I scratch built new sides from Evergreen styrene sheet and strip. Commercial sized strip was used to keep things simple.
In the first photo you will see some finger clamps I constructed to assist in the process of making the sides. I saw these over on Joe Smith's Blog and thought they were just great. Mine are made of mild steel with a piece of Tig welding wire pressed into a drilled hole. They are basically a mini finger to hold things while your gluing etc. What great idea and now that I have them, I can't live without them!! Construction is done on plate glass set against a metal scale.
The first layer is made of a piece of 0.010" thick material with 0.060" quarter round on either end. The second layer is all made from 0.010" strip of varying widths. A piece of 0.100" and 0.080" strip is attached along the top and bottom of the sides respectively. The top and bottom of the three doors are made with 0.080" strip centered on the pencil lines. These are made longer than actually needed.
Here is a close up of the side as described above. The strips are set 0.010" off of the top and bottom strips to leave room for upper and lower door sills. The top of the side is against the scale in this photo.
Next I applied the mutton's to the upper half of the door to frame door window openings. The mutton's are 0.040" styrene and the outer edge is 0.080" which will be covered with a 0.040" quarter round door jamb that will leave a 0.040" door boarder to match the mutton size.
Here is both sides with the doors and windows all framed up.
Next the remaining areas were filled with 0.010" sheet to complete this layer.
The third layer starts by adding 0.040" sheet on top of the second layer using individual pieces followed up with 0.010" x 0.040" strip set vertically at the top and bottom of the door openings.
Unfortunately I didn't take a close up photo. Finally I added the 0.040" quarter round on either side of the door to form the door jamb.
Next up is to cut out the window and door window openings, followed by adding the belt rail and letter board using 0.010" strip. I will fill any seams with putty and sand if needed before mounting on the car floor.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteThe sides are coming out great! There is a real satisfaction in building things like this yourself.
Like your finger clamps, you will find many uses for these. Mine are lead, originally used in drafting holding a trammel when drawing curved lines.
If you are going to put bars behind the post office windows work that out before attaching sides to floor because it will be a lot easier while the sides are still on the flat.
I'm enjoying this build! Joe Smith