2026

JANUARY

Take a deep breathe and let's wrap this up!

The rear underpan is a good place to start. I left it only roughed out. Now to finish shaping it and making it symmetrical left & right. I create a couple of contours from my 3D file for four locations. Studying the photos, it seems the kamm center section sets the basic shape from tail to rear wheels, and the kamm wings blend into it. I sand to the center shape and bit by bit shape the outer kamm wings to blend into it. With the basic shape established, I cast horizontal laser lines across from behind and at different heights. I simply keep shaping until the curve of the laser lines look equal left and right. Then I fill in the pits and pinholes. One last set of checkes to make sure the lower profile of the rear fender matches left and right. The right (passenger) side needed shaping adjustment.

Next I begin making my pattern for the wheel wells. I start by pinning the outlines for the front and rear wells onto two sheets for each set of wells, left and right for front and rear. The photos show my approach. What I want to do is use the patterns to trace the opening for each well. Since each well changes in depth, I plan on using a cardboard sheet to curve like the body and use the patterns to cut out the opening (see 2nd ROW, CR image). Great theory, but the cardboard is too flimsy and the whole idea is really just overkill. I scrap the sheets and use an old drafting pencil lead and trace the outline using just the patterns (see 2nd ROW, R image).

Since drying time is involved with glueing the patterns up, I also keep working on the intakes. After building up the strakes, the vacformed inserts ended up too deeply recessed, so I tried squirting in plaster and shaping it with a contour I cut out of putty knife. That did not work real well in practice, so I ripped out all the vacformed louvres and filled the hole with plaster and used the putty knife to get a roughly shaped recess. The Dremel was too unforgiving if it slipped or varied at all, so I was reduced to hand-sanding every louvre - all 38 of 'em.

February

Hand-sanding the louvres took a couple of afternoons - not as long as I thought. And the results were impressively good... from a distance of 5 feet. If you study them, you realize that the widths of the strakes sometimes varies noticeably. Some are unacceptably too thin and must be beefed up. This will be on ongoing process while I work on other parts.

It is at this point that I return to the wheel wells. I was not thinking correctly when making my patterns, and made them to outline the outer edge of the bevel around the wells. It really should have been the well cutout instead. I decide to make it work instead of making new patterns. So I make a pencil guide of 1/2 inch and trace the desired cutout, adding plaster where needed. Then I sand the well opening final shape. Then I make another pattern to check my bezel width as I sand that into the well outline. It is actually not a half-inch when viewed orthographically, but a half-inch width bevel. Because of the fender curvature, there is a slight variance along the well opening. Plaster - sand, plaster - sand, eventually it is done.

At this point, I step back and decide NOW is the time to add the internal reinforcements to strengthen the body for moving. I'd rather repair things now before I finalize the surfaces. The photos show the basic problem. I have a center sheet of foam and a dozen contours at right angles to it, plus some pieces I insert along the bottom. I imagine lifting the possibly 400 lb. body at the wheels and ask myself, 'where and how will this bend or droop?' Answer, it will droop from the lifting points downward. That foam can't handle much weight. Solution - add foam slabs in each cell on each side to add rigidity. The four cells in the cabin area have a double thickness of slabs. It is very rigid, but I also need slabs thruout, front to back, to maintain rigidity. Keep in mind that at the core are now a pair of 2x3 studs made of two 2x3 studs that overlap by 5 feet. They will carry all the weight. I did not glue the body to them, but rest it on them. The slabs are meant to keep the body rigid - not to be the lifting points.

MARCH

It strikes me that the front lip of the rear deck does not end as a sharply creased corner, but with a quarter-round lip. I calculate it is about half an inch. So I lay out a strip of foam and begin building it up in plaster.

I begin addressing final details, such as the shape of the exhaust exits and the passenger door crease. And continue working on the louvres, again and again and again, but fewer each time.

And I begin addressing the symmetry of the passenger side to the driver side, which is my master. I just happen to start working from the rear to the front. Another area that finally gets addressed is the top surface of the rear fenders. As with the car overall, what looks good turns out to be off when checked with a contour guide. I ordered a set online. They are made of plastic and are not the easiest to tighten down a contour once made, but they can be attached end-to-end to get a longer line. BTW, I also start with a hard measurement of the width from the centerline of the body at differnt point. The passenger side did need to be made wider and fuller in places. This becomes an iterative process: draw contour section lines both side in pencil, take contour of driver side and check the passenger side, sand down high spots and plaster up low sections, repeat as needed.

APRIL

By April the shaping is good up to the front cut line of the door. All the ridge lines had to be reestablished. When I stepped back and viewed it from the rear, both sides did indeed look symmetrical! It is coming together. Those pesky louvres still need touchup, the strake widths do look much more even. I did a laser contour check of the rear deck, which has suffered a lot of touchup the last few month, and it held true. Whew.

Moving forward, from the door to the front well, the side needed to be made fuller and the fender ridge moved out about 1/4 inch. The nose needed the most work. I decided neither side was quite accurate, so both sides are being made fuller. The passenger side is especially off and needs a lot of build-up. And while plaster dries, I cast laser lines on the hood. The passenger side needs minor sanding down and plastering up, but it shapes up nicely.

Check back for more progress!