
but different colors are good,

I like!!! Me want, me want!! I like the VR, I did not think I would but havin seen the pics, I am sold! If you will have these ready to ship in Sep wen I return from this little place I like to call "HE$$-HOLE" then you will make my day!

I vote for yellow, chrome would be cool too but considering the material it probably would look funky

The strakes look great, can't wait to see what the fog light/oil cooler opening strakes look like. Were you thinking of one or two strakes there? I would like to see two, spaced like the head light ones.

Let me put this out to you, definately the colors of the RX-8 will be available:
Velocity Red
Winning Blue
Titanium Gray
Sunlight Silver
Nordic Green
Black
Yellow
White ('05)

After that the additional colors that I have decided on will be:
Gun Metal Gray
Chrome (Provided I can find a place that will chrome plate a plastic)
Color Changing (Chameleon)
Carbon Fiber
Unpainted
Clear
Clear with LEDs (yellow, white, red and blue for those of you who lean towards the ricey side :D J/K)

Aftter those, everything else will be custom unless someone else suggests another color.

Some of these will be a bit more expensive due to the extra work and expenses involved in manufacturing. However, I cannot imagine any of these processes costing more than 50% of the stock strakes even with all the whistles and bells added. In most instances, it should be about 25% of the aluminum Mazda versions.

sweet, the more i think about it the more i like the chrome idea since I'm keeping my emblems, i wonder if there is a pseudo bullet proof way to keep the plastic from chipping. The Mazda colors would rock too as they would look oem once installed etc. Either way I can't wait to see a few of these floating around the forums, bet they will look sweet, any though on altering the design any? I was thinking since the 8 looks kinda' like a spaceship, maybe small circular holes or something? Maybe make them look like they have a sharper edge to them? Not sure how it would look, just though I'd throw something out there. Good luck:)

looks awesome.. chrome strakes would be nice!

i also like agree with the rotor accents that would be great if u cud make those..

good job :) just be aware that someone might want a set unfinished... just straight out from the mold because he/she already have the equipment to do it.. Again, looking good! :D

Do you have photo shop? If you don't have that perhaps another pic editing software would work also. Give me an idea, nothing is truly impossible.

This material will not chip, it is not brittle in any way. Of course, paint can chip, we know that by looking at our own cars. I'm looking at ways to make them look like the original polished aluminum and have some testing to do. Meanwhile, it's on to the designing of oil cooler screens that will go along with the front fog light strakes that I am in the midst of producing.

I'll try and find something to better illustrate my idea, be back soon.

Ok so I can't find my cd for photoshop so i cheesed it with paint, here's what i was thinking, maybe even rotor shaped cutouts? Not a very good pic but you get the idea. If you look at the front fender on the I,Robot bike from OCC you can kinda' see what i was thinking as well. My thanks to whoever these strakes belong to for letting me virtually butcher them with my idea :)

i might know someone that can crome plastic
or so i was told. when i was thinking of painting my engine cover this shop told me
that they can even crome plastic.
let me know.im intrested in that

Maybe a buyer email list should be started so that you can email us when they are ready for sale.

I've been keeping track of the interested members and am planning on contacting everyone of you when something comes available. It looks like a week before the basic comes available at this time.

Kelly, yes, I would be interested in finding a place for chroming these.

CanaryRX8, I was thinking something like that but with a bit more tooling. I'll see what I can come up with eventually.

here ya go
USA WHEELS
973-227-7977 voice
800-513-1399 toll free
ask for jeff aka"big dog"
you can tell him i sent ya but i havent seen him in a while and dont know if he remebers me but then again how many people have a silver rx8 with 20" crome maido wheels that there girlfiend hit a curb that he fixed. :)

Cool D, I'll keep an eye out and good luck!

Thanks Kel. BTW, you going to send me the tracing of your MS spoiler hardware? Just wondering. :D

yeah bro
i did one side already
ahh what the hell i will send just that
its a good sketch IMO lol
let me know when you get it

Sweet! I have been holding out waiting for someone to make these.

I'm interested, keep me informed. Thanks.

I only need one side in this case, both mounts are identical except they mirror each other. When using a CAd this is easy to mirror.

I am still trying to figure out how to model something and do a physical mirror image of it. I know there is a way, I just have to think about it a little bit.

You are on my list. :D

D MENAC 7, are you in the plastics industry? I was just wondering because I saw that you made the strakes yourself, you usually see people making stuff out of fiberglass, not molding polyurethane. How did you make your mold and what of? I would enjoy more indepth detail on how you made the strakes? Thanks. :)Im am currently going to school for plastics and polymers engineering technology.

Briefly, the mold is made from RTV Silicone and is cast off the original aluminum strake. This material will capture every detail in the original though it doesn't last forever, it will eventually have to be discarded and replaced. Next I used a quick cast polyurethane that hardens in about 8 -10 minutes until demold time. This material is a clear yellow and is mixed in a 1:1 ratio with the activator catalyst. Within about 2 minutes it turns white and the chemical reaction causes the material to get very warm as it is going through it's hardening process. It comes out white as noted in the pics.

There is some sanding required to prepare the surface for painting. I finish off the sanding process with 1500 grit wet application sandpaper. They need to be primered then the base coat goes on. Velocity Red has a mid coat which contains the metal flake so that needs to be applied. After the mid coat three coats of clear coat and finally, I use the 1500 grit sanding process again and follow that up with rubbing compound.

I am also going to be testing some fiberglass resins and will eventually attempt Carbon Fiber lay up. The CF is labor intensive. These polyester resins are also very odiferous and need to be used outside or in a controled environment with a hood.

As far as being in the plastics industry, no, I am just learning this as I go along. I'm a quick study and am good with my hands as I have had some experience working with acrylic plastics and woods. Both of these materials tool similarly. I make a model of the mockup out of acrylic plastic first then make a final working model before I cast a mold. I'm also the curious type as to wondering how this works or that can be done.

This casting polyurethane is ideal for working with small parts and it can also be tooled. The tests that I have made actually allow for threading this material as it is not brittle and hard like acrylic plastic. Some of the items I have planned will be from original parts but will be modified to the extent that it has changed in appearance but will mount the same way.

Also, I have found a perfect solution to making these have the same surface as the stock aluminum. There is a high density chrome and aluminum look paint available, though it is expensive ($200+ a quart) but a little will go a long way, so they say. This paint has to go on in a three step process where as you start with black then use the chrome paint over this layer with two coats and finally it is clear coated to protect the final finish. Best part is, I can use my air brush to do this. Things are coming together. :D

Well done D!!

Nice to see people that love their cars helping others that love their cars! I know I'm on your list for a bunch of these. I think chrome is the way to go...I like a lot of folks here am not removing the chrome logos from the car. I love the fog light billets/strakes (can't remember what you called them) Also, besides those and the strakes I'm definitely wanting those eyelids!

Thanks again and keep up the great work!! Hmm, you may just have a gold mine on your hands!! ;-)

Hey, since i'm in Illinois too.. i could test 'em out for ya! ;) if not, sign me up! I want some!

I want to see how LED, clear, gun matel, and carbon fiber look. please post some pic, money ready anytime.

Dennis -

This looks great. I really like the oil cooler strakes. Put me on your list for gun metal.

- Tony

sign me up too. this is si exciting.

Rotery Emblemb like the wheel centers. I want 2 of them that i can put on the car..

Only two???

count me in for some strakes andioil coolers .keep up the good work

Very good job!
I don’t think the LEDs will be a problem, just add before the pour. If you want to get the carbon fiber look you may want to try some carbon fiber vinyl first it may be the easiest way to create with the polyurethane strakes.

I love the idea. Put me on the list. Great job D.