Projects Giant speedster project

racing stripes and advertising decals cover things do not do that

 

Jeesh, Jerry, would you stop it with all this water-based plastic crap?

You might as well cover that gorgeous deck with Saran Wrap.

Plastic is plastic and you should consider using Spar Varnisk on that deck. Add a little japan dryer if you want it to set up quicker.

I have found that a 50:50 mix of gloss and semi-gloss varnish gives a nice finish.

Try it on some scrap and see for yourself.

 

gogoogogogogogogooooooooooooooooo

 

Plastic Crap

Nice boats, Paperdog! You think they used spar varnish? Maybe. But I think they used they most expensive two part clear coat made. I'm using the least expensive two part clear made. I talked to my paint guru. He said mix a a little bit of clear and fill in the pits, sand it then spray the whole thing. That's what I'm doing. Also, Don the Morgan guy made me a ice box for the step on the driver's side. Tonight he's going off to buy a Morgan project in Memphis. I also put some aluminum diamond plate on the ramp of my box truck car carrier and redid the tile inside. If everything goes well I'll respray the deck Sunday.

 

Last time we had problems, it ended up being contamination from using the wrong air hose (oil) fisheye

 

Beautiful wood! Back when boats had class rather than glass.

 

BOAT (A hole in the water you put your money in )I got two holes

 

Also an acronym.

Break
Out
Another
Thousand



FWIW I currently have none o' them hole in tha water things.

 

No pits, runs or errors.

Okay there were a few errors. Maybe a run too. But overall I'm very satisfied. I can move on now. Move where, I'm not sure. I forgot where I was. Is that a sign of old age? I'd like to have Ken the upholsterer get started. I saw some work he did and it was awesome. So I guess I need to get things ready for him. I can't put the wood trim on until he's finished. There's plenty of other things to work on while he doodles. I'll call him Monday.

Jerry

 

Looks fantastic! Perseverance pays off again.

 

will you sand and polish it now?

 

I'll wet sand it with 1200 or maybe 2000 then buff. I hate to because it makes a mess, and you never quite get the same shine. But it's a little too shiny anyway.

Jerry

 

Expensive modern boats and expensive modern jewellery must be the two ugliest things made in the world today.

 

BWAHAHAHAHA- no holes in the water... mine are either in the driveway, the garage, or my head

 

Amen!

 

Direct Route

Is it r-oot or r-out? I routed out the deck behind the seat because the upholstery needs to be stapled there. It has to set even with the deck. A roll will lay on top of that. At least that's the theory. The routing went pretty smooth with only one mishap when I hit a screw that was too shallow. Sparks! After that I filled in the seams with black urethane. That turned out to be a mess. I think I'm going to save the buffing until later. I really will call the upholsterer tomorrow. Promise!

Jerry

 

Remember, when working with urethane, kerosene is your friend.

 

Box Trot

I got my ice box box from Don and the top wasn't quite square so I got out an enormous piece of sandpaper I'd bought years ago and started rubbing back and forth. After about 30 minutes the top was flat. Believe it or not I once resurfaced a head this way. I'd heard that in England they used grinding compound and a plate of glass to resurface heads. I used a large sheet of sandpaper and a flat surface. It worked but took forever! When I tried the box on the speedster I realized I got the dimensions wrong. I told Don 7 5/8" high and it should have been 10" high. I think I was high when I told him. Now I have to add 2 1/4" Nice! I called Ken the upholsterer and left a message. I'm waiting.

Jerry

Kerosene is too stinky. I used mineral spirits.

 

Running Boards

Hey, I gotta do something while I wait for the upholsterer! Ken (the upholsterer) is coming tomorrow at 9:00 for a consult. I hope he says everything is good. Meanwhile, I'd like to finish the driver's running board. You can see the concept I'm going for in the pictures. I've got the basic thing done on the passenger side. The interior will be lined with felt so I need some wood in there to glue to and hold the hinges and latches. Each piece has to be hand fitted because the angle has fillets and there are welds that get in the way. When the car is finished (when will that be?) I'll spend my idle time snooping around flea markets for interesting tools to cut out precise places for in the running board tool boxes. Or maybe that's where I'll have a complete cooking kit with knives, forks ladles, wisks, pots, pans spices.... Or maybe a Thompson submachine gun and a couple of .45 semi autos.

Jerry

 

Jerry,

There is a RR Ghost around this area that was built for some Arab Warlord in the teens. It has similar running board boxes with fitted compartments to hold elephant guns & associated ammo etc.

 

Do you have some stainless planned for the inside of ice box? Or did you size it for one of those throw-away styrofoam ice chests from WalMart?

 

I'm looking for some vintage galvanized sheet metal with the really big flakes on it to make the inside out of. Maybe some old roofing would do.

 

OK, hope that works out for you. Maybe get some that's pretty much oxidized and covered in bird poop.

 

I love running-board boxes. One doesn't see enough of them these days.

If the '31 ever starts happening again I want boxes behind the front wheels, about as far back as the A-pillars. I had the idea to twin-turbocharge the engine and hide the turbos in the boxes.

Voisin liked to fit huge luggage lockers in that position. French coachbuilders Million Guiet had a style that had running boards "carved" out of full-length pontoons, with either lockers on spare wells in the forward part. Less imaginative iterations of the running-board box idea could be seen on many quality cars of the Vintage era and directly after.

 

Jerry,

Talk to a heating/ac man. Old ductwork is often made of the galvanized steel as you described. I have made vintage looking gas tanks from furnace plenums before.

Jack

 

The Meeting.

I met with Ken (the upholsterer). He comes from a long line of upholsterers. His great, great, great, great grandfather upholstered the Mayflower. He worked on the cabin or the poop house, not sure which. Ken and I talked and came up with a knee roll, a shoulder roll and vertical 4" pleats in between. Unlike 1620 when the Mayflower landed, 1923 was not a banner year for upholstery. Carmakers had given up on button tufting (I gave up on it too) and gone to plain nothing. If they wanted to get fancy they had wide pleats. I wanted to jazz it up a little, hence the knee and shoulder roll. Oh yeah, it'll be two tone--medium brown and dark brown, almost green. After that I worked on resizing the icebox. Making those joints was tough and took me all day. Maybe tomorrow I can glue them up.

Jerry

 

Please tell us you're not planning to add a "Poop House" to the speedster.

 

I was thinking about towing one behind the speedster. With a matching upholstered pooper seat.

 

in wood work small reveals hide the fact that exact matching pieces seldom are

 

Seat, box, boots

I've got to get the speedster ready for Ken so I mixed up some tinned out paint to put on the seat. I also cut out a seat bottom for Ken to fasten the lower cushion too. Today I glued up my box pieces and while I was at it I glued up my daughter's boots. I'm still trying to figure out this cryptic wisdom: "in wood work small reveals hide the fact that exact matching pieces seldom are" I think it contains an eternal truth if I can decipher it.

Jerry