With Christmas fast approaching I have been doing all the usual things to get ready for the big day. Wrapping presents, putting up the tree and not so much fun..... shoveling snow. So my progress on the velomobile project has slowed down a bit but I wanted to show you some of the progress that I have been making just the same.
This is a good shot of the front of the hood for the velomobile after it has been fiber glassed and puttied out with a micro-balloon and resin mixture. This putty mixture is used to fill the weave of the fiberglass cloth. Once this had cured for a couple of days I was able to start sanding on it. I am more than happy to get the hood glassed as the Styrofoam is very easy to dent or damage before fiber glassing.
Another view of the hood with the second coat of resin mixture freshly applied. Several coats of the resin mixture are needed to fill the little voids and pits in the surface that I found after sanding the first coat. But with each new coat less and less is needed to cover the surface of the hood. Another thing that is nice now is that the part is getting more and more of the pink covered up. Makes me feel like I am accomplishing something at least.
I will be happy to go to the next step of putting primer on the hood and then more sanding. This is where the imperfections really show up and I can start working on making it as smooth as glass. Like I said in an earlier post. I see lots and lots of sanding in my future but the work will be worth the effort when it comes time to prime and paint the velombile.
This photo of the velomobile is new though it looks very similar to previous photos that I have had on the blog over the past few months. The big difference is that the cowling or blister behind the cockpit has now been fiber glassed. YAY! I was happy to be able to get the garage warmed up enough to get just this portion of the velo body glassed and looking like something. You can see that this part of the body now is starting to be transformed into a white color similar to how the hood looks.
The body looks kind of strange without the hood in place but it is necessary for now while I am working on the hood to get it into shape for the next step in the build. Once I have the hood the way I like it I can start doing the body work on the velo to match up the body to the hood and continue working on the fiber glassing on the body.
I also took this shot a couple of days ago to show everyone how the front headlight assembly looks mounted to the underside of the hood. This is the correct orientation that the hood would be in once it is remounted to the velomobile body. Kind of looks like some kind of space gun but the light worked out very well no matter what it looks like and that is a good thing.
So that is where I am at today on the project. It is slow going at times. But like anything that is this big as far as projects are concerned is better to take it slow and steady than try and rush. Besides there is way to much snow outside my house now to even think about driving it so slow and steady is the plan of action at this point. Have a good one, keep tinkering, and stay warm!
No comments:
Post a Comment