Spitfires ? - Page 6

Mister Towed · #**101** 17th January 2012, 19:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancelot link

....found a spare couple of hours at the end of the day....

I think I've sussed where you find the time Gary. You and Mike are trialling "metric time" aren't you.

100 seconds in a minute, 100 minutes in an hour, 100 hours in a day and ten days in a week. And in your spare time you pop in to work and tie up the loose ends...

Mister Towed · #**102** 17th January 2012, 19:51

And, as if by magic, a tax-free cordite donor pops up on ebay...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/triumph-sp...#ht_500wt_1202

And I think Gary will even approve of the colour.

lancelot link · #**103** 19th January 2012, 18:52

Thanks Towed ....I have put that on the watch list as the one I bought is ok for mocking up and will probably become part of the jig , but not good enough to build up...

I want to build a demo car , at the very least a rolling shell looking finished for Stoneleigh.

Towed ....we get lots done I think because Mike is very good at what he does ...I like to think I can do the concept , design etc and muddle through the builds , Mike can magic body filler , glass , paste etc into the shapes in my head very quickly.... ....he also 'gets it ' as many on here do too...so he can see what I want , give me input and help the body's evolve...

Today , apart from laying up a G46 and a Sammio Spyder body , we got a bit more done on the Cordite bonnet ( very close to showing off now ) and we cut a Spyder body in half , chopped it about a bit and started glueing it back together !!

Hopefully Saturday , I might be able to mock up a complete-ish body on the Spit Chassis and take a pic or two....

Alpha · #**104** 19th January 2012, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancelot link

Thanks Towed ....I have put that on the watch list as the one I bought is ok for mocking up and will probably become part of the jig , but not good enough to build up...

I want to build a demo car , at the very least a rolling shell looking finished for Stoneleigh.

Towed ....we get lots done I think because Mike is very good at what he does ...I like to think I can do the concept , design etc and muddle through the builds , Mike can magic body filler , glass , paste etc into the shapes in my head very quickly.... ....he also 'gets it ' as many on here do too...so he can see what I want , give me input and help the body's evolve...

Today , apart from laying up a G46 and a Sammio Spyder body , we got a bit more done on the Cordite bonnet ( very close to showing off now ) and we cut a Spyder body in half , chopped it about a bit and started glueing it back together !!

Hopefully Saturday , I might be able to mock up a complete-ish body on the Spit Chassis and take a pic or two....

Looking forward to seeing your concept 'in the flesh' as it were !

Baz from Belgium

lancelot link · #**105** 22nd January 2012, 18:26

Right ....heres the first of the 'roughing out ' pictures...

We are a long way from finished but a good start I feel...

The shortening / adjusting of the body etc has given me enough of an idea of how she will look to feel confident to continue...

work so far is body shortened 7'' approx. This centres the rear wheel and puts the bulkhead in the same place as a Herald bulkhead in relation to the engine.
I am probably going to use a Herald bulkhead blended into the body and smoothed out. The bulkhead will be supplied as part of the body and the internal steel frame will be partially bonded in place at the front , I think !

Another interesting factor to come from mocking up is , due to the shorter body , IMHO , the wheels don't look too small. The 13'' Spit wheels have a bit of a Dunlop look and slightly wider or spaced versions , could work out ok....the other alternative is 14'' wires .....no need for 15's this time , I think.
We are going to make the arches slightly smaller to accomadate , not much , but a bit....ignore the front arch alignment in the side shot as well....it needs tweaking , but the car is on its way !!

I think I will need to do some working out on how to use this bonnet on existing Spyders , but it will become an option......

The cockpit shots show the cockpit stretch after the 7'' shortening....We have moved the dashtop forward 2'' inches and the rear bulkhead and head fairing have gone back about 5''

I hope the pictures show a work in progress and don't frighten anyone off !!

MIKES GRILLE SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION.....

REAR....

SIDE.....

COCKPIT TWEAKS...

I personally like the proportions , shorter body , shorter nose etc. it will look a lot different when the screen , arches , tailfin etc gets sorted....

tlrtone · #**106** 22nd January 2012, 18:32

looking good. I think I might do one of these after I have finished my spyder.....

Patton · #**107** 22nd January 2012, 18:36

Looking good, you managed to ge some work done after I left saturday. is there a few more bits to do the front wheel? PAT

lancelot link · #**108** 22nd January 2012, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patton

Looking good, you managed to ge some work done after I left saturday. is there a few more bits to do the front wheel? PAT

Yes Pat .....some alignment tweaks.....we'll get there !!

Tony ....don't let me stop you ...People are building these cars for around £3-3500 ish and they retail on average for about £5500-7000 ...that can't be bad !!

I know of 3 guys building to sell with a view to repeat builds ...theres room for more !!

A lot of built , correctly registered cars make their way into Europe as its an easier way to own one there ...thats a Massive marketplace for us all !

jmc14 · #**109** 22nd January 2012, 19:36

Gary, You and Mike get things done fast. Looking good. My only observation is that in the photo shop pic the grill opening is not as rectangular looking as the prototype. The photo shop looks like the upper and lower lines have some curve in them, the sides taper and the corners are more rounded. I personally prefer that look as opposed to the more squared off look in the prototype. I know that pictures can be deceiving though.

To fill in the valleys did you lay in some fiberglass sheeting and then blend?

Keep it up. John

Alpha · #**110** 22nd January 2012, 22:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmc14

Gary, You and Mike get things done fast. Looking good. My only observation is that in the photo shop pic the grill opening is not as rectangular looking as the prototype. The photo shop looks like the upper and lower lines have some curve in them, the sides taper and the corners are more rounded. I personally prefer that look as opposed to the more squared off look in the prototype. I know that pictures can be deceiving though.

To fill in the valleys did you lay in some fiberglass sheeting and then blend?

Keep it up. John

Have to agree on this one regarding the shape of the grill opening, Gary! The overall proportions though are very good, with the nose appearing longer compared to the rear of the car - always makes a car look more powerful !

Baz

jmc14 · #**111** 23rd January 2012, 04:10

Hello Gary, I really need a couple of measurements pretty quickly as I am having some photo shop work done.

1 On the Sammio I need to know what the length is from the rear axle center line to the front edge of the rear of the cockpit.

2 I need to know the width of the body at the cockpit at the bottom. On my widened body you had emailed me that it was 63 inches. I don't think that this is correct. Maybe 53 inches? Please confirm.

Thank you very much.

Mister Towed · #**112** 23rd January 2012, 07:31

Looking very good already Gary.

I rather like the larger, square grille. It differentiates it nicely from the Spyder imho.

If I've read your post right, where are you going to get fifty-odd Herald front bulkheads from when the orders start rolling in?

Would it not be cheaper to fabricate a new bulkhead as part of the body support frame with aluminium sheet bolted or riveted on? You could supply paper templates for the aluminium filler panels as part of the package to cut down your production costs/time. Just a thought...

jmc14 · #**113** 24th January 2012, 13:37

Gary, sorry about asking for measurements. I was reading another thread and I see that you did send me some. Don't know how I missed it.

Also, in the Cordite photo shop did you make the rear fenders rounder? They look like they match the arc of the tires. Where on a side shot of the Sammio they look flatter across the top.

lancelot link · #**114** 24th January 2012, 19:13

John , I wasn't aware that we had , we only really worked on the front and middle - except the fin....Chris might have afterwards ...I'll have to ask.

Grille wise , I agree it looks a little square , Mike has still got a lot of work to do on it including putting a nice long curve on the top so it just flows into the grille...the edges will be softened as well....

The valleys on the bonnet have been filled with sections of 550 bonnet ! flat sheet , cardboard , hardboard , anything will work on a plug for a mould to get the shape ! A skim of filler and its done !!

We have gotten a bit more done now...

In response to Towed...we have bought one Herald bulkhead , Mike has cut everything above the horizontal shelf off , all extra brackets , clips etc....this is going to be blended , glued , bonded into the body with a new flat sheet upper bulkhead section and a sunken battery tray. We are then going to mould the body with this section included as part of the body.
You will simply replace the ENTIRE body with ours ....a steel plate and some internal framing will be bonded to the inside to allow you to re-mount your pedals and cylinders in their stock position , steering column will pass through as per the original also......the idea at this stage is that the steel framework bonded in for the pedals will have plates welded in with holes in them to allow you to bolt the rest of the framework to it , in the same way the hinge holes are now used on the Spyders....so , body off , frame bolted to chassis , new body lowered over the frame and front of frame bolted in place inside a fibreglass bulkhead .....does that make sense ?

Add two fibreglass lowered footwells to the front section , bolted / bonded into the 20x20 framework and the Herald / Spitfire layout has been recreated !!

So yesterday Mike reduced the bulkhead length by a further 2'' and today he did the bulkhead trimming , fitting etc.

Tomorrow should see us lengthening the bonnet about 2-3'' and getting those arches sorted ...

The Cordite is going to have a shorter rear , longer bonnet look going on for definite now.....

I will sort pics out tomorrow if I remember my camera !!

jmc14 · #**115** 25th January 2012, 01:14

I wanted to give a heads up to anyone that decides to use the external hinges shown on the photoshop picture. I used them both for a trunk and doors on a car that I built. I think that they look good.

1 The hinges are designed to go on an arched surface. There is a left and right side. Or, in the case of a door, an upper and lower.

2 The hinge pins are pressed in. They are exposed on the open end and seat into a closed end. They loosen up with use. In several instances the pins have worked out. Not good.

To solve the pins working out I disassemble the hinge and drill out the closed end. I replace the pin with a stainless fine thread bolt that is long enough to extend through the hinge. I use a lock nut to hold it together. Do not over tighten as the hinge will snap.

The hinge is not real strong. I was on the side of a road with my trunk open when a large trunk passed by at a good rate of speed. I was holding the trunk lid open. The air caught the trunk lid and snapped the hinges in two. There I was with the trunk lid in my hand! I used duct tape to hold the lid in place and continued on my cross country trip.

Mister Towed · #**116** 25th January 2012, 10:26

Gary, moulding the bulkhead and floorpans into the body package is an excellent idea. It'll save a lot of expense and messing about if you don't have to refurbish a rotten bulkhead (which is what I'm doing at the moment). It'll give you rust free floors for ever into the bargain.

seanick · #**117** 25th January 2012, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancelot link

J

Grille wise , I agree it looks a little square , Mike has still got a lot of work to do on it including putting a nice long curve on the top so it just flows into the grille...the edges will be softened as well....

How about blending the grill orifice of the G46 onto the new bonnet of the Cordite? would that work Gary? Give a good family link to the bigger brother and look (to me) perfect. Would be quickish too.

lancelot link · #**118** 27th January 2012, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanick

How about blending the grill orifice of the G46 onto the new bonnet of the Cordite? would that work Gary? Give a good family link to the bigger brother and look (to me) perfect. Would be quickish too.

It would work out ok ....I am trying to avoid the Lancia look at present , but lets see where it goes....early days......early days....

If you look at this early picture of my Spyder , you can see just how things can change during the course of development !! This was about 3 years ago.... !!

Mike has finished smoothing out the bulkhead and put some flanges around it today to take a provisional mould.

We are moulding it without a sunken battery tray but all bulkheads will be supplied with one bonded in place ....by fitting afterwards we don't need to create two bulkheads ( RHD and LHD )..the pedal mounts are being fitted as part of the internal steel frame , so LHD conversion is very straightforward.

If time and finances allow , we may try and create a similar option for the Spyder later this year......

jmc14 · #**119** 27th January 2012, 20:23

Very nice.

Surfer · #**120** 12th February 2012, 20:30

I discovered your car on the internet a week or two ago and I'm really excited by it. I'm looking forward to the Cordite coming out and I'm expecting to be a customer soon.

I think that it would be great if there was a little more flow from the end of the bonnet over the doors. The morgan posted earlier is amazing and is a good example of how sleek and light it can be made to look if the flow is continued right through the car. I hope you don't mind me saying this... after all I am certain you know a lot more about this sort of stuff than me! I do think it looks great already.