'53 Bel Airflow Shelby: The 7th Annual OddJob Awards! Pg 22!

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Got an early start today, my shift at the bike shop begins at 10:30 am, so I made good use of my first 3 hrs of awake time.

Ready to leave the basic design stage for the chain guard and move forward into the 'production' stage, I got my C.A.D. - board guard transferred over to 1/4 " pine plywood right off the bat. Then I used my sabre saw to cut out the form. Keeping with the vintage and Dad themes, I used a 7' straight edge that my dad purchased in 1955 to use in constructing our first home. It has brass edges around the hardwood board, and is still straight after all these years. Helps keep the saw going in a relatively straight line.

View attachment 158767
View attachment 158768


The straight edge is a Warner brand, probably purchased at Warner's Hardware in my home town, and has still faintly visible in what appears to be grease pencil, "$14.95" on the back side. I'd say we got our money's worth.

View attachment 158769

Here's a couple of still shots of my early morning progress....

View attachment 158770

View attachment 158771


I guess I was out there a little too early for somebody's liking. After I walked around the gazebo to get to the shed to retrieve the cardboard shape before 7 am, I was coming out of the BACK40 when I heard a 'thump' , like when you bump your knee on the table leg , or your 2 yr old bumps their head on the table top as they stand up. I quickly glanced over in the direction of the noise, and saw our neighborhood fox bounding away from the gazebo , through the woods and around the other side of the pond. Seems he / she has been using that for overnights, as my wife reported she had also seen the fox in the early morning hours.

View attachment 158772

The rest of my day's progress, after work in the bike shop, is reported in the following video. Sit back, crack a cold one, and relax....

'53 Bel Airflow Shelby Video Update

Gonna be a good one I think.
 
Got an early start today, my shift at the bike shop begins at 10:30 am, so I made good use of my first 3 hrs of awake time.

Ready to leave the basic design stage for the chain guard and move forward into the 'production' stage, I got my C.A.D. - board guard transferred over to 1/4 " pine plywood right off the bat. Then I used my sabre saw to cut out the form. Keeping with the vintage and Dad themes, I used a 7' straight edge that my dad purchased in 1955 to use in constructing our first home. It has brass edges around the hardwood board, and is still straight after all these years. Helps keep the saw going in a relatively straight line.

View attachment 158767
View attachment 158768


The straight edge is a Warner brand, probably purchased at Warner's Hardware in my home town, and has still faintly visible in what appears to be grease pencil, "$14.95" on the back side. I'd say we got our money's worth.

View attachment 158769

Here's a couple of still shots of my early morning progress....

View attachment 158770

View attachment 158771


I guess I was out there a little too early for somebody's liking. After I walked around the gazebo to get to the shed to retrieve the cardboard shape before 7 am, I was coming out of the BACK40 when I heard a 'thump' , like when you bump your knee on the table leg , or your 2 yr old bumps their head on the table top as they stand up. I quickly glanced over in the direction of the noise, and saw our neighborhood fox bounding away from the gazebo , through the woods and around the other side of the pond. Seems he / she has been using that for overnights, as my wife reported she had also seen the fox in the early morning hours.

View attachment 158772

The rest of my day's progress, after work in the bike shop, is reported in the following video. Sit back, crack a cold one, and relax....

'53 Bel Airflow Shelby Video Update

Looking awesome Lee and thanks for the videos, they’re great. That chainguard is gonna be great, try to preserve the buck.
 
We landed a glorious weather day on a Tuesday again, my best day to get large amounts of work done.
it's in the high 70's and about 70% humidity, but the 10 - 20 mph winds really keep body cool. And I was in the shade most of the day, the BACK40 shade trees doing their thing.

As I mentioned in the video (watch it before if you haven't seen it) my back deck that I built from our old cedar fence that used to hide our garden shed / junk pile from the house. It was two 6 ' x 8' sections, and I used whatever I had lying around, old 4 x 4's , left over cement blocks, and some assorted shim lumber as well as a half dozen new 8' 2 x 4s for the foundation. Then I just laid the fence down on it's back, with the 2 x 4 frame members falling in between my new 8 footers to provide a sturdy framework.

It lasted nearly 7 years, and had been a fence for 10 years before that. It was moldy and green and slimy, and getting really soft. I had been canvassing Craigslist and the Marketplace for a week looking for what I wanted, and for free. No luck. Then, a couple nights ago coming back from our walk, I spotted my neighbor and his son up under their evergreen property line messing around with the fence. Turns out, their new neighbor behind them is putting up a 'real' fence to keep their two toddlers in check; and they are planning to take down the cedar fence that is exactly like what I was looking for!

Luckily for me, their two college-aged sons just got done with school for the year, and they helped me take down the fence panels and we carried them, intact, across the street and behind the BACK40. I began the disassembly and decided this time, because the boards aren't as thick, that I will double layer them, and try to add some kind of preservative to the already aged cedar fence boards. Photo time line for the day:

191230183_504930617587839_7895096201914429196_n.jpg

188047722_2091268351014785_5903563787981690624_n.jpg

189359671_2924122164543415_7053545634670392681_n.jpg

188245123_497842988226049_2911463581485805143_n.jpg

188341319_311272937105868_1308309543633861042_n.jpg
 
Uncle Buck is looking svelte and streamlined.
Can't wait for the glassing to start.
 
I worked in the garage today, it never got out of the 40's and we got an inch of cold, hard, rain in the last 14 hrs. I started on the 'glassing of the guard' .

I had waxed the buck with 3 coats of car wax. Then I wrapped it in Saran plastic to make sure it wouldn't adhere to the buck. Next I used spray adhesive to stick the fleece to the backside of the buck and the
plastic wrap. I was able to get pretty good tension on the fleece, but added some blue tape to hold it for sure.

After mixing the resin and included hardner, I poured and brushed it into the fleece. Had just eniugh mixed to get the whole front side and the edges covered.

Then I waited, and waited some more. Even with the heater on in my insulated garage, with no sun, or UV rays to promote drying, it is still not cured after 6 hrs. The brush I used is starting to harden up, so I believe my mix was correct.

We head out for the long weekend, and then work ar the shop Monday before our Kick-off to Summer patio gig with the band.

Gee, I sure hope Summer shows up...
20210527_114407.jpg
20210527_115846.jpg
20210527_115833.jpg
20210527_115829.jpg
20210527_121829.jpg
20210527_125214.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20210527_121834.jpg
    20210527_121834.jpg
    303.7 KB
I worked in the garage today, it never got out of the 40's and we got an inch of cold, hard, rain in the last 14 hrs. I started on the 'glassing of the guard' .

I had waxed the buck with 3 coats of car wax. Then I wrapped it in Saran plastic to make sure it wouldn't adhere to the buck. Next I used spray adhesive to stick the fleece to the backside of the buck and the
plastic wrap. I was able to get pretty good tension on the fleece, but added some blue tape to hold it for sure.

After mixing the resin and included hardner, I poured and brushed it into the fleece. Had just eniugh mixed to get the whole front side and the edges covered.

Then I waited, and waited some more. Even with the heater on in my insulated garage, with no sun, or UV rays to promote drying, it is still not cured after 6 hrs. The brush I used is starting to harden up, so I believe my mix was correct.

We head out for the long weekend, and then work ar the shop Monday before our Kick-off to Summer patio gig with the band.

Gee, I sure hope Summer shows up...View attachment 159156View attachment 159161View attachment 159159View attachment 159157View attachment 159155View attachment 159154
Should be fine by the time you get back, it usually takes a few days for full cure on fiberglass. I don't know about fleece.
 
Okay, I understand now. You are using fleece as a substitute for fiberglass cloth. That is super cool. I grew up with Dadfish building a 32 foot commercial deep sea fishing boat from a kit in our side yard, so I am very familiar with the smell of your garage right now.
 
When done correctly: would be dry enuf to sand.
Mix 3 drops harder per Oz.
Of resin.
Yep, I mixed it right, according to the can. I had 4 oz of resin in my cut off Coke bottle, and 14 drops of hardener. Temperature is holding it back.
 
Well of course I'm talking about using fiberglass ,mat and not using dress material. :grin:
And we always just put it over raw wood.

Have good weekend.
We are to do big gig.
Rat-on
 
Last edited:
Back
Top