Whippet

[Galtbacken]

Shaped the plug for the front light today.
Looks like this now:

I'll cover it with plastic tape before I make the fiberglass shell, so the rough texture and little uneven spots will be smoothed out.

I think what I'll do some work on the next time I get a couple of minutes to spare :roll: are cardboard templates for the fenders. Then I can glass the front light shell and fenders at the same time, and also I need to have the fenders glassed before I can start shaping the foam on the frame...yup, that's my plan.

That's all for now,
take care everybody!

 

[deorman]

Go forward. Move ahead. It's not too late! to

Whippet, Whippet good!

:mrgreen:

 

[Half Link]

I’m diggin that shape for the light!! 8) I can’t wait to see were you take the fenders! You my friend are amazing!! Let me guess you play the drums and build bikes all at the same time!! :lol: :shock: 8)

 

[Galtbacken]

deorman: Now Whippet, into shape! :mrgreen:

Half Link: Thanks! I'm really pleased with that shape too, I think it'll turn out nice!
Yeah, I play the drums with both feet and my left hand while I sand plugs and weld stuff with my right hand...piece of cake. :lol:
Actually I've got a bit of an ongoing project with those e-drums (miss being able to practice on my acoustic set...), making mesh-head drums to replace the pads. Already have most of the kick drum done (I guess you can almost see it in the photos) and got most of the parts for making the snare and toms. The kick drum is made from a 16" floor tom that I cut in half and mounted a piezo pick-up, that I made from a piezo element and some stuff I got at the hardware store, inside of it. I'll make a front head and change the finish of it before I'll call it done. The snare and toms are giving me a harder time. If I'd only wanted a single zone pick-up I'd be done with those by now, but making them dual trigger drums gave me a headache due to Yamaha's wiring... :roll: Soldered a circuit that works fine except the rim trigger isn't sensitive enough. Oh, well I'll figure something out when I get the time. I wandered completely off topic there for a moment, sorry 'bout that! :lol:

I'll make the plugs for the fenders from thick cardboard. I've got an idea that I think will work and give them a nice shape. Can't use the fender plug that I've used for the other bikes, because I want these fenders to have a more rounded profile. I'll post photos of the plugs when they're done!

 

[Galtbacken]

Most of my time has gone into my studies lately, but I've managed to make the cardboard plug for the rear fender while I've been taking short breaks to allow my brain to fall back into place.

Here are photos of how I made the plug:

Wedge shaped pieces of cardboard on the inside, to prevent the sides from collapsing. The strip on the floor there was then taped to the cuved edges of the plug.

Cardboard strips to make the rounded shape.

Little pieces of cardboard in the gaps between the strips to keep them evenly separated, and everything covered with plastic tape to make the plug hold it's shape and also to prevent the resin from sticking to the plug when I get to making the actual fiberglass fender.

I've got a math exam coming up next week, but if I feel that I've got everything under control maybe I'll start making the rearfender and headlight on tuesday evening when I have access to the workshop at the university. We'll see!

 

[Gdcast]

Looking great Petter!!!
So glad to see the Whippet is advancing.
I wish you all the success for your maths exam!

 

[FOUND OBJECTS]

Gonna be sweet man! Is that a snare stand in the last picture?

 

[Galtbacken]

Thanks guys!

My hopes are that I'll be able to finish this bike sometime before summer, 'cause then I've got other bikes to build.

That's one of the legs on my drum stool in the last photo. I've managed to squeeze in my e-drums in my tiny apartment. :lol: Too little practice lately, but I hope that I'll be able to make time for that too when I learn to structure my studies more efficiently. :roll:

I wrote before that I'll post a picture of the bike that inspired me to start designing the Whippet. It's another Bowden, if I'm not misinformed.

Oh well, back to mathematics...

 

[Robeast]

Floral foam does not melt when the resin hits it, this is true for the green and the pinkish colored stuff as well. You can wrap regular foam in alum. foil and tape the seams and it usually works. ( this should only be done on something that's going to end up painted, because you'll never get all of the alum foil out of the inside.) I've used the floral foam, it's just messy to sculpt.

 

[Half Link]

Wow!! I’m liking the direction your going with this, and to slap up another Bowden picture!! Are these not some of the coolest bikes on the planet or what? And you my friend are just the one to add to the legacy! 8) You should be making molds on this build so that when you go to production we can all purchase a Whippet for ourselves. Please forgive me for not answering your question on how the bike was constructed. I had to step out and do the family thing for my little buddy’s birthday and all of the Halloween stuff but from what I can tell by looking up close at the Spacelander is that the entire bike is made of two half's and then joined together. I tried digging into how it was built but I came up with nothing. Sorry!!! Hopefully someone else here knows!!

Keep up the good work buddy!!! HL

 

[Bikeguy7497]

Cool Frame :!: I dont have skillz like you do to weld stuff like that? Is it tacdk welded together for now or what :?:

 

[Galtbacken]

Robeast: Thank you for the info! One of those things that might come in handy to know!

Half Link: No worries buddy! Hope you had a really nice time for your son's birthday and Halloween!
I did some googleing and found this picture:

It sure shines some light on the construction, doesn't it? I think it's cool to see how other things have been made, to spawn new ideas and get inspired!
And for the record, I don't think you'll need to buy a bike like the Whippet from me, 'cause from what you've shown us here on the forum you're perfectly capable of making one yourself. 8) I'll try to document this build in as much detail as I can, and if there's something I make that anyone can get ideas from that's all good! If there's something I'll try to do that doesn't turn out so well, you know what to do differently. :mrgreen:
Hopefully I'll have pictures of some fiberglassing after tuesday night. I had some hopes that I would have been able to start on the rear fender last tuesday, but I was totally absorbed by studies then and didn't really have enough time to spare.
When I've got the basic shape of the fender done I'll be able to start on the foam core for the bike.

Bikeguy: Thanks! Yep, the frame is welded together. My welder didn't feed the wire as it was supposed to when I made the frame (i think that the wheel that feeds the wire may need to be replaced), so the welds aren't very pretty on this one. If it wasn't going to be fiberglassed I probably would have fixed the welder and started over on the frame, but I think that with the fiberglass as a big part of the construction of the frame, it will hold up.

I'm almost certain that you could make a frame like this one if you want to. I'm not an experienced welder myself, I'm pretty new to everything that has to do with metal and I learn as I go along. So, if I can do it, you can do it too.

 

[Gdcast]

Hi Galt!!
Just having a crazy idea here...

What if, for maybe a future build or sharing, I make 1/1 scale printable plans from this?

PDF format, ready to print and shape foam from it? :wink:

 

[Galtbacken]

Hi Billy!
You're crazy in a good way. Right now I can't see when I'd have time to build one of those, but for everyone else who'd like to build one of those I'm sure that such plans would help immensely! I hope you're meaning to build one yourself too...you know you want to... :wink:

 

[Gdcast]

Yes I do!, but pretty much like you my buddy, I have way too much between hands.
Of course I´d like to build it some day; I´ll try to get those plans soon in case some fellow ratroder needs them.

 

[Galtbacken]

You're a generous person! Would be cool to see someone here build something like that! 8)

So, tuesdays between 6 and 9 in the evening, the workshop at the university is open for students who like to work on projects of their own, and I hope to be able to spend a lot of tuesday evenings there. Yesterday I started making the rearfender. Theres a nice paint booth at the workshop, and that's where I did the fiberglassing.

Today I brought the fender home and here it is, in it's initial rough state, taped to the bike:

I've drawn some lines on it to see how I want to cut it. After that's done I'll be able to add some foam and start shaping the actual body of the bike.

 

[Gdcast]

Looking great Galt!!!
I´m getting anxious here, I want to see more of the Wippet!!

Well, I have the 1/1 scaled plans in PDF. I took the size of a 26 wheel as reference.
It should work fine, all those interested in it please send me a PM with your e-mail; save the file in a pen-drive, take it to print in a plotter, and get well supplied with green foam, resin and fibber! :mrgreen:
I did that exact same thing with one of my projects and the printed result was perfectly accurate.

Thanks Galt for letting me hijack the thread, I hope you, the gang and me can at some point be riding a repro of this good looking bike.

 

[Hoeha]

That Fender is looking very nice. The line you drew fits perfectly with the frame

 

[Galtbacken]

Thanks guys!

Gdcast: Whoa, already done with the plans?! :shock: You're fast!! Would be a fun project to try and make a bike like one of those bowdens! For myself I feel like I'd need to get some more experience on moldmaking before I'd dive into something like that, to get the hang of making negative molds. I sometimes wish there were just a few more hours in a day. :lol:

Hoeha: Good to hear! It's nice to get second opinions, 'cause I changed that line a little from the original sketch to curve into the seatstay and I wasn't sure if it would be one curve to much for the look of the whole bike, but I think it will work.

Hope to be back with some more progress soon.

 

[Gdcast]

I totally agree with you, we need more hours in a day, or sleep less and have no neighbours who complaint about noises. :lol:

I was just thinking about the mold issue. I managed to build an effective one once, for a faux tank, but in this case the stakes are higher, I don´t think the paper mache ones would work well, as was the case with my tank.

I goggled this tutorial:
http://www.cstsales.com/tutorials/fiberglass_mold.pdf
and there are many more, so Cheer up boys and girls, we can do it!!!