Shoestring (DONE!)

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Stepping outside my comfort zone, and trying something I haven't done before: staining fabric with acrylic paint. Right now I'm experimenting with techniques. Not sure I've found the right way to do this, but I might have figured out how to get the right base color for the fabric.
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Okay, I say that was a successful experiment! I figured out how to stain/dye fabric with acrylic paint! I think I went a little overboard on adding splotches, especially on the tank insert parts. I'd like to redo the tank insert fabric pieces, but with less than 2 weeks before the September 6th deadline, I'll just go ahead and use them. I can easily redo the tank insert later. Right now, I just need to go ahead and get this bike done. I'm pretty happy with how the headlight fabric pieces turned out though!
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Very cool! I love it with the VW casing too.
 
Glued the fabric pieces to the wood insert, trimmed it up with my X-acto knife, and it turned out just the way I hoped!
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At this point, the only cosmetic stuff left to do is assemble the headlight and paint the front whitewall tire to match the rear. As for the functionality, I just need to finish rebuilding the Komet coaster brake hub, true the wheels (which I can save for later if necessary,) mount the tires, and throw on the chain! I just might be able to get this bike done in time the way I intended to!
 
Tackled the custom "headlight" today with Dad's help. I didn't get a ton of progress photos due to how little time Dad had available to help me out, but we did make a great deal of progress on it. It would have been done tonight too, if the JB Weld hadn't failed in one spot after some fiddling with adjustments.
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Here's how the headlight goes together, or at least, how it wenttogether. There's this threaded sleeve that's JB Welded to the center of the back of the VW emblem. The piece of plywood sits directly behind the emblem, wrapped around the threaded sleeve. A high-powered magnet and washer holds the plywood in place thanks to a coned bolt that threads into the sleeve. The magnet then attaches to a strip of steel thats JB Welded inside the fence post topper "headlight" body, securing the VW emblem to the front of the headlight.

As you can see, the JB Weld failed on the sleeve connected to the VW emblem. Dad thinks if we add more JB Weld inside the emblem surrounding the sleeve, it will solve the problem. I'm worried it won't be strong enough, and we'll have to drill a hole into the emblem for an unmodified sleeve to fit into place. We'll hopefully find out tomorrow.
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There is one more custom piece that Dad helped me with today. I still had this one old layback seat post I wanted to use, especially since the seat I'm using isn't easy to move back for a more comfortable ride. I didn't have a shim for it, but I did have a few spare seat posts I could cut and weld the layback post into. So I used a pipe cutter to trim the seat post shim, filed the inside edge, and then Dad took the two pieces to the local VoTech for one of the students to weld together. Unfortunately, what should have been a quick 15-minute tack-welding task turned into... well, something I might have done if I tried to weld it: overkill. Still, it's solid, it fits inside the seat tube, and it pushed the seat back and down a couple inches. Good enough for me!
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Dad and I will try and fix the headlight tomorrow so I can finish that up, and I might try working on the coaster brake too, but tomorrow will most likely be spent getting my stuff packed up to head back home on Saturday. I want to get the coaster brake hub reassembled soon, that way I can get the bike in a rideable state ASAP. This next week is showing a steady amount of rain, so I don't know how I'm going to get good photos for the voting period. The sooner I can have the bike ready for photos though, the better!
 
Killer rat coming together so well.
 
Build is looking beautiful but I don’t understand that piece of plywood behind the VW.

It should be a piece of clear plastic.
Thanks! I wanted to make it light up, but it would have cost too much for the budget I'm working with, and there's not enough time for me to make it a functional light anyway. Plus, with the parts I have, it wouldn't have been a very functional headlight anyway.

I'll cover the plywood with a piece of aged cloth similar to the tank insert. This was just a mockup.
 
Great work from front to back on this build so far bud, keep it going.
You can always revisit the light to replace the wood with some type of ‘lens’ and wire some LEDs inside, if you choose to.
It’s fairly straightforward (if I can do it, anyone can).
This was originally a middleweight bike, so getting those tires to fit is a win on its own!
There looks to be about 1/16” of clearance on the fork….perfect for a rat!

Build on!
 
Thanks! I wanted to make it light up, but it would have cost too much for the budget I'm working with, and there's not enough time for me to make it a functional light anyway. Plus, with the parts I have, it wouldn't have been a very functional headlight anyway.

I'll cover the plywood with a piece of aged cloth similar to the tank insert. This was just a mockup.
A tight budget is a blessing in disguise, it turns up the creativity several notches and that shows big time with your build in a very good way.
 
Great work from front to back on this build so far bud, keep it going.
You can always revisit the light to replace the wood with some type of ‘lens’ and wire some LEDs inside, if you choose to.
It’s fairly straightforward (if I can do it, anyone can).
This was originally a middleweight bike, so getting those tires to fit is a win on its own!
There looks to be about 1/16” of clearance on the fork….perfect for a rat!

Build on!
Thanks Dr. Tankenstein! Yeah, I can worry about making it a functional headlight later. I'll keep you in mind if I need any help with that down the road!

Yeah, the tires that are on there currently are 26"x2.35", and they just barely clear the frame and fork! These aren't the tires I'm using though. I'll have a 26"x2.125" whitewall in back, and a 26"x1.75" whitewall up front. Maybe down the road I'll install some cream-colored tires, but for now, I'm keeping it "period-correct."

Thanks, will do!
 
A tight budget is a blessing in disguise, it turns up the creativity several notches and that shows big time with your build in a very good way.
Agreed 100%! This bike has been so much fun to work on, especially since it pushed me to experiment with mediums I hadn't messed with before, like fabric and paint! I love being creative and pushing my skills into new territory, and this bike has been a great way to do that! Thanks Couch Tater!
 
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