F/C "Building the Body"

Building the body was quite a project. I've never done anything like this before, and I really had no idea how to go about it. What I did know was that I would be able to build the sides flat and then temporarily connect them together with frame work that would later be removed. If I got that far I figured that I could add everything else to the initial frame work....maybe...

I started with an outline of the side of the body, they were cut from 3/16 birch ply and clamped flat. My biggest obstacle was to create the horizontal body line. I laid a stringer the length of the body were the line should be. I then made another flat outline of the side and cut it down the center where the body line would be. These pieces were then glued over the stringer and to the first outline to form a shallow v shape that would create the body line. Once I had this shape, I was confident I could add the rest of the body.

The two side panels were then held together with some basic framework to keep everything square while I built the rest of the body. Next came the front end and the hood. This was some pretty straight forward wood working. The front end was a lot of simple shapes added to a flat piece that held the front fenders together. The Hood was bent over some more temporary framework that would later be removed. The top of the fenders were boxed in next to tie everything together. These parts were really a lot of fun to make, I had no major problems, and the front end was looking good beyond my expectations.

A lot of cardboard mockups were used to create the roofline. More temporary framework was added to keep the proper height while the plywood was bent to make the roof.

Lots of clamping and gluing here!!!....With all the framework and clamps still in place, the front Pillars were added. These were made out of 1/8" aluminum for strength, screwed to the roof and hood and later covered with wood.

From this point on, everything else is just simple fill work.

I've still got a lot of shaping and body work to do at this point. The roofline is a little flat, but will be filled and shaped to get a nice shallow curve. The frontend is a little blocky yet and will be shaped and streamlined to give it a good smooth look.

I still need to add the lower back quarter panels, spoiler, and some aluminum pieces to extend the lower rocker panels. The windows will be made of plexiglass of course. There will be quite a bit of work on the inside also, lots of tin work and scale tubing from the firewall to the nose. At this point I couldn't be happier with it, there's still a lot of work to be done before final paint, but I feel its all downhill from here................