MadaboutKitcars

Some updates , just to show things are moving forward ...

Glan has flanged and gel'd the cowl / bulkhead area ...



The rear has been flanged and gel'd too ...you can see the blowhole at the top of the boot aperture and also the blocks in place to create the wedge pockets on the side flanges ...



That's the first gel ...second one in the morning and a skin coat later on hopefully ...get things started ...hopefully fully laid up Thursday , leaving dash pod and rear valance area to do ...

The mould is finished ..mostly ... I'll post some pics tomorrow before Glan releases it .... Some carpentry , 6 waxes and we start to layup the first body ...excited doesn't even get close !!

Here's some pictures .....





You can see the wooden bracing thats been added ...a box on the rear to give the mould stability again when upside down and braces in the doorshuts too to stop it folding across the shuts ...

When the mould is off , Glan wants to add removable legs to the mould , so it will act as its own table when upside down ...

The flat areas either side of the bulkhead are the start of the bulkhead addition ...the bulkhead on the chassis I borrowed is destined for a S*mmio project , so I can't trim it and move it back ...that's going to be done using an alternative bulkhead when the plug has been removed and disposed of ...

Gary,

That looks so professional, what on earth went wrong ? LOL, nah looking very nicely done, I wish you well with it and hope you sell a few chap.

I did pop in for a nosey at this today,

Now what I know about mould making and laminating you can write on a postage stamp, but this looked very well made, a brilliant effort by all concerned and I am sure the finished product will be very high quality.

Moulds all off , polished several times and re-assembled on its feet ...the addition of removable legs makes this really easy to work on and very stable too ....good idea Glan !!







Hopefully gelling tomorrow ...two coats , then a skin coat of thin 1 oz. matt to avoid using paste in tricky areas ...Glan hates paste !! then its the rest of the layers including the cormat in the relevant places ...

Body out by the end of the week hopefully , then we can crack on with the framework and screen and headlight mould creating etc...

We got the first 'prototype' body out this morning ...... There are a couple of bits I want to alter slightly , nothing major , just some nit picking to make production and builds slightly easier ...

We still need to doo the doors , but one of the plug ones does the job here ...

I am chuffed with the first one ... Now I can sort the framework out ...





The cowl is not finished ...this spec is suitable for someone building there own bulkhead or adapting something else ...Glan is going to fabricate a more intricate bulkhead panel next week that will be fitted separately .....



The rear return on the bonnet edge makes panel fit a doddle too ...



Jeff H asked about flash lines ...these are all there is ...its fresh from the mould in these pics, virtually no trimming , they will be bladed off and buffed , so will be even less obvious when supplied ...



We need to do the aforementioned doors and bulkhead panel , a rear bulkhead , some returns on the bootlid and we are done .....all being dealt with next week .

Finally , a S*mmio tradition , but its kind of family , so I guess its ok ....more importantly , it gives you an idea of size ...



The bodies are about 4'' wider than their cousins , same wheelbase but longer in the front and the rumped rear adds a bit too ...they feel a whole lot bigger overall ....

I think one in silver with red numbers , ala 300 SLR would look superb ..

I ordered the wrong shade of red for this one , coral red , all production bodies unless otherwise specified will be a more appropriate red ......

Special order colours , that are in the RAL range , will not cost any extra ...the first few orders will include a colour matching or black transmission tunnel and fully flowcoated body and bonnet included in the price ......

Great work! Quality molds and parts save a lot on the receiving end.
Job very well done! Congrats...

Nice work boys not so sure about the mug shot at the end !

Snap!

Great work Glan and Gary

I think a dark green one would look very DBR.
More appealing than the MEV replicar

Thank you guys ...oh ..and you Towed !

Roadster , its got the same thing going on as its cousins ..in as much as , if they are red , they look Italian , silver they will look German , Green they will look British ..etc..

I borrowed styling tips from various cars , as you know ..the dash is amazing , but you'd be hard pressed to beat the Porsche dashes , IMHO , it you cut the dash face off and fit a seperate panel , you are going down the Maserati route as well , which is cool .. rear arches are very stylish , the boot aperture is very cool ...lots going on , but still very much a flexible canvas to personalize a build ...that's exactly how I like it ...




I will get a side on shot of it next week ...

I managed to start prepping a bulkhead this morning ...



Pretty much the same process as before , but some extra tidying up ...the little triangulation pieces at either edge are removed ...



I've trimmed the floorpans back too , and will fit this to a chassis on Monday and put the body in position ...

Glan will now make a seperate panel to blend these two together ...

Looks amazing.

Some great work there!

Looking good, very neat flash lines. Looks good enough to be built just using gel coat.
Only slight worry is that,t is there enough of a lip to hold the windscreen securely?

Its going to be a heat formed plexi screen . the dip is deep enogh to get a small fixing in or can be bonded in place and the kit will come with two screenposts to support it either end ..

I have a laser cutting firm currently cutting out hinges , screenpost pieces and tilt front bracketry for me from hardboard templates I made earlier in the build ..

Looks amazing, thanks for the update!

So exciting to see this finally coming together - many small volume automotive producers could learn a lot from the process of design, engineering, development and prototyping that you and Glan have been through on the Formosa. In fact you might consider a 'project workshop' on the process, for others with plans for producing their designs.

I'll have to come down soon and see the body in the flesh. I'm keen to see the mods required to the bulkhead etc.

Thank you H ... Glan is really the man who made this happen , I knew what I wanted , he made it happen with me acting as the lacky labourer on most of it ...I think the already retired Glan , is ready to re-retire !! He has a mid 30's MG project he put on hold to help me with this and I think he's going to get back on that when we are done ...

Welcome down anytime H ... I have a guy coming from Belgium on wednesday , which is cool ...

The bulkhead pictures above show the mods quite well when compared with a stock one , its scalped in the same way a S*mmio one is and the triangulating braces removed , wiper bracket too ...the plate in the middle is where this one had the heater bulge removed and it was rusty behind it ..

The battery frame can be removed or left ...I'm leaving this one but going to fit a dropped tray like a Spitfire to keep the battery in the same location ..I think they are better left on to maintain a bit of strength


I'm working with Mark at Southern Triumph Services quite closely with prepping a chassis for a customer and he's having it fully refurbed by them too ...I know that he would be happy to do bulkhead modifications for any builders if required too ...

Thanks for that Gary. Presumably with no heater in the way, you can get a header tank there too?

I just need to find myself a bulkhead then. Anyone?

I have a herald bulkhead the floors are shot but the rest is ok free to a good home just needs to be collected from south wales.

EXACTLY ...Thats what is done with the S*mmio range ...

Thanks @deggsy. I'll have to see if I can get to South Wales sometime. I may actually be going to Chepstow in the next few weeks so that might work. I'll PM you

If you don't fancy a trip to Wales , I have a guy in Devon who has a couple of Bond Equipe bulkheads and they are the same from the screenframe down , so perfect for us ...

floorpans need to be cut and modified ( the floorpan with the kit will deal with that ) , so rusty floorpans aren't an issue ...

Lancelot Link - Congratulations Gary, the first car out of the mould looks great.

Without a doubt, this is of a much higher quality than the Cordite.

Looking forward to seeing the first one being put together.

Cheers, Paul.