TerraTrike Velomobile Rear Body Shaping Up

The grunt work of the project has started in earnest with the shaping of the rear of the velomobile.  This I have been expecting but the more time I spend in getting the prep work for the body just right will pay off big time in the end result of how it will all look. 

As you can see the rear of the velomobile is starting to shape up nicely.  (pardon the pun).  I had to use a rotary sander to get the body lines the way I wanted them and it took a bit longer than I had anticipated even with using this type of tool.  But with every step I am getting closer to my vision of how it should be. 

This shot of the rear is looking near perfect so not a lot has to be done here to call it good. 

I applied an additional coat of the resin micro-balloon mixture to feather out the seam where the tail light assembly meets the body.  Lots of sanding will be needed to smooth it all out before I can start fiber glassing the entire exterior. In these shots I have also installed the front hood once again.  The hood has been pretty well sanded into shape and now I will have to match the hood and front body together along with refining the spacing of the hood and body.  This will take a bit of time also but is all part of the project.

Today I also completed the installation of two small cargo pockets in the interior of the body.  These will come in hand for storing water bottles, keys, garage door openers, etc. when I am driving the velomobile.  It will also give me a place to mount the turn signal switches and hold the battery pack that will be needed when I wire those lights up. 

The work in putting the storage compartments together was not in the installation of them put just making the individual parts for each body  pocket.  I started with a piece of one inch styrofoam and then fiber glassed both side of a 5 1/2 inch by five foot piece.  Then I cut out the six pieces needed to match up to the inner ribs of the body.  These pieces then had inner foam removed so that the micro-balloon mixture could be inserted into them for the exterior white faces that you see in the photos.  It was simpler to do this step on the work bench then try and do it once the parts had been installed.  I hot glued the parts in place today and then puttied and glassed them to complete the job.  Looks pretty good and will come in handy in the velomobile. 

  So I've managed to get another couple of things crossed off of my to do list on the project.  Not big steps but good steps just the same.