MDF, G Clamps, Hammers and Steam

[Ian Williams]

What blower are you using Mark, I recall reading that Austin made their own three bladed unit for this car, they are reputed to have machined the impellers with the Austin clutch spline tooling!

PS I have emailed you

[Mark Atkinson]

Hello All,

Cardboard, remains the critical resource during the current phase of my build as I produce the various patterns to help me with the aluminium work.

   

I have progressed what is probably the most complex aluminium fabrication on the car to an almost finished sate, the front suspension fairings now need forming using the buck you see in the picture. I have made this buck so that it comes apart and can be reassembled in a mirror image to enable making both of the handed versions. 

Forming and fabricating the front panel has proved somewhat more long winded than I first anticipated, but, most of all, when it finally came to making it look as shoddy as the original sometime looked, well that proved to be quite a hard mental battle! I knew that one of the fasteners at the cars front should sit a little higher than its fellows, so marked them all out correctly then had to centre punch the offending one higher up than the others, it is not an easy thing to deliberately make something badly! The front panel also has a slight bulge just below the intake flap, caused by the joint between it and the lower lip of the nose being badly aligned, so when marking up for punching the holes to join the two, I had to press the two panel down and deform them to ensure the joint would stress both panels slightly and cause the upper one to bow slightly under the intake:

   

When making the lower section of the nose, I once again resorted to MDF to help me form the flanges, which required my largest G Clamps to be deployed:


  IMG_2009.JPG (Size: 118.5 KB / Downloads: 190)


  IMG_2013.JPG (Size: 98.57 KB / Downloads: 189)

Making the intakes flap was one of the fastest jobs so far, taking a very short time to produce, thereby rewarding me with some instant gratification, unfortunately the hinge still needs making and will probably prove somewhat more frustrating to make so that it really works:


  IMG_1986.JPG (Size: 24.41 KB / Downloads: 189)


  IMG_1980.JPG (Size: 32.37 KB / Downloads: 187)

Duncan is running his first sheet metal course this weekend, which I am going along to, so will take my front suspension fairing buck along and see what we can do with it.

Regards, Mark.

   

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Great work - fascinating.

[Timothy P]

Your updates never fail to put a big grin on my face Mark, thank you once again for sharing.

[Ian Williams]

Fantastic Mark, a pleasure too see.......you might find yourself running the class!