DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Barry wrote:Just one reason why Darren's has been here a while ...

…but not for much longer!

getting there!



Al

Full reveal soon then?
hope the tin bashing can start soon.

Beer in the fridge, pop corn poppin' so ready for the show to begin.

Oh we've made some progress alright.... A full on design effort: much teeth gnashing, a couple of arguments, lots of iteration, many, many emails and phone calls, and a lot of hard work on Al's part. But I think we're finally getting to a stage where we can reveal a final design. Al is bringing the model with him next month down from Scotland for the three of us to finalise details, and then it will indeed be a case of handing it to Barry to start metal bashing.

I'm sure both of them will jump on me for the last statement as there is a lot I know to get it from the model to putting ally sheets through the English wheel, but it does feel like we are about to turn a corner.

I wish photos did the thing justice but they don't unfortunately, things look so flat and bland in the pictures when in reality there are some real curves and lines. oh well.

I should really at this point publicly thank Al. He has endured me moonlighting as a wannabe automotive designer, trying to blend my ideas and wishes with the reality of the early Sixties, constrained by a chassis, roof and front end design. He has been patient, pragmatic, thoroughly professional and above all else, highly competent and a decent bloke. Hats off to him for even putting his hand up to volunteer for a public design effort: that takes real balls. A top man if ever there was one

Thanks,
Steve

ha ha, i'm blushing! and I should appologise to Steve for on occassion telling him off for wanting his ideas incorporated into the design....... the very idea! We got most of them in Ok, though a couple hit the 'cutting room floor', but it's all the better for it, I think.

Poor old Barry ended up as the referee at times, but it was all good natured and productive.

Steve's just got to let me have a crack at this world of international finance now. How hard can it be?????



(oh, and if you want to share any of the emails Steve, to illustrate the thought processes and discussions, that's fine with me)

Al

okay. despite Parcel Force's best attempt at destroying Al's handiwork it was glued back together in a jiffy for Barry and I to inspect at the weekend...



Talk about thrilled. all we did was move the shut line on the door to elongate it, and Barry will experiment with a touch more rise in the very top of the wheel arch over the rear wheel to see if it will take it without it reverting to looking broken backed, but this is effectively what we're building. I'm sure Barry will detail his preparations for the model before re-measuring the model and transferring those to a wooden buck, before he starts rolling ally. including fixing the slightly twisted door that doesn't sit neatly against the front wing, again due to Parcel Force.... It's quite frustrating I have to say that photos don't really do the model justice: there's a lot of curvature and subtly to the design that is lost with fluorescent strip light and a iPhone camera!

Anyway, thanks again to Al for helping us finally get a design that works!

Looking good, very good

Superb!

Just a thought looking at how far back the door can extend - let's tie in the line of the door and the angle of the glass where it rises to align with the top of the rear screen, so it forms a nice strong allignment

looking at the model, I think if you push in the bottom of the door it should also close up the gap on the bottom of the centre-line. It looks a wee bit flat over the 'bootlid' area. a bit of double sided tape against the mirror might help, or laying both parts on a flat surface when bonding them together

I'm still in shock at the damage - Animals!

Al

Looks great doesn't it?
Superb.
Will the car have side glass?
If not:
Personally I would drop the rear side window 'in-fill' and let it show the roof curve off.

Woodwork next?

Conversely I think the side glass infill is the most successful visual trick to date to try and incorporate the slightly awkward roofline!

I would think that a small section of fixed glass will be required behind the main side window even if the windows don't retract.

The plan is to have fixed plexiglas door windows, with a small slider. The rear quarter windows are still up for development as we will only know if the fill in will work once Barry has done the bulk of the outer skin. Either way we need to get air into the engine, so if we will either reverse the usual pop out arrangement so the quarter window pops inward, or pull Al's fill in section out slightly to create a scoop.

Gary71 wrote:Conversely I think the side glass infill is the most successful visual trick to date to try and incorporate the slightly awkward roofline!

Agreed

The infill is a master stroke but I think it would look best if it was blended into the C pillar. Plenty if length in the boot for grills at the base of the window. Notchback style but longer with chrome trim.

I should perhaps explain that the change to the side glazing was the first thing I did to the model and my theory was that the balance between the lower body and roof was all wrong - the roof was just too spindly, so there was nothing to demonstrate the car's width at the 'hips' - by creating a bit of bulk higher up, it emphasised the increase of width below (To put it crudely, it's hard to gague hips without a waste above them). This was my plan to address the 'no hips / arse' issue Steve and Barry have struggled with to date.

It makes a big difference, and by tying the tail edge of the quarter glass with the top line of the rear window it looks 'intended' (in the same way the crisp line at the inner edge of the haunch aligns with the sides of the rear window - wee tricks like this make it more cohesive)

The infill panel would of course be blended into the C pillar, with the gutter stopping further forward

After the 'no arse', I moved onto the 'broken backed' issue.

It sounds quite 'methodical when you describe it like this, but by deciding what issue you need to tackle, and addressing it one bit at a time is much easier than just shaping and hoping for a good result.

As Steve & Barry's efforts to date have shown, it's not too hard to get something that looks good in profile, or from certain angles, but working out why things don't work can be tricky (and frustrating!)

Anyway, there is still scope for changes as we narrow down on the details like vents, handles etc

Al

Oh, and to put in context just how small the car is, here is a wee mock up I did. The figure is a scale representative of an 'average' 5'10"driver. A 1/5 scale Steve would be a fair bit bigger!