OK, I've got a question for you all. Were I to produce an aluminum shell, say 0.055" thick, in the general shape of a P-38 belly tank, how many people would be interested in buying one, and for how much money? The technicalities are already worked out, so it is not a matter of whether I can do it, but more whether you guys will want to buy them if I do. So I put it to you: Would you buy a set of reproduction belly tanks skins? If so, how much would you pay for them? If not, why not (***uming you're looking for a belly tank)? If you would like to buy one, what alloy would you prefer? I'm fairly certain that this shape will not work 1100 enough to make it hard enough to hold the shape, but I could be wrong. Perhaps if I started with quarter or half hard material to begin with. Another easy to source alloy is 3003, and would likely be my choice, but I'm far from a guru of aluminum skin work, so I'm looking for feedback. What alloy would you prefer to see used, and why? Is the authenticity of shape paramount, or could you deal with a little "artistic license" to reduce the cost of production? Is there any other shape of tank that you would like better than the cl***ic "tear drop" shape of the P-38 tank? If so, which one? Bring pictures. That's all I can think of for now. I am 100% serious about this project, and I am already set up with the equipment necessary to produce the shapes, I just need to know if this is something that is worth the effort to tool up for. Thanks for adding your input guys, I always appreciate it.
Hey guys, if you're going to vote in the poll, drop a reply here too, to let me know why you voted like you did. Just trying to get my mind around the market, so I don't jump into a project that no one's really interested in and lose my ***. Because my company is always running on a shoestring, at any given time, I'm just a very few ****-ups away from being flat *** broke, so I gotta land my blows where they're likely to do the most good. It's like my old man always told me, "When you've only got a few licks in ya, you gotta make 'em count."
Wow, guess I greatly overestimated how many people were looking for belly tanks. lol Perhaps I need to back up and re***ess my plan.
I would be interested in buying one, but wouldn't be able to until this damn economy turns around. I think 1500-2000 would be fair, being that you can get a fibregl*** tank for around 1200. Some artistic license with the tank design would be fine with me, as long as the shape and proportions were similer. Maybe if you could keep the proportions the same and make it a little bigger to help package everything in there. As far as alloys I wouldn't have a clue what to suggest, as long as it holds its shape. I think its a great idea, Justin
I'm not looking for one but it seems like a good idea to me. I've always wondered why somebody didn't reproduce them out of metal. Seems like with prices of originals getting as high as they are that you should be able to sell a few of them. I don't see how in the hell you could make and sell them for less than $1000.00 If you could stay under $2000.00 I would think you could sell plenty. Seems like it would be hard to make any money even at $2000.00 lot of work and material wouldn't be cheap.
The people willing to pay for them will want an accurate reproduction of a P-38. There's lots of later tanks available in the $1-2k range that are better aerodynamically that the P-38, but that's not the nostalgic choice. I'm guessing an accurate reproduction will cost much more than the high end of your selling choices..... and not many people are actually building tanks, so building dies is out of the question (could never recoup the set-up costs). Dave
Yes, faithful reproductions would be far above the $3,000 mark. Historically identical reproductions are likely outside my ability to produce as well. There's a thousand ways to skin this cat, but you won't get the same exact look and ripples unless you make them like they did back then, which runs the cost way up (WAY up). The how is there, to make money at $2,000 per, but if the market consists of a half dozen guys total, then it's not worth the effort or expense. I was unaware that there are currently available surplus tanks that can be had for less than that. Living out here in BFE MO, I'd never even seen a hot rod built from a belly tank until I'd joined this site. lol Never knew such a thing existed.
docauto Can you give us a little back ground on the 2 p-38 tanks you have just posted the pictures of, as rare as they are it is quite a couple of pictures you have posted..............my curiosity is getting the best of me...............
I wouldnt consider one unless its was a pretty much exact copy of an original p-38 like those in the photos Zach
Hi Steve, I got them in Washington State, they're in really nice shape. The folks that had them were great! One will be used for my T powered racer (probably use this ch***is) I'm hoping to be able to make it SCTA legal but still capture the post WW2 spirit. Dave
If you build it, they will come. Just do it. Keep track of your cost and price it accordingly. The only other comment is . . . . make it a dead perfect exact copy of the big p38 tank.
Therein lies the problem. The difference in cost between pretty durned close, and dead perfect exact is HUGE, and for our uses, it seems silly to replicate certain aspects of the original, such as all the fuel access ports, the fill ports, the hard points for mounting them to the aircraft, etc. Those are all things that you'd have to turn around and patch when you started your build anyway, why not just delete them from the skin in the first place and be done with it? The wrinkles/bumps could be replicated without too much additional cost, but again, the correct and exact placement of them will be very difficult to ascertain. Them being there, or being in the right place doesn't ***ist in the aim of the thing, and in some cases may actually be a hindrance. Sometimes (IMO at least), you can get too exact with reproductions, to the overall detriment of the project.
I cast a vote for $1,000 thinking they would be fibergl***, DUMB on my part. I think the gl*** ones on the market today are around that figure. I don't know if there is a market for aluminum ones, they would have to look like P-38's IMO top get buyers.
Why would fibergl*** be preferrable to aluminum? I would have thought that aluminum skins would have been far more desirable than fibergl***, but I've been wrong before.
I could see myself some time in my life building a tank speedster, and if I were in the market I wouldent be woried about the correct fill ports and bracing as long as it had the same shape as a original, not poportionaly biger or smaller, the same size and shape. The wrinkles/bumps could be nice though not nececerily exact to original but that could be "artisticly licensed".As far as price I would be willing to pay $2000 to $2500 for a nice quality aluminum tank, taking into acount that a fibergl*** one is $1200 and what it would cost to manufacture it. Sorry I cant help you as far as alloys. Just my 2 cents hope this helps.
It does. Every little bit of info helps. Don't worry about the alloy too much, I've got a pretty good idea of what I would use and how I'd go about it, and I've got people I can talk to if I get hung up. I just wanted to put that out there in case someone that works with the stuff every day were to happen along with some good first hand info. Wishful thinking mostly.
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