Deco-ed Out (working title)

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I have been very impressed with all of the builds going on lately so I decided to try and start a cool one as well. My last bike turned out well and has been ridden many miles but this one should turn a few more heads. After building my first bike I started throwing around the idea of making a bike with fully enclosed wheels so it would look more streamlined. The finalized drawing ended up like this.
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Starting with this drawing, I scaled the wheel fairings to a 26" tire and figured out how big the mold was going to be to make them. I used three layers of 2" extruded polystyrene held together with glue and zip ties to form the basic shape.
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I made a sanding block from a piece of 6" pvc pipe lined with 36 grit sandpaper and went to town sanding the outside contour.
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This is what I ended up with after a few hours of sanding and a very sore shoulder.
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A test to see how it might look on an actual bike.
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After the mold shape was finalized it was time to wrap it in fiberglass and apply a surface coat to finish it. All the fiberglass parts that are made from this mold will be made on the outside.
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All the rough spots were sanded out of the surface coat and it was waxed three times in preparation for the first parts being made off of it. Getting exciting now. I layed one layer of glass on the mold to get the general shape of all the other layers and then transferred it to cardboard for easy repeating.
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After getting several blanks cut out it was time to mix up some resin and get started. It took 750 grams of resin and three layers of glass to get the thickness I wanted without being too heavy.
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That was last night. This morning before going to work I went to the shop to see if the part would come of the mold. With a little prying with some plastic scrapers around the edges and a blast of air it popped right off! Phew. :eek:

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Tomorrow I will lay up the other half, trim both halves to the same height, and then glue them together. Then I get to do it two more times after that. Yeah. I will probably start the frame early next week and hope to have everything mocked up by the next weekend. But we will see what happens. Stay tuned.
 
Subscribed and staying tuned. You have some great ideas and a good eye.
 
Good looking concept, will be a real head turner. I like!

A big +1 on the sanding pad! (Doh, why didn't I think of that) I've been hesitant to do fenders or similar parts 'cause I'm never happy with MY imperfections in symmetry. Thanks for the idea.

And yes, I'm subscribed too

Gizmo
 
Thanks for all the kind comments. I am going for very different with this one so we will see if it actually turns out like the picture. Dr. Tankenstein thats a pretty cool looking bike right there. I hope I can get mine to end up that clean looking. The PVC thing just came to me one day. The nice thing is PVC is measured from the inside diameter so if you want a 6" diameter curve just get a 6" tube and cut in half.
 
Indy,
The biggest thing you have going for you is that your bike is REAL, Kamilos' is a drawing.

Build on dude, like the others, I'm subscribed and looking forward to your next installment.

Cheers,
Dr. T
 
Oh man nice start there. I love late '30s and '40s autos with all the curves and chrome, along with leadsleds and this bike looks to be all of that in a bike.
 
WOW!!! :shock:
 
Thats the look I am going for cledry. Thanks for the pics.

This was my initial inspiration. A 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 Jonckheere Coupe.
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And this is Rolls Royces modern interpretation of that car. I kind of like the new one better but they are both sex on wheels.
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Well got the second half off the mold and will assemble the two halves tomorrow. Superglue will hold it until the resin and glass kick off at the seam. Then I will start on the frame. I wanted at least the front fender and fork to be together to get the down tube as close to the fender as possible.

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