Just found your thread. I like how you have analyzed all the pieces and have a plan on how you will create them. Looking forward to updates on this one!
Hey Guys. I managed to find a bit more time this evening to get some more done, the main thing scoring the lines for the edge folds and then tracing in the swages. These were going to be recessed like the ones at the bottom of the 32 to 34 BB cabs but I decided to make them protruding seeing as the ones above the swage are going to be protruding.
Before I added the swage in, I pre stretched the panel in the English Wheel. After adding the swage I used the wheel again to give the panel some crown. The crown strengthens the overall panel.
As I stated before, the steel for these panels is scrap from and old water heater tank, it’s much thinner so it was faster to add in the swages and put the folds in.
To cover the folds, aluminium T Strips will tie all three panels together. The gap between the upper and lower halves will be covered by a half round floor cover strip that looks similar to a belt line. Once I have sanded off the flaky paint on the side panels, I will be shooting grey primer over everything including the T strips. I will however leave the horizontal cover strip unpainted as it looks a lot like automotive trim. When it stops raining I will paint the corner panels and when they have dried, fasten all the sections together. Then I will move onto doing the upper sections.
Hey Guys. The sun was out for the first time in nearly a fortnight this morning and I had just enough time to shoot some primer on the panels before I headed off. These included the roof sides. I originally made these up for my 30 pickup but they are being borrowed for this test cab.
The side panels got a quick sanding and undercoat, and it was at that point I decided to give the centre cab a quick coat as well.
When I said I was using junk panels for the test cab it was for a good reason. The left side panel is nearly a quarter of an inch taller than the other two. I will need to work out of it’s the bottom fold or the top one I need to re-do. I will be looking through the scrap pile to duplicate the upper ones, they will have the triangular swages.
Tonight I had just enough time to get to work on the window panel, by putting folds along the bottom and sides and wheeling it up.
Then it was time to work out the roof top that sits directly above the window. Even though I have plenty of good steel, I am not wasting any of it on this test cab, as it’s needed for the one I am selling. I had some offcuts of aluminium lying around so it was put through the radius bender and marked for cutting.
The flange above the window panel will be stepped to allow the rounded panel to sit over the outside of it. The corners of the cab will have stepped flanges as well to allow the sides wrap around and sit flush. My goal is to get this test cab finished by Friday and then move onto tackling the doors.
Hey Guys. I made the most of the sun this morning by throwing primer from what’s left of the can over the window panel and the above roof panel after completing the folds.
On closer examination, a number of things became apparent. The first being the shape of the window is not accurate. The second relates to the overall height, it needs at least an extra inch of depth. I will stick with the panel for the moment, I can compensate for the lack of height by making the roof panel deeper. And that will be my next task.
Hey Guys. I have not had the time to put into this project as I would like but I managed to find the time towards the end of last week and again this afternoon. I was planning on continuing on the roof but decided I needed to focus on the lower cab. After selecting a piece of sheet metal, I cut it out and added in the swage. The next task was to add all the folds. One thing I need to clarify is the sheet metal I used for this section was not scrap like the other sections, this is proper cold rolled 18 gauge steel. When I first started buying sheet metal there were two thicknesses I used, one was .95 mm roughly 19 gauge and the other was 1.2mm which is 18 gauge. Straight away I found the 1.2 mm extremely hard to work with, it was harder on the machinery and would take a lot more passes in the bead roller to add the swages. Based on that negative experience I gravitated towards the softer .95mm. Since then I have full circle back to the 1.2 mm for one simple reason, it’s tougher. The .95mm was too tinny and while I could have used 1.1mm as a compromise, I did not want compromise. That left me with a real pickle. I have a 3 in 1 sheet metal tool. It bends, curves and gullotines sheet metal, but the catch is the pan brake can only bend up to 1 mm. To get around that limitation I realised I would need add the folds first. I used the tipping wheel on the bead roller to put the initial fold and using a combination of hammer and dolly to get the fold up to 90 degrees. Once that was done, I was able to put it into the folder to crispen the edge.
With edges done I moved onto shrinking them down to match the contour of the template by using it as a guide.
Placing it over the jig I was overall happy with how it looks, although the fit is still a little tight along the lower edge. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case, The main one is that I over shrunk one of the edges causing the radius to be tighter on one side than the other. That’s just a case of stretching it back out. The possibility is that I folded the lower edge too short. I will correct the contours first and with a bit of luck that will remedy it. Failing that I will need to flatten out the lower edge and re-fold it lower down.
Either way, once it’s fixed it will reversible so I can swap it over to the other side and then it will become a pattern for the proper ones. The difference between the two comes down to the steel. For the finished one I am using Zinc Anneal which is more rust resistant than regular cold rolled steel, as a result I won’t need to undercoat it. It’s all traced out ready for cutting but I won’t be doing that until I get the cab panels fixed first.
Hey Guys. I have been too busy to do anything but today I manages to find a bit of time to throw some paint over the timber roof frame. I was sick of looking at it and wanted to see if I could blend it in with the lower half.
I have cut out all the panels but still wanted the frame to blend in which is why I painted it. So I can photograph it from the inside. The only thing left to do now it take all the cut panels, put the swages and folds in them and hang them off this frame. The last thing I need to do with the mock up is add the rectangular swages in the upper half of the cab. Being MDF I was going to cut some out and tack them on, but I got impatient and drew them on instead. I will still add the MDF ones anyway.
When I originally posted this up, my intention was to make it up as a full closed cab pickup . That is no longer possible as NSW is in a state of emergency and there are severe restrictions on all citizens being allowed to travel outside of their neighbourhoods. I have no idea how long these stay at home orders will stay in place but the restrictions mean I will only be able to sell it through my local post office. I have revised the design from a full closed cab to an Aussie semi closed cab, which means roadster doors instead of truck doors.
Luckily I have some of these doors to get patterns from. Also I will make them as 28 doors like the ones above, that way I can list the cab as a 28-30. The 29 and 30s had a similar cab.
Hey Guys. This is my final post. I now have all the panels after fabricating the 28 Chevrolet Roadster Pickup Quarter Panel. It was surprisingly easy to make up and and it’s reversible. With all the borders closed indefinitely, I have given up on trying to sell it as a complete cab as the cowl is too big to go through the post.
Hey Guys. The photo uploader was not working so I was not able to post up any photos yesterday. But cutting to the chase, the jig I built will be used to test fit all the panels. I figured that if I sold these off and someone else wanted the same body I would be back at square one. That’s why I decided to keep them as patterns. That way if I sell it and someone else wants to buy it, I can just make up another.
The Jalopy Journal
