31 Dec 07

I worked on the driver's side of the mold all day today. I got the side window roughed in and filled in some holes with blocks almost all the way down to the back. I hope it will only take a couple of hours tomorrow to get the remaining holes filled in and the rough shape carved down the side to the back. My goal is the get the foam on the back to carve the 2nd butterfly panel with tomorrow. Aaron worked on the website today.

30 Dec 07

I finally finished the butterfly panel today. After several hours of block sanding, I put the aluminum foil back on to analyze the surface. The highlights run much better now, and the separation between the major and minor surfaces are more defined. After finishing this, I started gluing in a few more blocks to start the driver's side. It will be nice to have a change from sanding body filler for a few days while I build and carve the final surfaces of the mold.

29 Dec 07

Hunt and I worked on the butterfly panel the whole day today. Near the end of the day, when we had it all smoothed out, we came to the agreement that the leading edge needed to be lowered about an inch. This was a bummer, but it could have been worse. I ground that down before calling it a night. Tomorrow, I will work on getting it all smoothed out again.

28 Dec 07

I had to call in for reinforcements today. The butterfly panel has been giving us a really hard time, and I knew just whom to call. Bong-Il Jin, my industrial design professor, came out today at about 11 to lend a hand. He had us cover the surface with aluminum foil so that we could analyze it more easily. We did this by first applying a mist of spray adhesive to the surface of the butterfly panel. We then used body filler spreaders lubricated with soapy water to conform the foil to the surface. I was amazed at how well this worked with simple household aluminum foil. Having an instant shiny surface made it much clearer what we should work on. We spent the rest of the day trying to implement Bong's advise. I hope we can get the panel essentially finished tomorrow.

27 Dec 07

We spent the first half of the day on a trip to High Point to get some fiberglass. We got some 9oz fabric, some fabmat, and some resin and MEKP. We plan to make a fiberglass mold off of our existing body mold which will give us more options in how we make our body panels. Also, being as our mold is solid wood with body filler on it, we suspect that the wood blocks will eventually swell and shrink, leading to surface degradation. This will not happen on our fiberglass parts, so we will always have something to make more panels with in the future. The butterfly panel is almost done, but one area is giving me a huge amount of trouble. My design professor, Bong-Il Jin, is coming out tomorrow to look at it with me. Wayne is coming out tomorrow to help Aaron with the website, too, so it should be quite a productive day.

26 Dec 07

Great strides were made on the butterfly panels today. We almost have the shape the way we want after much body filler work. Wayne, a web guru, came by the shop today and agreed to come back on Friday and give us some pointers on how to improve our website. That will be a winner for everyone.

25 Dec 07

Christmas Day today. I worked on the butterfly panels a little while Dad hung out in the shop and put the finishing touches on my present. He made a mount for a salvaged piece of trim from a 64 Ford. One of the coolest presents ever. I went to Aaron's for dinner.

24 Dec 07

This morning, I got made some dams on the backside of the mold to hold the foam that will form the butterfly panels. Hunt and I spent most of the second half of the day pouring a 2-part urethane resin on the mold where the butterfly panels will be. In about 3-5 minutes, this resin foams, expands, and becomes very hard. It is the perfect solution to building up a temporary surface on the mold. It sure looks like a mess now, though. Dad came in for a surprise visit tonight so we wouldn't have to spend Christmas by ourselves. We went to eat and Wendy's and saw Charlie Wilson's War, which was great.

23 Dec 07

Caroline's parents and siblings came to whisk her away to Florida for Christmas, so we spent most of the morning showing them around and what we were working on. Today we worked mostly on the backside of the mold. We needed to prepare the surface that will be under the butterfly panels. This took most of the day. We also went to Harbor Freight, which took quite a while, also.

22 Dec 07

Lots of good work on the mold today. The front is basically finalized; I spent most of my time working out the back and side today. I had to put a lot of wood on the floor today near the back, because we have concocted a new plan about how to mold the butterfly panels. The new plan is first to shape the wood mold to the shape it needs to be under the butterfly panels. Once this surface is correct, we will pour a 2-part urethane all over the area where the butterfly panels will be. The urethane will expand into a foam and create volume. From this foam we will sculpt the butterfly panels, and we will use the foam for the shape of a fiberglass mold which will fit in our Black Bros. press. This is a neat process which should save some time, but using it simply meant that I had to chisel, cut, grind, and sand away a lot of wood on the rear end that was built to the height of the butterfly panels.

21 Dec 07

We finally sprayed the nose of the mold with feather fill at about 4pm today. Having the surface a uniform color made it easy to see several areas that needed work. Fortunately, it made visualizing the finished vehicle a little easier, which gave us inspiration to keep moving. I think we need to mock up the front wing to see what it's going to look like in there.

20 Dec 07

Unless there is nuclear fallout in Durham tomorrow, we will spray the feather fill. The nose is almost perfect after lots of body filler and sanding today. Life would be tough without a pneumatic line sander. Aaron worked on the functionality of the side scroll bar on the website. Zac went to Montana for the holiday.

19 Dec 07

We worked on the nose of the mold almost all day today. We got a coat of polyester resin on it as the last thing tonight. Tomorrow, several slight touch-ups, then we spray feather fill. Its really starting to look nice. We went to the Home Depot this morning and had some 3/4" pipe cut to allow us to plumb air lines in the shop. Zac framed and poured a larger concrete pad around the compressor pad to allow us to put a vacuum pump out there. Aaron added a scrolling updates bar on the website. That is really going to be helpful. With the influx of rumors and misconceptions running rampant on the web, it will be good to be able to set things straight using this feature. Plus we can show any new pictures, videos or renderings that are of interest.

18 Dec 07

We are almost ready to spray feather fill onto the nose. I thought we were going to get it done today, but we just didn't quite make it. Paul and Kendal both showed up to check on our progress. It was good to see both of them. Paul and Zac got the compressor moved outside, which is so much more convenient for us from a noise and space standpoint. Tomorrow, the nose of the mold should be in glorious condition. I will be greatly disappointed if we don't try to mold a part on it before the week is over.

17 Dec 07

We passed our final inspection today. That is a big relief. Now we can get electricity from the street instead of pulling it from the house. I worked on the nose pretty much all day today. The body filler gallon count is at 4.5. The nose is officially symmetrical with only minor surfacing issues left to resolve. Soon, like tomorrow, we will be ready to seal it. Zac cleaned up the shop, moved a stack of veneer, and worked on running wires outside the shop for the compressor today. Aaron worked on the computer 3D model. The renderings were updated to show the exhaust exits.

16 Dec 07

Mold work today. I got a lot done on the radii inside the front radiator hole. That has been an awkward section to work with.

15 Dec 07

More and more mold work today. Putting body filler on, and sanding body filler off. Measuring a point on 1 side, and marking it on the other side. We had serious dust issues while sanding body filler, so we bought a birdcage blower. Caroline made us a huge dust filter out of an old queen-sized sheet and pillowcase which fits over the output hole of the blower. Basically, the blower sucks in dusty air and blows it out through the sheet, which traps the dust. It works really well.

14 Dec 07

It's hard to continue to come up with things to write about when all I do all day is work on the mold, even more specifically, the nose of the mold. My mom came up and visited for the weekend, so we quit a little early today and Aaron stayed for dinner.

13 Dec 07

Zac and I spent the first half of the day trimming out the front garage door on the blue room in preparation for our final building inspection. The inspector never showed today, but it's nice to have that finished. Zac continued to work on the door after lunch, but I started back on the nose of the mold. I finally got the passenger side of the nose finished and put a coat of fiberglass resin on it to seal it and provide a base that a skimcoat of body filler will stick to. I continued to work on it tonight and get the driver side one step closer to symmetrical. Zac also a second coat of paint on the shop tables. Tomorrow he will cut the MDF tabletops for them and drill holes in the bottom of the legs for the leveling feet. Aaron finished a tight computer rendering of the Splinter with her doors and various panels open. Check it out in the gallery.

12 Dec 07

This morning, I filled in the gap between the hood and the windshield frame. I glued a bunch of short blocks underneath the windshield frame and filled in the gap with body filler. For the rest of the day, I worked on the nose of the mold. Tomorrow, I should have the nose ready. Zac and Caroline painted our new tables for the shop. It will be great to have those finished and in place. We got a surprise visit from Joe Hoffer of Daubert Chemicals this afternoon. He is going to get a hold of some undercoating which we will use to seal the inside of our mold. Aaron worked on the 3D computer model of the car to illustrate how the doors and panels open.