Okrasa Special

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:08 pm

So, after much arm twisting Barry has agreed to build the bodywork for the Special! To say I'm thrilled would be an understatement. The plan is to conclude on the renditions/drawings and agree a design, then Barry will build a wire buck on the chassis of the car to create and confirm the shape and solve the inevitable issues that will result in trying to translate a photoshop image and a mock up in GRP and polystyrene with reality. This will also be used to verify the aluminium panelling as it's presented up to the body. Stage 3 is to then build the actual bodywork in a reasonably heavy gauge aluminium. Hooray!

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:36 pm

Excellent. The right man for the job:) You best get the rollers on the English wheel polished up ready!

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:26 pm

Good luck to Steve and Barry. This is a fantastic project

.

I'm really looking forward to reading about the progress.

Derek

defianty · Post by **defianty** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:40 pm

That's great news Steve. I hope we see plenty of photos of the progress. Best of luck Barry, what a great project to get your teeth in to.

hot66 · Post by **hot66** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:43 pm

wonderful

I think Barry's going to enjoy this one

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:42 pm

hot66 wrote: I think Barry's going to enjoy this one

Just a bit.

I'm very much looking forward to it, and was very taken with the car right from when Steve first mentioned it (before he bought it). I saw it a little while ago, and it's even better in the flesh.

For quite a while now I've wanted to build a complete body, and had been looking for a project to justify the excercise. I also quite miss my saturdays at Rod Yates coachbuilding shop (although I'd be very welcome back there I'm sure, and Rod will be on hand if the need should arise), as they made a change from the week-time work. I've done some work for Steve in the past, and we are local to each other, as is the car.

So, all in all, perhaps it was all meant to be

. There's obviously plenty of research and initial design work to go through before we start to mock very much up, but we are both agreed that much of the enjoyment of this project should come from this journey, rather than a frantic rush to see it on the road.

One thing as a result of this: I'll now be on the lookout for a very good quality English Wheel. My existing one will be fine for the tighter, less critical areas, but for the larger more subtly curved areas, an upgrade will be required

. No hurry at all, but it's something that I've been promising myself for a couple of years now, and this is the excuse I've been waiting for

.

Anyway, thanks to Steve for the opportunity, and thanks for the words of encouragement everyone

.

Ferry Man · Post by **Ferry Man** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:27 pm

steve wright wrote:So, after much arm twisting Barry has agreed to build the bodywork for the Special!

That must have been a lot of arm twisting.

An excellent result though. Barry can create something wonderful there. I thought some of the Photoshop renderings were very promising. Really exciting.
Well done Steve, Mr Carter can do it if anyone can.

Just remember three things Barry:
Bill every hour.
Bill every hour.
And bill every hour.

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:35 pm

Barry wrote:I'll now be on the lookout for a very good quality English Wheel.

There are a couple in the back of Mulliner I noticed the other day and casually mentioned if we employed anyone that still knows how to use them...

They do get used, thankfully for it is a dying art, so my underhand pitch to get them in my garage counted for nothing!

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:59 pm

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:48 pm

Oh yes, this will be good.

I've got some beer in and a few bags of nuts, ready to watch some action. Wouldn't this be good on Discovery as a regular slot?

Could also make a great CD in the end for Xmas.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:17 pm

911hillclimber wrote: Could also make a great CD in the end for Xmas 2015.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:20 pm

Ferry Man wrote:
steve wright wrote:So, after much arm twisting Barry has agreed to build the bodywork for the Special!
That must have been a lot of arm twisting.

Yes, I now look like Mr Tickle ....

Thanks for the business lesson

. That's something I've never been very good at

. I'll try to do better, I promise

.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:32 pm

Gary, I was chatting to Rod earlier today, and he's been looking out for one of the huge Edwards wheels for some years now (about 3/4 ton + I gather). If I could find him one of those, it would make one of his current pair available.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of the one that would then become available, but I love it: quite a bit of feel, nice and forgiving, whilst still giving an excellent quality shape and finish. Just like any tool, the better the quality, the easier it makes the job.

Out of interest, I understand that the modern ones you see in Frosts (£5K + ) are very hard indeed, and rather un-friendly to use. A nice wheel has to have just the right amount of 'give' to it. Despite it being a huge chunk of cast iron, they actually flex a lot, in fact they can't work without it.

My little home-made job has done me well upto now, but it's never really had to do big, soft panels, and I suspect that it simply wouldn't be accurate enough for Steve's job, although it's been perfect for my needs upto now.

dragonfly · Post by **dragonfly** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:40 am

I'm looking forward to following this!
I still remember 'helping' a craftsman make an ally bonnet for a vintage car on a big old wheel back in my school days. (My 'helping' consisted of just supporting the other end).
I was fascinated to see a flat sheet develop into a beautiful compound curve

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:10 am

Well done Barry, I knew leaving you that little project the other day would bring you round to working with aluminum!

This can only add to your already impressive skills.