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I think the egg box grill will stand out much better than a 'traditional' mesh grill.
( In many photos, my mesh grill simply 'disappears'. )
I'm sure you will get a positive reaction at the BBQ.
Good luck, Paul.
Thank you again Paul ...I'm really pleased with progress so far , cutting my teeth on similar builds has certainly been to our advantage with this one ...I agree with the mesh , unless you highlight it in a bright silver or similar , they disappear , which is ok in some situations, but not others ...
I was really hoping to make the BBQ , BUT a combination of child care duties , a customer visiting and really needing to layup some flat sheet for Monday , means I won't make it ...Saturday was always going to be the less convenient day for me ....
Looking good. Beer crate grill will suit it but at the moment looks too heavy, can you use thinner material?
The squares are a bit smaller than I had intended but otherwise , it looks not bad ...I think the angle of the picture might not help ...I can only get this material in that thickness .... I'll take a picture from a better angle , that might help .....If I get a chance later , I might paint one satin black but keep the front face silver , see how that looks ?
Of course , anything I use is only a suggestion ...these are blank canvas builds , not replicating anything , the same ethos as the S*mmio before it and left very much to the builder to put their own mark on the car, they are 'specials' not kit cars ..I much prefer that approach to them , they are similar enough to a mid 50's Ferrari or Maserati to go down either of those paths stylewise , but not forcing the builder to try and copy anything , which brings plenty of criticsm if they fall short in any dept....
There is nothing wrong with replica's ...don't get me wrong , I started this journey because I wanted a Kougar Monza when I saw them in a magazine whilst I was at school and starting to get into Hot Rods etc. and similarly , wanted a 550 around the same time too ..... so have nothing against them at all .....but I chose an ''inspired by'' route for my contribution to the classic Roadster market .....
Here's a picture of the squares taken straight on ... ...you can see the headlight rings fitted in this pic too ...there is a little 'drain' hole at the bottom which you can reach the screw to screw them in place through ....
And here's a picture with the grille painted black except for the front face ... I like this one ...being moulded resin , these will be slightly heavier than an aluminium one but not as heavy as the old steel ones that S*mmio's and , strangely , Miglia's had ...
2 Flatsheet rear bulkhead pieces cut and a stepped edge created on the passenger side one ..these will be glassed in when the tank work has been done and then a hatch cut into the centre ...
I have also started to fit a modified tunnel cover , the front half of a tunnel with the coin tray cut out ...this is going to be blended into the centre framework using some ally sheet that , hopefully is going on the inside to keep the frame detail exposed ...
I have also started to fit some bonnet bracing to the front ...starting with 2 inner arch sections that will be joined to a nose cone section both sides tomorrow to get some inner rigidity on the flip bonnet section....
This one is getting quite heavy too ...6 oz layup , longer and wider than a S *mmio , nearly half a sheet of 12mm ply bonded in as well ... It feels really solid when operated and no flexing about like it's cousins do ..I need to add a brace or chain to stop it opening too far , which will go from the front tube on the chassis to the inner wings ...
Lots of little jobs being achieved and some larger ones too ...
fuel tank went back in , filler neck and new sender added and then Grahams fuel cap fitted using an adaptor ring that my engineering mate made to get it down to Spitfire tank size .....The large cap looks great ...
I've also panelled in the tunnel on the inside using aluminium and fitted a top section ...Right pig of a job to do after fitting the frame !!
The rear bulkhead has had its hatch cut and some wooden baton fitted around the opening to brace it and create a stepped lip to fit the hatch lid to ...this has been fitted to the floorpans using an angled piece of steel pop rivetted in place , its fibreglassed and sikaflex'd to the body sides and sikaflex'd and rivetted at the top ...
I've still got to dress the edges and put some detail in around handbrake etc...but it gives you an idea of where it's going ....
The bulkhead panel has now been fully fitted to the front also , glued and rivetted around its perimeter and glued and rivetted to the bulkhead / body too ...
I made a start on inner rear arches too ...I have made the outer section that braces the body and ties it to the frame both sides ...I will add a lower section at a later date and also tie them to the rear of the bulkhead with a removable panel to access the harnesses , if required .... the outer sections have been fully glassed in ...
Whilst the fibreglass was being thrown about - today was not a great day for glassing ! I made the 4 x tubes to accept the rear lights ...made in the traditional way of placing 4 x Pringle tube halves on an aluminium sheet , glassing around them and onto the sheet to give a top lip ..then cutting 4 discs from flatsheet and rivetting them to the lip to make a little pot ... ( Actually Lidls versions of Pringles - other stackable crisps are available ..)
Tomorrow should see me making a start on fitting these into the rear of the body along with further progress ...
Well , I thought yesterday was a bad day for fibreglassing ...well today wasn't any better !!
I was on a mission to get the rear light pods fitted today , and I very nearly did it ...they are in and fully glassed in place , sanded back but I didn't get a chance to blend them in with a bit of filler due to waiting for sikaflex to cure and I haven't trial fitted the units properly yet , just placed them in ...again due to curing times ...about an hour tomorrow should see those bits finished ...
I needed to workout their location , which on a totally rounded car with curved rump , isn't straightforward ...you need a central measurement position to work from ...so I found the centre line and fitted a temporary number plate made from scalpeled masking tape to the correct dimensions of a real plate ...this gave me somewhere to start with the measurements and a focal reference for spacing the units ......
My initial plan to put the units in from behind half worked ....the outer ones went in perfect ...the inner ones wouldn't go in due to the internal frame being in the way ...so I cut the bases off , fitted the tubes from the front and then glassed the bases back on in position ...not too much of an issue but added some time to the job ...
so , apart from a bit of blending and stuff ..we have some lighting detail ...
Picture quality not great as workshop was very dusty today ...but hopefully shows the intention ...
Just had confirmation that Graham is happy with the paint quote we just received ....so , in a few weeks time the car is heading over to HILLTOP AUTOMOTIVE for Jeffy Baby to perform his magic on her ...I'm very pleased about that ....
Just had confirmation that Graham is happy with the paint quote we just received ....so , in a few weeks time the car is heading over to HILLTOP AUTOMOTIVE for Jeffy Baby to perform his magic on her ...I'm very pleased about that ....
After seeing Jeffs work on the other cars his body/ paintwork will ensure your bodyshell is shown in the best possible way .
After seeing Jeffs work on the other cars his body/ paintwork will ensure your bodyshell is shown in the best possible way .
Thanks for the vote of confidence,
I just hope it cools down a bit, blooming hot in the wkshop at the moment.
I popped over to Gary's today to have a look, the car is coming along nicely and the quality of the shell is clear to see, I don't think their will be tons of prep before primer and top coat.
Happy to update on here if that's ok with the owner ?
Hi Jeff, thanks for looking at the car yesterday and quoting for the painting, as you know I am happy to go ahead as Gary has said you are the man for the job and I am really pleased that you are going to do it. As with Gary I am more than happy for you to post updates here. As I am not in a position to do much work myself I hope that by showing Gary`s and now your skills helps in a way for people out there to see the quality and skill of your work and hopefully its a good advert for any of your future business. Ultimately I am trying to achieve a superb looking car and having the experts working on it I know this is what we are going to achieve and it couldn't be in better hands
I got stuck in to the bootlid today ...Graham decided he wanted internal hinges on the bootlid , which I think is the right choice for this car ...I will probably do my own car with pins to slot it in on the top edge and latches on the bottom ..bit like the Maserati's ...but this one is getting a different approach ...I used a pair of my door hinge blanks and made a bolt on pivet point .
I also bonded a strip of wood into the top internal edge of the bootlid . The wooden strip has 4 x 8mm studs sticking through it ...the hinges will locate on these studs ... When I left the workshop the bootlid was in place , mounted and operating ...but not glassed and final fixed .....I will take pictures tomorrow when its all fully glassed and fixed and not propped together ...
Here's the boot hinges in place and mounted to a 2mm steel plate holding them together which the wooden braced bootlid is attached to ...currently just screwed in place , but after paint will gain some adhesive as well ...
The bootlid in the closed position ...I have gapped it a bit , but will leave final gapping in the capable hands of the Jeffmeister ..
Graham asked if we could create a little boot area rather than the spare wheel cradle that is normally the case ...I shaped some 3mm ply to give him a curved boot floor , added a 3mm back edge with acess hatch to get to the number plate area and path for the loom ...3mm front face with slot cut to accept the front of the spare wheel and give you access to the diff , rear spring area ...some 12mm sides and ledges give some space under the rear wings and tie the bootfloor into the inner arches which are joined with screws , adhesive and fibreglass ...A combination of rivets , glue and fibreglass bonds it all together ....
The plan is to carry a stock 13'' 'spacesaver' spare , which with removal of the wire wheel and adaptor will get you home ...the removed 15'' wouldn't fit back in the boot , but in an emergency or get you home measure could be put in the passenger side footwell/seat area or clung onto by the passenger ! , not ideal , but better than no spare ... I suggested Graham carry an aerosol tyre inflater foam as well and if the tyre is still on the rim , he has another option to limp home too ...
Even if you never use the spare , the extra bit of ballast won't do any harm on these cars lighter rear ends either ...
I started working out the dash and stuff this week ...holes are cut but gauges aren't fitted yet ... A centre panel utilizing the framework that forms the front section of the tunnel seemed to be an obvious thing to do and keeps the dash uncluttered as well as giving it a race car feel ..The steering column has had the switch holes blanked off with rivetted aluminium plates ...
Battery cutout switch is mounted just in front of drivers door hinge points too ...
I have also made a start on door frames and hinges etc. The hinge plates I had cut have had a small section of 12mm tube welded to the 8mm pivot hole and oil lite bearings fitted into the tube ..an 8mm bolt acts as a hinge pin .
The internal frames are still ongoing , but I sprayed a bit of silver on them to highlight their styling ... They are fully functional ..pretty much done , I just need to add a couple of mounting tags so they can be fixed to the doorskins in both shuts and the bottom edge to avoid external fixings ...
The passenger side one took a bit of working out , but I will hopefully nail the drivers one tomorrow in half the time ...
I have been using a pattern set of doorskins to work it out - a new set of doors will be made and they will be flowcoated to match the body ...
Bit more work on the doors ...saddles made to accept Grahams latches and the dovetail style catches fitted as well ....a piece of 2mm plate was cut to shape and fitted to the rear of the B pillar , this will be tied into the frame when I've finished fettling in that area ...
Saddles are made from 2mm plate as well and stand about an inch proud of the location on the frame so this style of latch is accessible in the door from outside fairly easily , but not intruding on valuable cockpit space ....the large Landrover style dovetails take up the space in the shut perfectly ...Glan made the shuts so that a standard slam style latch could be used or , if required or desired , a bearclaw style latch and pin will still fit in the space easily ...
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