DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Amazing even in wire!

Excellent progress !

Shaping up!

Love it.

Are those the rear width wheels you are keeping or going wider at the rear (like a 356 outlaw look?)

The grace of the door curves are spot-on IMHO.
Can't wait to see the formation of the front end detail.

What a great job - very clever using the wire

I wonder if theres a 'Zagato' book anywhere for some reference - they have some stunning touches that may provide some inspiration.

Ive seen some beautiful details, espicially in Zagato Alfas.

Not suggesting a copy af anything in particular just possible inspration regading proportion and or detailing.

Best of luck

Steve

yes, I was taken with the Zagato and Abarth designs. We've poured over a few pictures... hopefully the end result will be okay! I've also left a few books up at the workshop: Barry & I had loads of detail shots from CLM but what we actually need right now is whole images of cars to get lines and curves right

steve wright wrote: I've also left a few books up at the workshop: Barry & I had loads of detail shots from CLM but what we actually need right now is whole images of cars to get lines and curves right

Great . Thanks Steve! I'm hoping to be there later tomorrow afternoon, and all day on saturday so that we can push on with the wire work.

Been playing with the back end: it's not there yet by any means, but possibly getting warm. Will probably leave the rear for now though, and return to the front: this may dictate where we head next on the rear.

Once Steve's happy with one side, plus front and rear, I'll fill in the other side roughly so we can wheel / drive it outside and see how the shape is working from a distance and at all angles. Finally then we can then start on the jig / buck / form proper, hopefully by taking datums off of this lot to make some really solid stations from.

Here you go:

Wow, its amazing what a few coat hangers and some paper mache can do, it looks great.

The wire is proving to be a very intuitive way of laying shapes out, and the over-laying of paper works very well as a means of testing those shapes.

As it happens there are some errors around the rear wing, but it's close enough for us to make a call as to whether how the basic layout is working.

Next issue for the rear quarter area is the shape and position of the side vents. I've been a bit mean, and left Steve some scissors, card and tape with instructions to mock up what he fancies .

johnM wrote:Wow, its amazing what a few coat hangers and some paper mache can do, it looks great.

911hillclimber wrote:Shaping up!

Love it.

Are those the rear width wheels you are keeping or going wider at the rear (like a 356 outlaw look?)

The grace of the door curves are spot-on IMHO.
Can't wait to see the formation of the front end detail.

Sorry, missed this: yes, wheels are the ones that are staying. They look perfect in real life, and we want to get the wings hunkered down on them as tight as we dare.

We did discuss the use of spacers, but it looks as though we won't need them, unless there's a major rethink of the rear end.

Thanks for the comments so far chaps .

I really like the way it's developing - I thought previously that it was going to look a bit too 'delicate' but it has just the right degree of 'aggression'.

Good job Steve changed his mind about the Dunlop Racing tyres - I don't think you'd have had enough wire to flare the wheel arches out !

We're certainly trying to get a balance that nods to the fact that it's a small, light car, but purposeful as well.

The air vents around the haunch area will give it a bit more 'grrrrrr' as well, and when the shape and position of these is decided, the front of that haunch can be resolved properly.

Steve's got some great ideas for the Kamm area as well, which will underline it's sports / racing intentions.

For all that, I'm sure that the front will balance a little of the aggresion back out again, as we don't want it looking too 'wolf in sheeps clothing'.

Steve: rear arch still too curved over the top?

I can pull it down a tad squarer if you like?

Looking good! apologies for work conference calls and two small kids in the workshop over the weekend Barry, talk about juggling! I promise I'll leave the blackberry and little ones behind next time: it's not conducive to design discussions! I was thinking about the rear arches last night and reckon they can come down another inch, as long as we don't end up with a long flat stretch from the quarter panel below the side window. I'll get the pen and scissors out tonight but am nervous about making cuts . If we drop the rear arch a tad it might be worthwhile dropping the top line of the arch as well like the RSK and Abarth cars.

It's worth mentioning Barry has fixed the car to the floor as well (you can just see it in one of the photos) so we have a fixed reference point. One of the tires has a slow puncture which would've been embarrasing if we had not realised! plus we needed to simulate the weight of the bodywork, get the car flat (it sits quite high at the moment and will need adjusters in the front torsion beam to lower it). It also means my kids can't push it around the workshop as they did a few weeks ago playing with "their car".

The rear has worked out quite nice I think: I'd like to emphasis the fact it's mid-engined by making the air-inlets for the engine obvious and as Barry hinted, showing the rear has no room for an engine. To this end we might leave the rear of the gearbox and it's linkage on show, and because it has a flat floor the exhaust has to exit through the rear. It will have a 4 into 1 merged collector like the Sebring exhaust, but I'm hoping we can exit it through the Kamm tail. The rear frame and gearbox means it will have to be quite high, probably through the centre where the licence plate sits at the moment.

I have to say it's amazing how quickly this has progressed. More often than not the first lay-up has been spot-on, and when we've changed things we've often reverted to the original idea. I guess it follows the old adage of "if it looks right it probably is right". Certainly Barry is wasted on restoring 911's... you should go into coachbuilding full time mate. Speaking of which, here is the maestro at work...
[img][img]http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac13 ... atwork.jpg[/img][/img]