Rock the Cradle

September 2, 2012 Adam Ince

(8 days until the 2012 WHPSC)

The poplar battens are now glassed in

2012-09-02 01 streamliner body poplar battens glassed.jpg

Battens in right half of body

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Closeup of upper batten

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The tooling plug is back! Time to make a cradle

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Dad masking the bottom of the upside-down tooling plug

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Hand brushed with clear gel coat

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After glassing with mat and cloth

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There's a brief window of opportunity where you can trim fiberglass with a razor knife before the resin becomes too stiff. A lot less itch this way!

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Trimming complete

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From the back

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Dad brushing honey, er, uh... resin on the cradle base...

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... followed by mishmash

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Cradle resting on the base - now we wait for the mishmash to cure

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While we're waiting, we couldn't resist taping the body halves together

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It's not food - Annie is indifferent

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Annie sees an opportunity to lean on Dad

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If I fail at Battle Mountain, we can always squeeze an engine in somewhere and try our luck at Bonneville

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The approximate location of the right body half with respect to me and the subframe

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Bustin' Out (of the Molds)

September 1, 2012 Adam Ince

(9 days until the 2012 WHPSC)

Right half of the streamliner body is out of the mold! (notice the black stripes)

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From the front

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Almost looks like some Photoshop magic

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Angled shot showing inside

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Angled shot showing outside

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Angled shot from back

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Time to separate left half from mold!

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A wedge begins separating the upper nose area

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Compressed air helps separate further

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Just about there...

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Voilà!

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We have the left half now

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Canopy from back

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From the lower front

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From the upper front

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Closeup showing surface finish

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Preparing to bond poplar battens

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Large steel weights bend the battens to conform the the shape of the body. First side done.

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Second side complete

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Making The Body

August 31, 2012 Adam Ince

(10 days until the 2012 WHPSC)

"Wax on... Wax off..."

Dad spraying white gel coat in right mold half...

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... and left half

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Pat helping dad strain gel coat

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Did you notice the white stripes in each mold? They were covered with masking tape before the white gel coat was sprayed. Then the tape was pulled, and everything was sprayed with black gel coat.

2012-08-31 05 streamliner body gelcoat.jpg

Masking tape was also applied to the canopy areas of each half. After white gel coat was applied, the masking tape was removed prior to the application of black gel coat.

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Right half is now completely covered in black

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... as is the left half

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Side by side

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Trimming biaxial glass in preparation for the layup of the right side

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Canopy area

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From the front

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Right half after layup with biaxial glass and 2mm core mat

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Canopy area

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From the front

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Closeup showing 2mm core mat and biaxial glass

2012-08-31 16 streamliner body biaxial fiberglass 2mm core mat.jpg

After trimming the edge

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From the back

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Front canopy area

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Upper nose area

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Lower nose area

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Monsoon Rains, Then Polishing the Second Mold Half

August 30, 2012 Adam Ince

(11 days until the 2012 WHPSC)

Visited by a thunderstorm today. It rained harder than I can ever remember. Eventually it blew out, and we finished polishing the second half of the mold.

From the front