Shelby Hiawatha Arrow 'Regrestoration'

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Finally got back into the fiberglass shop with both the tank and rack mold making process.

img_1978-jpg.1151161


img_1979-jpg.1151162


img_1984-jpg.1151163


img_1985-jpg.1151164
 
I finally took the mold apart. Everything looks good at this point. It just needs a little fine tuning and it will be ready to start making parts soon!


Of course there is still a lot of work left before having a complete tank. This is just the first step, but it's a big step!


img_e2009-jpg.1154545


img_e2010-jpg.1154546


img_e2011-jpg.1154547
 
I know! I love seeing all of the brazing for the first time in over 80 years!

It made me wonder about the worker who had his hands and eyes on this as it was being made. What was going on in his life? What was on his mind on that particular day? Etc, etc.:39:
 
This past weekend I focused my attention on finishing the tank mold.

The first thing was to sand out any imperfections. I started with 220 grit on the worst places and worked my way up to a final wet sand with 1000.

img_2022-jpg.1157722


I didn't stop to get an action shot but next I used polishing compound and followed with 9 applications of mold release wax. That took most of the weekend due to allowing an hour to an hour and a half between applications.
Here's the result:

img_2024-jpg.1157723


Yesterday I took the finished mold back to the fiberglass shop for gel coat.

img_2028-jpg.1157728




img_2027-jpg.1157726



And this is how the day ended.

img_2029-jpg.1157731
 
After the gel coat cured overnight, it was time to start laying some glass this morning.

img_2033-jpg.1157738




img_2031-jpg.1157739




And this is how it looked at the end of today.

img_2038-jpg.1157741




img_2037-jpg.1157742


Tomorrow the first tank will finally be ready to come out of the mold!
 
beautiful work.:41:
have you ever thought of making wide gothic fenders for cwc roadmaster? it is very difficult to find a reasonably priced pair.
Me and a friend of mine were thinking on how to get a profile like that, thinking over building a rear reflector. Actually if you just take a 100mm wide fender available at the market, cut out a stripe from the middle and weld it back, you may get a profile very similar to original gothic :)
Though i would be happy to see them too!
 
beautiful work.:41:
have you ever thought of making wide gothic fenders for cwc roadmaster? it is very difficult to find a reasonably priced pair.
I'm staying focused on the Shelby parts right now. Still lots to work out.

______________________________________________
Back to the bike build.

Been sanding the frame with a Scotch disc getting it ready for primer. It's in very good condition.

img_2045-jpg.1160233


img_2047-jpg.1160234
 
The rear fender was pretty rough to start with.

img_1866-jpg.1160665



img_1867-jpg.1160666



img_1869-jpg.1160667


After media blasting the crusty paint it was already looking better.
img_1906-jpg.1160677


After some carefull massaging, it's ready for primer!
img_1916-jpg.1160679



img_1917-jpg.1160680



img_1918-jpg.1160681
 
This is a strange little oddity.

Two of the three Shelby front fenders in the parts pile had very similar extra holes in them.

1168535




1168537



After much discussion with @Freqman1 and some detective work it seems that both apparently had suffered the same fate. It looks like the original slotted hole must have broken away leaving a washer size hole and then someone 'fixed' it by drilling a new hole about an inch behind to bolt through. So wierd, they look almost identical!
 
Back
Top