hardtop quest

hey guys thanks for all the good insight and info trying my luck at my first hardtop got alot of good ideas from your answers just don't know how to finish the edges making 10x7 top but am going to have a radius on port and starboard due to radar arch it is going to be about a 3 inch curve and not sure on how to make the edges look good will be using gelcoat and chopped glass with epoxy any help will go a long way thanks for any and all help

 

when doing a radius the best way to get a good looking one is to make it sharp first.like at the bottom of a V,,,,once its sharp and crisp,,you can make it a radius like the bottom of a U,,,,this helps make sure everything is even and fair and helps with the air pockets,,usually if you start by trying to make a radius, you end up with alot of air pockets,,and its hard to keep your fairing compound in the pinhole,, doing the sharp edge first takes care of most of it

 

How thick is your core and what is it?

 

Also what is laminate top and bottom?

 

the core is going to be 1/2 in balsa or nita core and did some digging and found to taper egde to make it work as suggested by (the1much) thanks for the answer also can I make wood battens like a checker board design instead of balsa or nita core and put instead maybe 1/4 in plywood and then glass it ,I,am talking about the top portion which will not be seen or used in any way not made for walking or radar or anything of the sort the bottom is going to be gelcoat made from a mold and then glassed again thanks for the info reallyhas helped to get the big picture

 

I am still a bit unclear on your method of fabricating your top. I have a curved mold which I use for tops. I lay up a skin and then set it aside then lay up another vacuum the core to that one then vacuum the first skin to the cored skin. I have used balsa, Divynicell and Nida Core. Nida Core is my preference.
Bullnosing the ends with Nida is a bit problematic though . For 1/2 in it might be easiest to router out a little core then fill with putty then round over with a grinder or even a router(the bit becomes sacrificial)