Ognib

Don't know how I missed this thread till now! Nice, nice, very nice.

Thanks, a mill is on my list of things I need & I'll be a noob at it. Got any shots of your set-ups, in progress, etc? Do you do detailed drawings or out of your head, like I tend to do? I'm like a dry sponge for practical info on this subject.

That's HOT, man! Very believable realism in your execution & attention to all the details.

I'm agreeing with all of the above.

Excellent work, Tim. Both in concept & execution! Been studying your pics & see some great ideas for jigging multi piece body panels etc for welding, as well as chassis work. Thanks.

Thanks, Tim. The .016 is much more suited for this than the .032. In fact, the .032 is heavy enough that it was almost overpowering the wood on the edges, where I attempted to get a good crisp bend line. I enjoy the photography & writing, so the reporting here is just an enjoyable part of the hobby. Plus, the great folks I get to meet!

That's a superb diorama, Richard! Your finishing skills in creating the patina of the body are producing very believable results! Very cool. Where did you find the benchtop lathe?

The .016 panel hugs the buck nicely, at this point. Picks up & highlights the slight feature line nicely. Torsional strength, when I twist it slightly, is not as great as I would like. But I really think when I get an instrument panel & firewall stuck in place, plus being attached to floor rails & pan, it will be ok.

Thanks to everyone for looking...appreciate the comments. It is cool...I'm totally captivated by the challenge of what I'm attempting here. Many grey areas in my mind, at this point as to how to proceed, technique wise. But, not knowing how to do it is the "juice" in all of this for me...the learning of a new set of skills. One problem that I've identified is my crimping tool is putting too hard of a bend in the metal. Going to kiss the tips with a 40 grit grinder disc & soften them a bit. Make it easier for the tucks to flow down into the shrink. Couple of caulking tools for working the break lines down into the bowls.

Thanks, guys. The piece I posted yesterday is .032". I like the idea of the greater strength, but I think it's too heavy to take the detail of the feature lines, etc. Had to try it to know for sure. Going to cut another blank in .016, when I get done with my work today & give it another go.

In my guitar work, doing re-fret work, I occasionally encounter fret slots that won't hold new fretwire down in position against the fingerboard. I have this crimping tool that "waffles" the fret tang, making it wider, thus better able to bite into the slot. I thought to myself, " that's a perfect sized tucking tool for helping to shrink the edges of 1"8 panels". Want to continue to practice the aluminum work as the bucks are brought to completion. Need to trim the surplus off of the edge on the cockpit side. More templates for the cowl.

Am interested in your though process & build methods on the chassis jigs, if you've got any pics & commentary you'd care to share.

Nice!

The beginning of the cut that will raise the feature line that runs below the windshield & some progress on the door jamb area, as well. This is a busy area, right here in this corner & now is when I determine how well it'll all fit & show proper perspective later on. Layout also roughed in for pocket for the base windshield stanchions.

Door line & forward up-sweep on lower cowl side.

Roughed in the taper between the front & back of the cowl buck. It's a bit thick still, front to back, but will wait until I get the profiles cut on the cockpit side before trimming down to final dimension. One nice thing about a large project like this is that I have enough variety of tasks to accomplish for it's completion that I can always choose something fresh to work on from day to day

A lazy sun afternoon. Rough cut a plug to develop as a cowl buck. Laid out lines for horizontal body templates. Rocker panel into recessed wheel house, still being shaped. Pulling a contour at various points for vertical templates & transferring to thin maple for fitting to plastic body.

Thanks for the kudos, Tim. I have Joe Martin's book & am on like the 3rd reading. The Sherline products seem to be very well engineered & executed!

As you no doubt know from your own experience in your machine work, these type projects do not evolve over night. I'm about 4 yrs in to this one at this point, what with probably a yrs worth of study & research before actually moving to hands on materials. So your commitment to purchasing tools is a dynamic step towards a stated goal. And, I'll tell you, it's veery cool when you see the metal moving & taking a desired shape under your hammer! The small wheel is not mine, just a pic I found online, but perfect for what I'm doing. The construction of one for my own use will be an, " after I get my welder project," & can be scaled to perfectly fit the size of my panels. I was looking for the material to work harden & require annealing, but it never seemed to need it. It felt as pliable at the end as the beginning. The sheet came out of a K & S precision metals display at my local Ace hrdwre store. I got on their web site & found that it is a 3003 alloy....H-1 if I recall correctly.

Was this in a rotary table under a mill? Looks great!

Thanks, everyone for looking & commenting. Tim, we seem to be in reverse positions regarding our skills. I've been admiring your machine work on the parts for your project. Small mill & lathe are on my list of things I want to have & educate myself in their use for down the road on this build.

Really looking good!

Ben, thanks, I appreciate the compliment. Yes, hi-freq ac square wave inverter, with foot switch, pre & post gas flow etc. Think I've made my choice. http://www.eastwood.com/tig-welders-eastwood-tig-ac-dc-welder.html?reltype=3 Has all the features I'm looking for. I've bought from them previously & had excellent results with quality & customer service. I don't use credit cards, so have to save my lunch money for a few weeks to come up with the $$'s. I have a friend who is a machinist & also aircraft cert on tig to coach me in the finer points of the art. Here it is off the buck. Save it for welding practice, later on.

Switched from pins to screws to hold it. That helped a lot! The metal is seated firmly on the buck in all areas. O.K., I guess for first attempt. The buck is not perfect yet & the panel can't be better than the buck. But I learned a lot on this one.