(24 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
Tweaked the side a little to fix a low spot
This will serve as a guide for spreading Bondo with a long blade
Spreading Bondo
Long blade, slightly curved
One final pass
Ready for more sanding
Front after sanding
Rear after sanding
(25 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
Dad wasn't happy with the fit of the other side of the canopy...
... so he buzzed it down a little
The side he likes...
... and the side he doesn't like...
I cut the alignment spokes on the pinch clamps, which ended up being a slow, painful process with a Ø .188" endmill. I broke three endmills even though I made shallow cuts at a glacial feed rate. Eventually, I cut all the spokes. Here's the assembled subframe.
Closeup of upper pinch clamp
Closeup of bottom bracket pinch clamp
(26 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
Bottom bracket support is done!
Back to the body. First side was mirrored to the second side (more Bondo soon).
Doug's handy work on the tail
Dad filling in Bondo on the windshield mockup
Put Bondo on... take Bondo off...
After a couple of passes of Bondo
One final slick coat
A little more shaping with the cheese grater
Bring on the gear drive!
Can you see it yet?!!
Shot from the nose
Popped out the windshield mockup to have a look
More metal fab... Got Vise-Grips?
Tacking bosses on pinch clamp
Welds are done
Time to mill out the spokes
(27 days until the 2012 WHPSC)
In order to long-block the top and bottom surfaces of the tooling plug flat and smooth, we needed to make the plug supports removable.
Did I mention the bottom is flat?
Really, REALLY flat!