The rear end is one of my favorite pieces on this entire project. It was rather complicated to build, but the end result was more than I had hoped for.
Basic construction started with a piece of 1" dowel rod. The main housing was several pieces of pine cut to a rough diameter and then slid onto the dowel and glued into place. The next step was to turn it on the lathe to get the correct size and taper. The front and rear housing were simple blocks that were added after the lathe work was complete.
Once I was happy with the initial shape, the structural work was added. This is were it got somewhat tricky. Each piece was cut and fit individually, the half rounds on the rear of the housing are dowel rods that were split in half. There was an enormous amount of body work on this part. Epoxy and small amounts of Bondo were used to smooth everything out and create the appearance of machined housing. The bolts were added after all the final sanding was done. I wish I had snapped a few pic's before this piece was painted to show the work that was involved.
The brackets that hold the housing in place are fairly simple parts. The first halve of the bracket slides onto the axle, the outside ring captures both the bracket and the mounting point on the frame. All of the major components are designed to come apart since the entire car is built and assembled first, then disassembled for Body and Paint work.
The final piece is beautiful......................
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