Okrasa Special

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:13 pm

I found this quite interesting (English wheel info)

http://www.metalshapers.org/tips/covell/ewheels.shtml

The point about the horizontal stiffness being important made sense.

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:18 pm

These kind of projects are the cherries on the DDK Cake.
One-offs are great and take so much to conceive and execute esp on the owner's part.
There is a lot to good tin-bashing and chats on shape, function and construction are facinating for those who have done a bit and those who want to learn about the craft.

It's not cold in the garage at all, just work harder!

Charge those batteries, we need pics!

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:37 am

So we're finally there! Unfortunately I didn't have the camera to hand as Barry finished the mock up, but we've finished the first phase which is to mock up the body in the wire form. I'll leave Barry to post the pictures and talk through the detail, but suffice to say I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out. I don't know how many front ends I looked at over the past two weeks, trying to figure out what was wrong, but we finally cracked it yesterday by flattening the bonnet out and dropping the height of it by an inch and a half. The front edge of the wing has also been pulled in, and the leading edge of the bonnet has been rounded a little. This accentuated the wing height and width which was what we were looking for, and dealt with the clamshell effect that we had. Hopefully Barry will post pictures shortly!

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:41 am

COME ON BARRY - GET OUT OF BED!

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:42 pm

Yaaawwwn (stretches).

[/i]

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:54 pm

I think it's safe to say that we are pretty chuffed right now

.

All credit to Steve who came up with the solution, and it's one that I simply a) hadn't seen, and then b) (much worse) didn't believe when he suggested it.

As soon as Steve pointed out a selection of pictures though, it all made sense.

We've taken 1 1/2 inches (maybe a fraction more) from the fore-aft curve of the bonnet. The wing top has been made a bit more symetrical as well, but no wider really. The fact that the 'bonnet' is that much lower though gives the impression that the wing is wider, and indeed taller, without the side view (which we were very happy with) being changed.

One thing that we are agreed on now, and that's that the car looks 'happy' without any trinkets at all: we're not relying on panel gaps, badges, lights, handles, grill openings etc to get us out of trouble. Hopefully these things will just enhance it.

Once again though, it's amazing how fairly small changes have made all the difference. For my part, whereas before I would look at it and just have that horrible feeling that we weren't quite there, now I'm just happy to look at it.

Well done Steve: good call

.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:05 am

Oh yes, masking tape down sides of bonnet represent where return / reverse of wing / 'bonnet' junction is. i.e. where tape stops, flat (ish) part of 'bonnet' starts.

Also, Bruce and Gary were dead-right about the lens, when I went to take the pics this time, I noticed that the car looked much wider at the front on the monitor than real life. Hence the longer distance pics. Was quite good actually, as the car looked a bit better than I remembered after my break upon returning to the workshop.

Next step is to roughly mirror the first side, get the adjustable suspension on (cue Ian), and get the thing outside (we'll probably re-surface it in something plain, ready for any Photoshop moments

). Hopefully this will be our chance to have a really good look from all angles, and get some decent pictures for the car's file, and we'll try and do any Photoshop type pics with a 50mm (or should that be 31mm with Nikon crop factor? (D200)).

I think overall though, and assuming Steve agrees, this is most likely 'the shape', subject to detail nips and tucks.

cubist · Post by **cubist** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:46 am

Barry wrote:

Perfect! Proportionally and aesthetically...

louis356 · Post by **louis356** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:03 pm

Yes looking good.

and I saw this for a nose job- by speedwell

Just needs hooded lights

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:21 pm

fantastic work guys, the masking tape really does help with a feel for the shape.

BTW Barry,

Barry wrote:do any Photoshop type pics with a 50mm (or should that be 31mm with Nikon crop factor? (D200)).

don't worry about that, you just stick to your hammer, dollies and english wheel.........

dragonfly · Post by **dragonfly** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:47 pm

It looks great with the new lines and flatter bonnet.
I really like the wing profile in this shot, and the way the curvature tightens over the wheel

Will Grant · Post by **Will Grant** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 6:28 pm

Front looks spot on! Will there be a swage line through the door panel?

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:49 pm

No, Will, a) it might make it look a bit too 'production', and more to the point b) they are notorious for going wrong and ruining a perfectly good panel

.

As it happens, on the recent course I was shown a fairly foolproof method involving the English wheel and some tooling. Bit of a faff for a one-off though, and as it happens, the doors are quite small, so don't need a feature line to break them up, and have enough curve / crown / shape not to need any extra stiffness.

Thanks for the comments everyone

.

Ian Donkin · Post by **Ian Donkin** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:51 pm

The background here with the oversize plaques and number plate, plus it looks like you are standing on steps or similar, make the car look llike a toy model! Quite disconcerting to my brain trying to resolve this image, but I absolutely love the car - it looks fabulous.

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 10:16 pm

That is looking very nice

In the "paper" it seems to all work beautifully.

The only issue I have at present is trying to visualise how the light will fall on the panels. Whenever I read interviews with car designers they always talk about the highlights and shadows rather than the physical shape of the metal. For example look at the red special pictured above and how the light catches the wing tops. With the matt newsprint it is hard imagine how the surface will look with a gloss finish (for me anyway). Hopefully with blank newsprint and a strong low winter sun it will be easier to see how the shape will look in gloss (perhaps playing with the contrast or other settings in Photoshop will help with the later outdoor shots).

However..... You should be pretty damn proud of yourselves so far.