Heres some pics of the bonnet ive built for my RPU. still have to go to the saddlery and have a strap made up, the belt is just there to suggest what it will look like. made a 'doubler' that is solid riveted to the inside to strengthen it and give some detail. aircarft rivets are cool fun to do, and look wicked. the front mounts are DZUS fasteners mounted inside the panel, so justa hole and two rivets show..lot cleaner. bent it over an eight inch tube, and wire beaded the side edges, lots of hours in it..but it fits pretty good. i kinda like it in bare alloy, as it matches the bomber seats and door panels, do you think i should paint it?or no? Man this car is nearly done!
Paint half of it. No wait, don't paint it. I think if you painted it, it would loose some of the effect it has. tieing it all together like you said. Those scoops look pretty good with it too. What's the bicycle in the background? Looks pretty sweet from what I can see. Nice job.
"aircarft rivets are cool fun to do" Come and spend a week with me at work, It'll change your mind real quick.
let me rephrase...fun to do irregularly in small quantities the bike is a late thirties 'Belair' racer i found on the side of the road recently, just put new tyres on it, and it is the envy of every single speeder in town.
Looks good ben, oh and i'll try and rememeber your plaque this sat morning...forgot to bring it out the other day! Cheers MKK
Hey Lowsquire, here's a picture of my '29, I can't decide to paint it or not, but I'm leaning on leaving it bare, though it would look good painted but leave the louvers bare and polished... Dave
"LowSquire! Is she a goer, nudge nudge"? Looks great as is! Funny thing is, those colors together instantly reminded me of a 1/25 model Bugatti I built and painted like that back when I was very little, maybe 35 years ago. WOW what a memory jog there!
Looks real good Ben.......I like it with out the paint and I think if was painted you would lose some of the detail and it would look like just another bonnet.
What aluminum alloy is it? Unless it's got Alclad on it, it will start corroding pretty fast. On aircraft, the only bare aluminum parts have Alclad on them, which is a layer of pure aluminum on top of the aluminum alloy. Maybe you can wax it to give it some protection.
Very nice work . . . in many areas of the car. Lots of neat stuff to look at. How about a simple single scallop pattern in bare aluminum with the remainder painted? I'm liking the front fenders as well. Triumph? Re-pops? Far as the leather retaining strap, take a look in a place that carries tack (supplies?) for horses. Local feedstore etc. The two in my town have a large variety of leather reins etc. in different shapes and sizes. Well made of very high quality leather . . . cowboys don't use junk stuff.
I worked on airplanes and rocket for the government for years before retirement and you do good work. I like it nicely done. Rags
Thanks for all the nice words. yeh i hadnt thought about corrosion protection, as to what grade alloy it is...dunno, its not the hard aircraft stuff though, and its 1.6mm thick.would have been a lot easier to work if i had gone 1 or 1.2!! theres a product made here that protects stainless, ill give that a go,its mainly baby oil and eucalyptus oil, wipe it on ,buff it off. yeh im off to the saddlery/tack store today, its just near the Flemington racecourse. C9 as usual you have hit the nail on the head, ill try some scallop patterns in tape and post em up for some opinions, im thinking just one 'scallop' each side, leaving a pretty big area bare..we'll see. better get back to customer cars first...
Now you have me thinking about re-doing my 31's hood sides in aluminum. Maybe, depends on the headers I build. The hood sides may end up as two piece units for an over the frame setup. I'm still curious about your front fenders. A local re-pop deal or some old Triumph fenders?
Paint a body coloured stripe down the middle of it and curve it out to meet the full width of the body at the back of it. r
Bonnet looks good. Not sure about the scoops pointing forward though. I think some frogmouth scoops facing the screen would look a little neater. BTW, you just volunteered yourself to do a bonnet for me down the track.
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