TerraTrike Velomobile Nose Job

The last couple of days I have been collecting bits and pieces still needed for my velomobile project and working out various ideas that have come to me during this build.  One of the major things that I wanted to refine on my design was the shape of the nose on the velomobile.  

As you can see from this shot of the body the nose of the velomobile is rather blunt.  Not what I had in mind for the design and so I rolled up my sleeves once again here at the shop and started the surgery to give my creation a beautiful new nose.

In this photo you can see where the nose is and where I want it to be when I get done.  Quite a difference to be sure.

One inch foam was cut and shaped to fill the void that the first foam strip showed me was needed.  I wanted to make sure that the radius of the nose blended in nicely to the sides of the body.  I then added another piece of one inch foam to give me the shape for the top of the nose that would also blend into the body. 

 Five more layers of foam were cut and shaped to stack up on the first horizontal piece that was mounted earlier.  I was not to concerned about getting everything perfect at this point as I told my brother who had seen this photo... "It has to get ugly before it gets pretty."  This is the case for sure.

With the upper portion of the nose pieces hot glued into place the next step was to sand them down for a final layer of foam strips.

After about ten minutes of sanding the nose at this point was slowly starting to take shape.  Still not to the pretty stage yet but getting there. 

 After cutting and fitting all the little foam strips for a couple of hours to match the rest of the body I then declared that the operation was a success.  Now the velomobile has a nose on it that I call pretty. 

Here is another shot of the velomobile with the new nose or at least the top of the new nose completed.  The opening in the body at the front of the velomobile on both sides will be where the signal lights will be mounted.  As soon as I can get the needed hardware for the housings I will post photos of that portion of the build. 

Having completed the top portion of the nose I turned the body upside down once again and started work on the lower portion.

Here as before I added layers of one inch foam to get ready for the shaping and foam strips. This will be the same as the upper portion of the nose so there should be no surprises with getting it all smoothed out and looking the way I want it to be. The lower portion of the nose is smaller and so fewer layers of foam are needed to fill the voids to get a good shape.

 To finish off the installation of the foam strips to the bottom of the nose took two hours more time of cutting and fitting.  Just like a puzzle but the effort was worth the result.

With the completion of the work on the nose I now have a very streamlined shape that I have had in my head and can now be proud to show off.  
  Hours on the project have been adding up quickly now with the 3D printing of the signal light housings nearing completion today and the work that you see here.  Grand total now stands at 329 hours. Time to put my tools down again for the day and sweep up the dust.  Have a good day in your shop.  I know I've had a good one.