Thursday, March 13, 2014

Progress Once Again On The Velomobile

I had to do some back tracking on my blog to see when the last time I actually did some work on the body of the velomobile project.  It is hard for me to believe that it has been almost three months time.  Time sure flies when your trying to stay warm and not think about shoveling snow every other day.  So with a reprieve from this awful winter today I was finally able to get back to my garage and heat it up to a level that I did not have to wear a parka to stay warm.  Makes it a lot easier to lay down fiber glass if the brush does not freeze in my mixing cup. 



Here once again is my velo project in my garage as I worked on it today.  The progress again has to been done in steps but as you can see a lot of work has already been accomplished with this big project.  I have the entire interior of the body glassed now and all of the mountings for the lights and access ports for the the rear body mounts.  Along with this work I have completed the fiber glassing of the top surfaces of the body from nose to tail.  The tail section along both sides of the rear blister I completed today. 


You can see the difference in the color of the pink foam in this photo after it has been glassed.  It appears to be a bit darker when it is wet with resin.  I'm happy to get this last port of the upper body completed today after such a long absence of not working on this project.  Once this has cured for at least another day I'll turn the body upside down and glass the underside.  Then the sides can finally be glassed and the body will be much safer to handle.  With bare foam it can be damaged easily with just the slightest wrong touch. 


I thought while I was updating my progress on the velomobile I would also show you how the hood for the vehicle is coming along.  I have it all glassed now and most all of the resin filler applied to get a smooth surface for paint. 


This portion of the build is shaping up nicely and I am anxious to way down some primer to finish the prep work needed for paint.  The hood is very smooth at this point and the photos look like it's all ready to be painted.  In actuality it has a long way to go before I think it will be ready.  Lots of flaws will show up on the hood as well as the body once I start spraying primer on the parts.  This is good and I expect to have a lot a sanding to do yet to put my final blessing on the project and get ready to add color to velomobile.  Slow and steady progress will be worth it in the end.  
  I'm just happy enough to be able to fire up my heater in the garage once again after all of this time and finally be looking forward to spring, green grass, and warm weather.  Lots of things planned for the coming year so stay tuned for further updates as the weather allows. 

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for shearing all of this! A lot of things now clear how to hendle different things. I wonder what resin do you use for fiberglossing ? The ones i tried they melt styrofoam. Thanks in advance.
    Alex

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