CANAMSA - SA stratch build

[Fred W B]

Thanks Joe

Have how got a layer of filler worked off over almost the entire pattern. Not much to see though, just how many pictures of sanded filler can you all stand?

Cheers

Fred W B

[Fred W B]

A couple more photos. Have now worked off the second go round with filler on the rear clip top surface and the whole left hand side.




Although it doesn't look like it here, due to the camera angle, I made a template so I could match the top curve of the LH and RH side rear arches.




Cheers

Fred W B

[Fred W B]

Random Thoughts while shaping

I haven’t posted much progress detail lately. The work I’m doing now doesn’t show well in photos, but the shape and surface is getting better and better. I prefer to post details of what I’ve done, not talk too much about what I’m still going to do. I saw on another car building forum a guy posted nice renderings of a car body he was going to build. He gave himself a month to build the plug. After two weeks he had a lump of hacked about foam, and he gave up. Sorry mate – It doesn’t work like that.

All this sanding means you have a lot of time to think while toiling away in the garage. Making a body pattern single handed is a silly amount of work. To do this I think you do have to be determined, some would say bloody minded. It reminds me of when I was cycling competitively, and later racing karts. Sometimes while doing the activity (cycling – while feeling bad and just just hanging on the back of a bunch, karting – being nerfed off the track, or having other issues during a race day) I would think to myself – “this is madness, I’m not enjoying myself, I’m going to give up”. But then at the end of the day you see you have finished a bit higher up than last time, and you feel better, and so you give it yet another go. Having like minded mates to chat/drink beer with after also helps a lot.

I have seen a couple of references that state doing a body pattern the old fashioned way takes maybe 1000 Hours. I reckon I am averaging at most about 10 hours a week on the project, so that would be two years. Currently just starting the 20th month of work on the pattern and I hope to finish this year still, so that 1000 hours seems about right in my case. I read in “Hot Rod” magazine’s paint and body issue that rod or muscle car high end professional paint jobs may have 200 to 300 hours of block sanding alone in them – and that’s on an existing car!

I try to concentrate on just the area I am working on, without thinking about the all the work yet to do. When I get despondent I look back through this thread and see how far I’ve come, and that improves my resolve to keep going, as does the positive responses from you guys here.

Experienced builders might smile at the notes below, but I put this down for others who may be considering a similar project. Maybe they are just notes to myself.

There is no “easy way”

Don’t agonize over how to approach or do something. Just start, and move on from there. You may find that eventually the first thing you did has been changed/replaced, but at least you started.

Get each stage as good as you can before you move onto the next. It’s easy to shape wood/foam, less easy to shape GRP, a pain to correct stuff at the body filler stage. Getting it absolutely correct at the drawing stage would be first prize.

Don’t expect to get every section 100 percent the first time. Get it good, do another section, work round the car, when you get back to it you can get it better.

Even when you don’t feel like it, or just have a little bit of time, get in the garage. Things don’t get built if you aren’t in the garage. Even if you just tidy up a bit, you will do something.

Do everything to the standard you want. If it bothers you every time you look at something, rework it.

If you get tired, or find yourself rushing to finish something at the end of a day, stop. Do it next time. You will make mistakes and have to redo it if you don’t.

When you think you are just about finished, you aren’t - The last 10 percent takes 90 percent of the time.

Anything can be fixed / reworked.




Cheers

Fred W B

[Jac Mac]

Very well put Fred, should be made a 'Sticky' at the top of either your build thread or perhaps all of them. Until you undertake projects on this sort of scale its hard to appreciate the hours they soak up.

[David S.]

Fred,
Good to see you are hard at it. At least I had a body to start with. It was rough and much time and money was spent prepping and restoring it to make the molds. You will next have to lay up molds. I would take your time and plan them too so that your parts do not hang up when you go to pull them. That means putting joints or seams on your nice smooth plug and laying up sections at a time. Then when your molds are done more prep work. All this work now means little less work when you apply a finish for final product. Baby steps. Fred
Dave

[Bill Hara]

Fred
Great thread you have here and also a great last post!
It is cathartic writing down these things, willing yourself on through the tedious stuff and I admire you for doing that. It also reminds us that we are on this forum to not only show our project and ask questions when we get stuck but to also show appreciation of peoples efforts when they are going through the hard slog of creating their dream. There is ample signs of our appreciation of your efforts evident in your thread - deservedly so as it is a masterclass performance so far... and you are very courageous to display your efforts for all the world to see, you should be proud of your efforts - 10 out of 10 so far.
Your advice rings very true with me personally, as I did rush some things and had to go back and fix my stuff ups later on in a much more costly fashion. The journey is what it is all about, the finished product is just a bonus!

Keep up the GREAT work.

All the best

Bill H

[Fred W B]

Thanks for the kind responses Guys

Cheers

Fred W B

[Big-Foot]

Originally Posted by Fred W B

Random Thoughts while shaping
There is no “easy way”

Don’t agonize over how to approach or do something. Just start, and move on from there. You may find that eventually the first thing you did has been changed/replaced, but at least you started.

Two very important and "KEY" points to any build worth having...
You've got to crack some eggs to make an omlet...

Actually the whole message should be printed and pasted to the wall of every builder's shop...

Good job Fred!!!! Keep it up!!!!

[Paul Osborn]

Actually the whole message should be printed and pasted to the wall of every builder's shop...

Just did it this morning.

[Joe T]

Originally Posted by Fred W B;234150[FONT=Arial

Don’t expect to get every section 100 percent the first time. Get it good, do another section, work round the car, when you get back to it you can get it better.[/font]

Thats the one for me, when you are working on something completely from scratch with no patterns its so hard to walk away and do something else as you keep looking and seeing improvements, but you really have to walk away and get on with another section sometimes.
I took not far short of six months just doing a windscreen surround for my car, 12 versions... and I still dont think its 100%. Glass next!

Joe T

[molleur]

A few years ago, we did a scratch build in foam & fiberglass. Project took three years. PLEASE print Fred W B's comments and hang them on the wall (large print please). Whenever the frustration bird begins pecking, read it again!
WELL DONE!

[beaulieu]

I am going to say something that you will not like......

the original car was not perfect since it was handbuilt and needed to be done quickly for the next season,

you can drive yourself crazy trying to be "perfect" and never have a body ,
or you can say that this is "good enough" which is GREAT to the rest of us,

you are looking at it with a magnify glass , everyone else will look at it 5-50 ft away ,

Also you are going to lose detail once you make the molds and your final body that you plan on using.....

All said your build is great , but you need to primer it and get some other people over and let them check it out,

Do you have a chassis in mind yet ?

Beaulieu

[Fred W B]

Hi beaulieu

Thanks for your interest and commment. I do have to keep that in mind, as you say I am maybe getting to caught up in the detail, but I do want the proportions to look "right" from a few paces away.

WRt the chassis, if you look at the start of the thread their is some detail there

Cheers

Fred W B

[Des]

Hi Fred
I empathise with you fully, keep it up.
Your "How To" notes are great inspiration.
Des