Brick Panels Hit A Wall

I was moving ahead quite briskly when I hit a wall with my techniques for making brick wall panels using old screen printing frames. Each day I was getting thinner and thinner layers of Tufstone plaster to adhere to the Epoxy top gel coat to the point that my hybrid epoxy Tufstone frame panels were weighing in at .16 pound per square inch, pretty close to the weight of 1/2 inch plywood. These panels also include an edge layer of fiberglass cloth for reinforcement. Next I attempted to connect four panels using epoxy and I laid the panels out on the floor whilst the panels were clamped and set. It was a cold night and there was some weight on the panels, plus a little banging around, and in the morning I noticed one of the panels cracked along a seam. Not unexpected, but a little shock set in that the panels will need more reinforcement to be applied in order to survive real world situations. I can go thicker on the epoxy or put some support inside from the back once the pieces are assembled, but the conclusion is that they are not bullet proof and need to be handled with care until they are installed and reinforced.

Due to time and money constraints I am thinking of making a shell for the back of my F250 out of the panels instead of an entire room. My estimates show that I might be able to cover the bed with a decent sized cover with 20 frames, which is doable. I currently have 15 or so, but not all of them are properly reinforced, so I think they will just get knocked out of the frame with a little bouncing around. I am going to work with my reinforced frames first then allow those to dry more before putting a back layer of fiberglass and epoxy. I'm thinking of the shell as sort of a tortoise type cover, with two rows of frame panels that are a 30 degrees each and with a center row that is flat to complete the arc of a 90 degree turn. Even if the frames aren't the strongest I think it would be good to get a visual sample done and if it works I could drive the truck around to show off the technique and/or to sell some panels from the truck. Now that I have had a crack on one of the frames I am slowing down my production to 2 days per 3 frames to rethink how they should be reinforced, but overall I'm happy with the weight and they are stronger than a bunch of other items I've made. The frame that broke did not fall out and it is sort of a seam crack. I think the plaster is just a bit too think and didn't provide enough support when the weight of the frame itself was resting on the epoxy side and it cracked along the grout line of the bricks. More mortar please.