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New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:10 pm
by peakrock
Having decided to embark on my second Triking build and being inspired somewhat by Oily and what could be done to a Triking, I thought it might be interesting to mould my own tail section. I wanted something reminiscent of pre war single seat racing cars with lots of curves although I was probably a bit naive in how hard it would be to shape and then mould something with so many complex curves in!

Anyway, with the help of Alan who supplied me the first 6 inches of a Mk3 tail section so I could be sure the new tail section would fit onto the body I made a plug from that to the desired shape, then took a mould off it and have just produced the first (and probably only) tail section.

I've attached some photos of it in it's just moulded state and if you look closely there are some minor defects that will need filling etc but essentially it's come out OK. It was really tricky to make, particularly the flange where it meets the body, makes you appreciate the skill of the laminator Alan uses.

It will be a while yet before it's on the road but here's a preview.

Dave

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:49 pm
by EricStarmer
Awesome job, Dave - looks great - looking forward to seeing it mounted on your Triking ! If you have any photos of the work involved leading up to the final piece being produced, I , and I'm sure others, would love to see them .
Too bad the regulations in the UK require you to have those tail light bump-outs, though :(
Eric

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:42 am
by Richard and Pat
Well done Dave, you are an inspiration.

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:43 pm
by peakrock
Thanks for the kind comments Eric and Richard, I do have some photos of the various stages of the tail section build, I'll put some together over the next few days with a brief explanation of what went on.

As regards the rear lights, I moulded those shapes in the tail specifically to fit in with the rear lights I've chosen to go on it. The image below shows them just resting on the tail to give you an idea (I rotated the camera image) and they will most likely have short collars/spacers so they extend a bit further backwards and will also be parallel. I'm still wrestling with the collar shapes at the moment and how long they'll be...

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:00 pm
by EricStarmer
Looking forward to seeing the photos, Dave.
Do you have a '59 Cadillac sitting somewhere in your garage, minus tail lights ? :)
https://pepecadillac.wordpress.com/2013 ... onnection/

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:26 pm
by EricStarmer
Don't get too carried away, Dave, or your Triking may end up looking like this :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nM-WEp1-Zs

Actually, I love Baron Margo's creations, and have debated buying an "English Wheel" so I could attempt to form a second body for my Triking out of shiny aluminium, looking somewhat like one of Baron Margo's (it would sound a lot better, though), for that probably non-existent day in the future when I find my Triking "boring" :)

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:20 am
by Richard and Pat
I looked at those too Dave,

Inspired choice from a biased being.

ATB
Rich

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:39 pm
by Oily
Dave, I'm flattered to have inspired you (albeit somewhat!), and very much looking forward to seeing progress and the finished car. Loving the Caddy tail lights.

There was a threat a while ago from these folk........https://www.castlethree.co.uk/
I haven't seen any further news from them, or indeed if they have actually made one, but their body styles are superb.

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 7:40 pm
by peakrock
Having made the new tail section I've been trying to work out the best way of mounting the rear lights, which need to fit within a tube to look stylish. Having scoured the house and garage for inspiration I decided the only solution was to make some bespoke mounts out of fibreglass. The design caused much head scratching because I wanted to use ready made items for the plug in order to save time and effort. Then one day, whilst making a cheese sandwich I looked at the pickle jar in a new light with it's tapered and parallel sections and realised my quest was at an end!

Fibreglass work generally needs a plug to a take a mould off so this little project is a good illustration of the process. My plug consisted of the pickle jar lid screwed onto a piece of scrap ply so that the jar was rigidly mounted upside down. I then cut a piece of 3" plastic waste pipe down and chamfered one end, the pipe inner was an interference fit with the glass jar so was held firmly in position. Finally, I cut another piece of pipe and put a slit down one side so it would go over the main pipe and act as a depth gauge when laminating. The photo below shows the plug on the right.
Light-Holder-Plug.jpg
The final work on the plug was to give it lots of wax polishing and then paint on the PVA release agent. Once that is dry the gel coat can go on and then it's left for a couple of hours until tacky. Finally, laminating resin and several layers of chopped strand mat are applied and left to cure for a few days. I trimmed the mould whilst it was on the plug so I had an accurate shoulder for the lamp to butt against. The final action was to drill a hole in the end of the mould as the cable would be going through anyway and it also lets air into the bottom of the mould to help release the mould off the plug. You can see the mould in the middle of the picture with a newly laminated lamp holder inside it. To the left you can see a lamp holder I made earlier.

I had to be careful when laminating the lamp holder that I didn't make it too thick otherwise the lamp holder would not fit within it, I confess I was slightly out on the first one but if you work on fibreglass when it's still green (not fully cured) it's much easier to trim and cut the laminate which is what I did. So, it all worked ok and the picture below shows the tail lamp inside the holder which for the moment is just resting on the new tail section.

Re: New Tail Section for Type 3

Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 7:50 pm
by EricStarmer
Great work and description, Dave - you appear to be a fibreglass expert now, and the result looks great ! It's amazing how inspiration comes at the strangest times and from the strangest things - like Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge "