Would Like Your Opinions....Wild Little Bubble Top..

So I could get some of that foam, (I have a source), carve my bubble shape, build a plywood buck to match the foam, (Wow! Just like Chip Fooze!), then blow the Lexan into the buck. Theoretically of course!

Does the Lexan get thinner as it gets heated and stretched into the bubble shape?

...and Dave, (gowjobs), is that your little pickup in the picture next to your handle? Man, I love that thing! Got any more pics?

 

Cool car, lots of potential! Make it look like this...

 

First, I'm not sure there would be any use in blowing the bubble into a foam form (mold). If you need a really complex design, you may be better off - and this is a complicated process - making a male form out of foam around a hose or two, fiberglassing and polishing the surface, then heating the plexi/lexan clamped in two plywood "rings" the shape of the bubble base by heating an enclose space until the plex starts to sag a little, then lowering it down over the form while you suck the air out from between the plex and the form through the hoses.

These ideas don't come so much from working with plex as it is with working with vacuforming tables and styrene, but I'd imagine the process can't be too much different.

As far as the little pickup on my avatar goes, I built that a couple years ago - out of plastic. It's a model. Here's a larger pic (or 2) of it:

 

Randy...you HAVE to build this car! Stop everything else and BUILD THIS CAR!! I like the mini-skirt hottie idea, too.

If someone ends up doing a bubble top, themselves, please post LOTS of pics...I know I would like to see the whole process.

Gowjobs...that's an amazing little model!

 

Randy all I can say is you better get yerself a surplus Russian Cosmonaut helmet before you drive that thing.. anything else would be blasphemy!! If you need hands draggin' it home lemme know, shoot me a pm or email

Jimmy

 

Dave...I just meant to use the foam to get an actual 3-D form to tweak and perfect the final shape, then build a plywood buck to conform to the foam shape, and blow the Lexan into the buck, not over the foam. I just didn't want to try and "guess" at the shape of a buck, and hope the bubble came out right. Expensive mistakes. I think Anthony told me the bubbles for the Brown Neck Bandito cost him $450 each,...the first one wasn't right, the second one was.
...and that model is so right on, someone needs to clone it into a 1:1 steel version!

Dan...I'm on it! But, gotta build some other stuff to sell first so I can finance it. Chrome, paint materials, upholstery,...man!, all that nice pretty stuff cost alot more now than it used too!

Jimmy...I'm diggin' the Cosmonaut headgear angle...

 

As far as blowing a piece of lexan into a buck...you're on your own man. You have to heat the lexan up to a fairly high temp and I am not sure how hot a foam based buck can get before melt-down. I think there might be a coating that can be sprayed over the foam that is able to withstand heat but I have no idea what that coating is or the specifications of it. Seems to me I saw it on Monster House or something....???

When they blow the bubbles they put a measuring scale on one side of the lex so that you can keep track of the growth. Like when it reaches a predetermined height you cut the heat and air pressure, start cooling asap.

My 3D program is tied up right now so I can't give you a pic of what I am talking about. Just take the pic I posted above (other page I guess) and imagine a tape measure like panel on one side of the whole rig-up. And keep in mind that a given circumference can only produce a certain bubble height before it starts to look too much like a Las Vegas stripper's over sized implants. You probably want a shape more like a teardrop or a blister than a big old fake tittie.

I'd measure how much head room you are going to want first and then use that to decide the size of hole and height of your bubble. Ed Roth didn't do this, and because of that he couldn't even fit in the Beatnik Bandit. In fact I doubt he fit in most any of his creations, but that wasn't the point for him. He was a "cut first and measure later" type....

 

Broman, I know what you and Dave are saying, but I'm not talking about using the foam for the actual buck, just a way to get a 3-D visual of the shape I want, then building a plywood buck to conform to the contours of the foam shape. I don't want a shape that looks like a store-bought skylight, or I'd just go buy a skylight! Know what I mean? Kinda like how those Nascar tech guys use those templates to check the body specs...Am I making myself clearer, or muddier?

 

You're perfectly clear. But I think that you'd be waisting a lot of time on making a buck even if you are only using it to check dimentions.

Just make a good set of measurements, cut your "hole", make the lex-sandwich and blow the damn thing. Not that it is going to be as simple as all of that, but you can see what I am getting at. The melted lex is going to form a perfect bubble - it is simple physics. It's like when you make a bubble from soap - it comes out perfectly round every time. You can't make a buck that is more perfect than what will come from just blowing the darned thing. The only precaution being that you don't have hot spots. And if you keep the heat source far enough away I think you'll be alright.

Do an experimental piece. Go get some red plexi and cut out some unusual shape for your taillights and blow some miniatures of the big project. You'll need taillights anyway right? Why not make 'em yourself? Instead of buying some store-bought 59 Caddy lights or whatever,the whole damn car would be hand-made. That prospect oozes cool doesn't it? That way you aren't buying a huge piece of lex and blowing it as a virgin.

 

Broman,
Notice the bubble on that car that Son Of Snipe posted?...that wasn't made by just cutting a hole in the plywood and letting the Lexan form itself. It has a taper, and a "head room" piece, that was blown into some type of pre-made form, that's what I'm trying to realize,...I'm thinkin' I'm gonna need somewhat of a teardrop shape with an indentation "rib" running up the back.
The shape of the body is already determined, obviously, I need to come up with a complementary bubble shape that will flow with the car.

 

I appreciate all your thoughts, ideas, and comments,...this isn't exactly a "paint it flat-black with red wheels and whitewalls" kinda project!

I'd like to hear Mr. Moriarty's ideas and suggestions.

 

I'll bet a double ring could be used to do something like that little cockpit bubble... but you're right: to do something like that, you'd probably want to at MINIMUM carve a scale model of it first.

The other, more artistic method to get a shape like that would involve blowing the main bubble first and then using a heatgun and more air pressure to do the localized "bulge".

If you want to replicate the "stock" top on the ZAR, then you'll need to blow a few bubbles to the rough dimensions of the side window areas and trim pieces of the bubble to fit the windows.

No concrete answers for you, but a bunch of ideas and things to think about.

Dave

 

The pic snipe posted was of a Remote Controlled car and was made out of a mass produced mold. And even if it was a one off it was only 1/16th in thick plexi, not 1/4 lexan. I am sure a simple heat gun would work for that, but it wouldn't put a pimple on a 4'x8' sheet of lexan. That shit is tough. you can't even fold it in half (believe me I tried). Plexi snaps like a fresh pretzle, lexan is like a spring, BOING right back to shape. And don't think you can get away with making a plexi bubble, you'll regret it.

 

My idea was to do away with the original roll up door glass, and do a one-piece top, where you would have to tilt the hinged bubble forward, open the doors, get in, close the doors, and lower the bubble,...no opening side glass.

 

Yeah, I know about the Plexi,...we use Lexan in the race cars, doesn't scratch, haze, and is super tough.

 

when i restored roths rotar i made a 1 in. thick plywood ring , actually a piece with correct hole in it and rounded the inside edge on one side with a angle some what shape of what you would imagine a bubble as it goes from base as it gets smaller as it decreases in diameter, you then sandwhich the plexi between it and a full piece of plywood with with a hole in the full piece that a airhose connection threaded into it can be attached. i took this to a skylight company known to have a big big oven and when layed with open hole of wood down when heated you could almost see the plexi fall but with aid of air in this controlled heat environment it went right to height i requested.the wood buck if you will needs to be thick so it does not distort the base of ring. when i got the distroyed rotar the original bubble was with it and at its base it was about 3/16 thick but where top of bubble where it was broken with big hole in it ,it was almost paper thin from being streached, the higher the bubble the thinner it will get. ed roth asked me to get a bubble made for the beatnik bandit two and sent me a paper templit of the base and how high he wanted it, i made the ring and went back to same place and had it made and turned the bubble and wood ring over to him at a rf party.he later thought it was too high and used ring again to make another bubble but now it may look sleaker but if you notice in pics he cant fit in it with top down.i think mark used same method for his bubbles.you have to plan the purchase of correct thickness plastic to match the streach height so it does not breck when blowing up and that its not paper thin when it reaches the height you want.

 

So, what happened with this project? My friend has restored several Fiats and Fiat-Abarths and asks if I've heard any more about "his" Zar. Seems he really wants to see it done.

Dave

 

This car is soooo neat. And your drivetrain plan's are right on wild. -------ZarGate------

 

For a canopy style one. I think the easiest and cheapest way to go would be to shape a (male) foam plug on the car. Take a (female) mold off of that. Then suck and or blow your part in the glass mold.

 

Moriarty has a place out by him that can make bubble tops. they are making one for a friend of mine here in Michigan. get ahold of Moriarty for details...

 

Well, nothings going on with it yet, it's stored away, waiting for it's turn. I've been searching, (unsucessfully), for some documentation, but haven't found anything, YET! There's several other projects that I need to get together to finance the build of, ...several other projects!

 

Doing some random searching and found this old thread....any update or new information on the car? that things wild

 

Mr Gasser- you still got this thing, what ever happened with it?

 

hello from Perrysburg Ohio... Please post if you are, or have any information on the zar
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