Projects What!!? another 27 on 32 chassis!??. Scratch build body.

David...Have you made any more progress on the Roadster? I am finally going to get your DVD. My wife has been persuaded to buy it for me for a Christmas present........

 

Thanks for the custom, I hope you like it. I show how to weld and metal finish panels like I did to this bun panel in just two of the twenty chapters so it should keep you busy for a while.

Not really for this car but I made another bun panel this time in one piece because I had a good pattern, I wanted to see how it would turn out 'cos as I mentioned I may make a small batch of bodies at some point but more on this at a later date.

David

 

this is the bun panel I made for my car...



The next job was to dress the weld. As I showed in the photos earlier the way I weld the panels leaves a very smooth panel that has very even penetration so when it comes to metal finishing i don't have to do any grinding...
this is a close up of the weld after a small amount of planishing had been done and before I began to file and dress it.



here I had begun to file and dress the weld...



here it is pretty much dressed smooth...



This is the metal finished panel once it had been lightly scurfed.



Dressing this area out took just a few minutes because there is very little distortion to begin with.



I put all the original details in the returns are correct to the original and the swage at the top was also recreated.

 

David, no matter how much I watch your video and witness how easy it seems for you to create beauty out of all metal forms, I am in awe of your talent and willingness to share it with us all. To top that off, you genuinely take the time out to answer and respond to everyone who posts a query or comment on your work. Sir without doubt, you are a true gentleman and I appreciate the things that your pages have taught me.. have a safe and Happy christmas & holiday period & travel safe on the treacherous snowy roads

 

Thank you. It's very kind of you to say so. I try to reply to comments because I appreciate all comments.

I used exactly the processes I showed on the DVD for welding and metal finishing this part. I have taught many people to weld in this way, most are able to get a pretty good weld after about six hours of practice. The welding is key to getting good results.

It's not snowing here yet but it has just turned very cold. Christmas will be good because my oldest daughter is now working and living in London but will be back for Christmas.

Have a good one yourself.

David

 

How did you recreate the swage at the top of the panel David???

 

I did it with a wheeling machine Mike. I put a couple of big shrinks in the panel and the rest was done on a wheel. A cheap little Chinese one. You don't need huge expensive machines to make panels. Glad you are still looking in.

David

 

Just enjoying the ride & trying to learn something. Merry Christmas!

 

Thanks for looking in! Merry Christmas to you.

David

 

Your replications of original Ford panels are to good to be original Ford panels. If old Henry was alive to see your work he would be green with envy.

 

Thanks for the reply David ( though I'm still not sure I understand the process for the top of the panel?) But I'm kinda thick in the head sometimes, haha!

 

David.....Just thought I would let you know that I received your DVD last week. Of course it was addressed to my wife Loretta who ordered it, and I was informed that since it was a Christmas Gift, I am not allowed to watch it until after the 25th...........Thanks...and I am looking forward to going through the whole programme....

 

You know it's funny but as I was making this panel I thought that old Henry would laugh at the amount of effort I was putting in to make something by hand that he mass produced.

It's a bit complicated to explain but I will be showing the technique in the future. Watch this space Mike.

I hope you like the DVD. All the best.

David

 

How is it coming on DVD number two?

 

Just incredible workmanship!!

 

I am working on it -slowly. Its a lot of work.

Thank you. I have not made much progress lately because I have so much other stuff on. More soon I hope.

David

 

David, just a slightly off topic question. Knowing that you have some long periods of time between being able to work on some of your sheetmetal, what do you do to prevent surface rust from forming in the parts?
Just curious, thanks.

 

Bump. How's it going David?

--louis

 

David:

We know you're busy, but would love to hear more.

 

Hi Tom, I don't do enough but I used air tool oil or prime the panel.

David

 

Hi Louis, sorry not a lot of progress, I have been working all hours on customers cars.

David

 

Just been too busy with customers cars.

David

 

Your posts here are valuable to me, building my OT body (sidecar) and I have learned a lot.
Any HAMB-friendly customer cars?

 

Thanks for that. I appreciate it.

I have been working on a replica of the prototype Bantam Jeep among other things. Not exactly hamb friendly but the right era.



There were seventy of these built just prior to America joining the war. There is only one original left.

David

 

That Bantam is looking great David. Having done a chassis up restoration on a Viet Nam era Dodge M37B1 I can really appreciate the effort in that build.

 

I spent a while yesterday, and then some more this morning going through this whole thread. Amazing work, and really amazing that you were willing to post all the pics TWICE. Wow.Thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and pics!

 

Thanks for comenting. I looked back through my thread and see my original photos have reapeared!. I will have to go back and delete all the ones I re-posted so I don't have doubles. I had given up on the site ever being repaired. I stopped coming on here so much ' cos all the photo were missing and it was annoying to read threads with no photos. Great that it's all been restored.

Thanks again for your comment.

David

 

Hi Tom,

We are building two of these prototype ww11 Bantam bodies from scratch. This one is done now all painted and on the road. We were working to a deadline. We made most of the panels for the second one at the same time and will begin to put it together soon. It was a lot of work we even created the corrugated sub floor for both cars ' cos you can't buy the correct profile.





David

 

Somewhere around the middle there were still a few pics missing, but only a handful. I hope you dont get discouraged, there are many watching this that dont comment. I watched the DVD again yesterday, and I resisted the urge to go to the swap meet today and drag home more "stuff". Maybe I can actually beat on some of the stuff I already have. Thanks again.

 

Nicely done. All the little details add up to a beautiful job.