the direction indicated by the double headed arrow a in the illustration shown in fig1 the contoured surface 10 represents the tool surface alternatively the surface 10 may be flat and a tool with a compound contoured surface placed thereon onto which the dispensed tape is compacted the head 12 comprises three basic subassemblies namely tape supply reel subassembly including reels 16 fig2 tape guide dispensing subassembly 18 and tape compacting subassembly 20 the tape supply reels 16 may be mounted to the gantry 14 or to supporting frames of the guide subassembly 18 neither mode of mounting is shown the tape 22 preferably in the form of a roving i e a series of filaments that can be either in a round or flat configuration is withdrawn from the individual reel threaded through the guide subassembly 18 from which it is dispensed to the compacting subassembly 20 and situated at the interface b fig2 between the surface 10 and the extreme lower region as seen in fig2 of the compacting subassembly 20 round configuration rovings that are 6 mil thick and 0 1 in wide have been successfully used as is known from the above noted patents the tape 22 is compacted at the interface b by adjusting the clearance between the surface 10 and noted lower region of the compacting subassembly 20 to be less than the thickness of the tape 22 the guide subassembly.