GT90 from ground up

[Des]

Rear "deck" removed and benched for ease of working on.
mesh added to deck and rear openings roughed out.
rear face next to be meshed.

Some pics of the Albins transaxles I mentioned earlier
One each of the 10" and 11.5" crownwheel options if memory serves.

Des

[Ryan L]

Des

I don’t know how you are going to cover your mesh to form your buck, but I had a thought so I may as well post it hear.

I recently had cause to get some internal solid plastering done on the house. I had a go at it my self and I suck at it. The second professional guy (first was crap) that came to do the job was so skilled that the plaster had a shine to it as it came of the trowel. The plasterer/renderer did not do any sanding. I still can’t believe the skill some of these guys have.

I think it was a mix of Cornice cement and hydrated lime.

I had to do very little sanding, which was good. You might be able to employ a similar method for covering the mesh.


Also I have the ratios for the Albins boxes – let me know if you want them.

Ryan

[Richard O'Clery]

Ryan, that's pretty much how my brother and I did our bodyshell. The plaster went on over MDF, foam and countless other things used to bulk out the stations, so the underlying material was not nearly as pretty as Des' workmanship.

One drawback we found with the plaster was that there was in fact heaps of sanding. This arose mainly from working to get the compound curves exactly as we wanted, and ensuring they were exactly the same from left to right.

Despite this we were happy using plaster because it is quite workable (we couldn't easily find a suitable clay to use in Perth), but you can't use power tools to sand it as the motors get clogged with the dust. So, it's hand sanding all the way...

I think that no matter what method you use to skin a car, it's a lot of work.

Des, i'm curious too. What are you going to do?

[raca]

here is a question: could you use vacuum forming ?

[Des]

Ryan & Richard
Plaster sounds like fun. some craftsmen can definitely work it right, unlike the other "professionals" that just throw it around and sand the result back.
Using plaster I think the result would be weighty by the time it was thick enough and make it difficult for one person to lift the sections.
Midland Brick have all the clay in WA sewn up if memory serves.
The mesh needs some "panel beating" and fine tuning first, it's aluminium and responds well to working
I intend to lay fibreglass matting and resin over the mesh.
This will still require sanding and bogging many times until it's right.
In the process I get to make lots of lovely fine itch inducing dust that will most likely cover every nook and cranny of my workshop.
Post the ratios by all means or PM if necessary

Raca
Yes I suppose you could if you went to the trouble of building moulds that would stand up to the strain without distorting under the load. I don't think it would be practical for short runs due to costs.
What sort of material were you hoping to vacuum form?
Des

[raca]

Hy Des

i was thinking you could use acrylic or PVC plastic, let do some digging and i'll know, what i know for sure is that you can build a vacuum former with very few money and parts, even for your scale

[Jac Mac]

This stuff any help to you guys?

Chavant clay

Jac Mac

[Richard O'Clery]

Too late for me, Jack, but looks like the perfect stuff.

[Ricky]

Another method of skinning the buck would have been to lay divinycell foam on the jig and glass straight over it, (as we boat builders do for one off constructions).

This would at least let you retain the buck as a body that could be used after making your moulds. It would also be very light and extremely stiff.

The sheet divinycell can be contoured with mild heat and is available in many thicknesses, densities and types (ie, contoured sheets and flat sheet)

It would have been a more expensive excersize, but quite practical none the less.

[Trevor Booth]

It is a bit late now, but worth remembering that it is easier , cheaper, and quicker to have it 3D modelled, cut the 3D model into "blocks" and then CNC blocks of urethane foam to the shape and then glue the individual blocks together to make a complete buck

[raca]

@ Des: are you going to build the wing ?

[Big-Foot]

I liked pretty much everything about the GT90 except that wing...
Looks too much like something off of BattleStar Galactica...

[Des]

Thanks for input it is appreciated.
The clay would be good if there was a lot of sculpting.
mostly now it's just fine tuning, bog works fine for this.
Once moulds are taken the plug/buck will be stored should there be a future need for it. The mesh/GRP is quite strong.

Looked at getting it cnc cut from foam, pricing I got it was expensive not cheap and may have be fine if I just wanted a shape.
I wanted individual panels that can be hinged, lifted off etc to allow development of hinges latches etc
By the time we had it cut out, glued together and then recut it the reference points would be suspect aside from cost.

Yes I am, the wing is yet another project in itself as is the deployment system.
I thought more Star Wars but what's wrong with Battlestar Galactica anyway?.

pic of current status of rear deck meshed
reversing lights not in yet and exhaust outlet only roughed out

[Big-Foot]

It's all good Des - As Jimmie Dean once said;
"If it melts your butter - it makes my day..."...

Matter of fact I am not only a BSG fan but a Star Wars fan as well - I'm just not a fan of that particular wing..
The rest of the GT90 is another story!

[Des]

Randy
I have had requests for it to have a "more conventional" fixed wing as an option.
This is being considered.
Des

[Russ]

Des, Have you considered a Lexus V8 as a possible engine?, by memory they are 6 bolt mains 4 bolt big ends. I came across this company at Slacks creek that builds custom looms for them Wiring Looms

I remember seeing a hot rod with a low mount supercharger and injection at the bne hot rod show a few years back, will dig through my old pics sometime but i remember it was a sweet looking setup. Although a supercharger or turbo upgrade might have to be something after rego here in Qld??

Keep those pics coming, bet its been cold working on it at night in the last couple of weeks??

Russell

[Des]

Russell
Yes I did consider it, still an option.
As I understand it though, I would have to use a 3UZ to comply with rego here .
These are really tough engines, I have some pdfs of one blown and producing 2000 hp yes 1500kw.
The guy states he has made no bottom end changes at all.
Maybe this is why V8 Supercars will only let Henry and the General compete.
It is one really nice piece of machinery.
Des

[Russ]

Des, Is the 3UZ what they use in the Landcruiser V8's here?. . .I've seen a web site Lexus-Toyota V8 Performance Forum (i think that's it) and then there is also Bullet Mx5's they do a sprintex supercharged version, nice and low mount on the supercharger too. One of the directors of Bullet (Steve Marriott) used to do work for us, he is one seriously mad car nut, he has a heap of old school stuff too (or used to) i remember a Mustang he had with a 429 cobra jet engine . . .it was a nice setup!! I think they wanted about $15K for a balanced blueprinted sprintex supercharged 1UZ a few years back last time i spoke to him??

[Trevor Booth]

Des,
The accuracy of CNC cut foam is within 1mm after the blocks are assembled. You CNC registers in the blocks. There is no recutting after assy. Sure you only get a shape, but a very accurate shape.

I do admire your effort in what you have done.