Excellent news this evening - just met a local GRP guy who has agreed a very reasonable price to make the mould and a panel.
Needless to say, the car will be carrying some non period advertising!
I plan to have the buck ready by the end of summer.
Nice to know it's actually viable, as there was a real chance after all this work that it was just going to be too dear! (it is still dear, but hey ho!)
Not had a chance to do anything to the buck for a few weeks, so nice to get a chance to make some decent progress today. Finally seeing it all in one colour (admittedly only a filler primer guide coat, but still.....)
Lots of tidying still to do to the flutes over the front suspension mounts, but it's just a case of building them up with filler
For reasons of cost / time, I think I'm going to put on a 'conventional' '7' rear end in alloy and tube rather than moulding one similar to the Mink. I may do that in the future, but at this stage I don't think it's the way to go at the moment.
Had one of those days in the garage where you work all day and at the end it doesn't really look like you've made much progress, but in fact a lot was achieved.
As well as finishing off the bottom of the nose section I made progress with cutting out and fitting the dams which set out the split in the mould and also the returns on the mould edge to which the flat flanges will then be bolted so the return edges can be formed round the edges of the moulding. I also built up the wee projections at the edge of the dash to soften the transition from the panel to the chassis as the right angle was a bit 'jarring'
(The final panel will be trimmed to the pencil line in the last photo)
nerve racking job the other day to finally lift the buck clear of the chassis and then finally join the nose and bonnet sections together into one piece and smoothe the join.
Unfortunately, I only had Jennifer to help me, and she tends not to enjoy getting involved in my projects (or taking instructions! ) so things were a bit 'tense'.......
Thankfully though, the buck came free easily enough (and we didn't fall out) so all is right in the world!
Should get another coat of rattle can paint on it at the weekend and the finish off the dams before getting it off to the moulders next week.
Now getting to be quite a nice place to sit and make 'Brumm - Brumm' noises
Back axle location nearly sorted - trailing links all sorted, just a wee ajustment needed to the panhard rod mounting. Once that's sorted (hopfully this week) I'm just waiting on the technician at work bending me the rear bodywork tubes and then I can start building up the rear of the chassis / body.
Fingers crossed I get the balance of the Yimkin payment soon as I have a lead on an engine which may speed things up (figuratively & literally! )
Do I:
A. Stick on a 'conventional' Lotus seven style rear end for ease / convenience / low cost / speed
B. Make a buck of a unique sculpted tail sort of in the style of the Coldwell which ties in with the front end. This will be messy / expensive / slow / may result in the thing never being finished!
My head tells me A, but I know that if I DONT do B, I'll probably wish I had.
Oh, or there is of course:
C. Sell it and get something that I can actually use on the road....
Sadly, my safety roof rack project has diverted my time and funds from this for the last wee while, and has now reached a stage where I'm considering selling the car to free up a bit of cash to invest in the other project, or alternatively, I might be looking to exchange the race car for a (presentable) used Transit or similar Crewcab which would double as a VEPS demonstrator and family car.
If the project succeeds, I'll then spend the profits on Coldwells and Minis!
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