body shaping

the aesthetic I'm trying to create is that of a modernized 250 SWB or similar sports-racing car. think too many modern cars fall go overboard with the character lines, vents, and other forms of surface excitement. I'd like to have a car with a more balanced look.

Welding Jig Experiments

I'm trying a few different methods of making control arm jigs. The upper rear arm jig is MDF with bolted-on steel brackets. The rear lower jig is made from steel plate with tacked on steel brackets. The steel jig avoids the fire problem but the material is costly and not as flat as I'd like. It does have the advantage of being reusable. The MDF jig is very cheap and light. It can't stand up to much welding heat, though.

Front Lower Control Arm Jig

This is my first attempt at a welding jig for a control arm. The first pieces are shown, and main member will be capped with plate. There will also be gussets where the trailing link meets the main member.

Body Progress 2/3/11

I've made some progress on the shape. There are still some modelling errors on the surface but those will be worked out when the features and proportions are finalized.

I did some playing around with the body design, trying to clean things up a bit.

Early January Updates

Some recent progress:
Frame assembly:



2. Bolt-on suspension brackets fresh from the water jet cutter:

















3. Body progress. I've got a new tutorial for body styling that will (hopefully) teach mean how to iron out the kinks in CAD model. Also, I'm playing around with some foam models so I can get a hands-on sense of the styling and proportions.

New body progress: