Abner DONE!

[The Renaissance Man]

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I've starting getting the tank inserts prepared to make molds. Yesterday I did some last minute body work that I had overlooked previously and then gave them a coat of Slick Sand polyester primer surfacer.

It took far more time to mix the paint and clean the gun than it took to spray them. lol

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got this from my daughter today! Do you recognize the bike?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The line up jig was used today to glass the mounting brackets into place.

Since this is the first one, I'm letting the resin cure until tomorrow and then I'll take it apart and see how well it lines up with the left tank half. I will find out for certain if anything will need to be adjusted. After that the jig will make assembly easy going forward.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The brackets lined up just fine from the jig. I didn't have a chance to get any pictures but I will tomorrow.

Meanwhile things are moving along on the tank inserts. I got them prepped and delivered to the fiberglass shop last night.

Got this picture today. The gel coat is on them and hopefully they will get some glass tonight.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The tank inserts are officially buried in fiberglass!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Your detail is amazing.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Thanks @Jude Ephesus

As promised, here's a couple of pictures taken today of the new tank on my test frame.

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Thanks @Jude Ephesus

As promised, here's a couple of pictures taken today of the new tank on my test frame.
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Unbelievable fit: I’m pretty good with my hands, but uh…. Nowhere near the patience you have making these things. They’re absolutely stunning!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Thanks, I'm very happy with the fit! But I'm a little concerned about the inserts. The fiberglass guy said that it acted like it was trying to pull as he was adding layers of glass. If so, they may have warped out of shape and I won't really know until we can make the first set of parts. Fingers crossed.

Here's a closer look at the fit with the frame.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The 'inserts' mold came out good so far. I'm still concerned that it may have warped a little but I'm moving ahead to prepare it for making parts.

The matte finish looks good so I'm leaving it instead of polishing it to a gloss like the tank. I taped it off to protect it during the next step.

The rough edges that resulted from a small amount of bleed under have to be sanded smooth and polished for the parts to separate more easily from the mold. Can't really see any of this in the photos but this stage is finished. Next step will be to clean it up and start waxing it over and over.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I'm sure that everyone is tired of the endless posts on mold making but it's all that's going on right now. I'm formulating plans, buying parts and imagining where this build is going but for now it's all about getting the molds done.

So for anyone that's still interested here's what's been going on behind the scenes this week.

As reported, the tank halves came out good last week but there was a problem. If you remember, I made an earlier comment about how even the smallest scratches in the molds will be present in the parts that come out of it. Well I definitely had some unintended scratches!

Here's the first tank STRAIGHT FROM THE MOLD! Yes, those scratches appeared as soon as it came out!

I thought back and remembered doing some last minute sanding along the open edge of the mold with some heavy grit paper. I obviously let the paper drop in too far and make contact with the business end of the mold.
To make matters worse the scratches removed the endless waxing that lead up to this point causing the black gel coat to bond to the mold in the heaviest areas. This resulted in ripping a chunk out of the virgin mold!

Needless to say, this was not what I had expected to see! One bone headed mistake and the mold is badly damaged.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I started making repairs to the damage on Monday and started noticing more fractures and cracks. I lifted part of the cracked edge to see if I could squeeze some super glue under it and it popped off. This actually made it easier to get the glue where it needed to be. One repair down.

After letting that set overnight I took it back to the fiberglass shop and mixed a small amount of gel coat to fill the cavities.

The next day I carefully sanded the filling down while trying to not disturb the good areas around it. This is tedious work!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

After roughly sanding the fillings down to surface level I started with a small piece of 320 grit feathering it out into the surrounding area.

Then I started wet sanding with 400 grit and progressively worked up to 2000 grit. The paper was about the size of a postage stamp!

The darker green is the patched area.

Finally after polishing she's ready to start all over with the hourly waxing this weekend. For new surfaces I usually apply at least a dozen or more coats.

 

[ingola]

I'm sure that everyone is tired of the endless posts on mold making but it's all that's going on right now. I'm formulating plans, buying parts and imagining where this build is going but for now it's all about getting the molds done.

So for anyone that's still interested here's what's been going on behind the scenes this week.

As reported, the tank halves came out good last week but there was a problem. If you remember, I made an earlier comment about how even the smallest scratches in the molds will be present in the parts that come out of it. Well I definitely had some unintended scratches!

Here's the first tank STRAIGHT FROM THE MOLD! Yes, those scratches appeared as soon as it came out!
View attachment 238055


I thought back and remembered doing some last minute sanding along the open edge of the mold with some heavy grit paper. I obviously let the paper drop in too far and make contact with the business end of the mold.
To make matters worse the scratches removed the endless waxing that lead up to this point causing the black gel coat to bond to the mold in the heaviest areas. This resulted in ripping a chunk out of the virgin mold!

View attachment 238057
View attachment 238056

Needless to say, this was not what I had expected to see! One bone headed mistake and the mold is badly damaged.

I think this is great I love the process rhyes has enjoyed it to

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I actually worked on something other than the molds today!

The original tanks snap into the frame on the right side. This centers the tank on the bike and the left side bolts to it.

This is the design that I created for the 'snub nose' Shelby tanks a few years ago but today I took several hours to specifically make them for the 'no nose' tanks. Most of the time spent was determining the best locations for mounting them and after that it was a matter of fabricating and testing them.

They are temporarily held in place with Cleco fasteners just to test the fit. Later I'll remove them and return the tanks to the molds one last time to mark the hole locations.

This is the right side 'spring clips'.

The left side does not snap in place but does require tabs on the bottom to prop it up until the mounting screws are in place and help hold it in the proper location on the frame. The tabs are a much simpler part to make but they do have to be a correct length and location. So again the extra time invested today will streamline the assembly process in the future by providing the drill locations marked on molds.

Here's the left side 'line up tabs'.

And of course I found time every hour or two to wax the molds some more. lol

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Picked up another small piece of the puzzle this week. It may not look like it, but it's never been mounted.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Love the smell of new tires in the morning.

The tires came in a little over a week ago and I finally made some time today to mount them on a set of original paint prewar New Departures!

Ready to go!

 

[ParkRNDL]

Love the smell of new tires in the morning.

The tires came in a little over a week ago and I finally made some time today to mount them on a set of original paint prewar New Departures!
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Ready to go!
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What are those tires? They're amazing.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

What are those tires? They're amazing.

They are 26x2.35 Deli Tires. I found them on feePay.