Wooden Morgan: 1950 DHC - Week 11

    I blackened the tires with a black marker pen. Spinning the tires on the electric drill while marking gave me nice smooth lines at the rims.

    The body got sanded under the wings to smooth the transition to the flat section under the doors and remove wavers in the router cuts.  I also shaped the leading edge of rear wing where it goes down behind the tail of the front wing.

    I decided it would be easier to put in the steering wheel before the windscreen.  I made it from a piece of Black Walnut an eighth inch thick, cutting out a semi-circle of radius 11/16".  To get the smaller segment with the angled base for the steering wheel itself I made a holder by cutting a 31 degree angled slot across a piece of 1 by. I cut the wheel by wedging the semi circle in the slot with 3/8" showing and guiding the dovetail saw by pressing it against the block. 

    Sanding around the steering wheel revealed some deep tool marks in front of the folded hood area, meaning lots more sanding...


    I cut three more 1/16" thick pieces of Hop Hornbeam to complete the windscreen frame.  Then with toes crossed (I needed my fingers.) I glued on the windscreen and frame.

    I finally made use of a scraper my dad gave me many, many years ago, to square the windscreen pillars and get their sides flush with the side of the body.  It cuts slowly but can be controlled to prevent scratching the side of the car.  Then more sanding to blend the lines together.

    Next I turned rad and gas caps from Hop Hornbeam in the electric drill using a file, sanded them and glued them in place.

    The bases of the door handles were made the same way.  Then I cut a slot for the handle grip with the help of a jig with a 1/8" hole drilled down in the centre of a cut made with the dove tail saw.

    The handle grips are cut from left over radiator grill pieces.  After they were glued I sanded and filed them until I was happy with the shape.

    Last thing this week was to start working on the spare hold-down.  The part that clamps onto the tires was made from a scrap of the Hop Hornbeam, drilled in the centre to take a 5/64" dowel and then band sawed, chiseled, filed and sanded into shape.  I still need to make the part that screws onto the top of the hold-down.

The big chunk of Hop Hornbeam beside the car in the picture is earmarked to become hub caps and head lights.  And the body just needs a last check-over before applying the Tung oil.



To Do List Update:

Done:

- Cut outlines of the doors and the bonnet.
- Do a wood inlay of some Hop Hornbeam for the bonnet hinge.
- Do a wood inlay of some Hop Hornbeam for the side trim.
- Bonnet louvers
- Trafficators
- Wing scuff guards
- Bonnet catch knobs
- Router off under the wings.
- Round off edges of wings.
- Glue on the wings
- Router off under the wings.
- Round off edges of wings.
- Blacken tires.
- Smooth the line under the wings
- Steering wheel (top that shows above the door)
- Wind screen pillars
- Wind screen frame
- Gas and rad caps
- Door handles


In progress:

- Spare hold down


To Do:

- Head lights
- Parking lights
- Tail lights? (some do not have any in the pictures)
- Hub caps
- ? Morgan wings badge for the radiator?
- Apply Tung Oil finish.
- Install wheels and spares.

Wooden Morgan: 1950 DHC - Week 10

Most of my time this week was spent making 'extra fine' saw dust.  I do not want to have to squeeze the extra fine sand paper into all the sharp angles after assembly so I did it now. 

The wings were first, after plugging the punky centre, then I could  insert the scuff guards.  These were blackened using some Black Walnut stain on the Black Walnut wood.

I did some more cuts with the "V" chisel to outline the folded away hood (top).  Spent a couple of days sanding with 220 grit then I put in the bonnet catch handles.

Now I'm ready to glue on the wings.  I cleaned out the dowel holes along the lower edge of the wings and cut a three-wheeler spoke dowel into lengths to fit.

When the glue was dry I routered out a notch 3/16" high, 3/4" in under the wings and 1/2" in at the rear.

To make the slot in the windscreen pillars I made a jig to hold the little pieces.  A V cut along a piece of 1/2" pine with a hole for the router bit in the centre.

While I was using the drill press I also drilled a hole to take the rad cap.

I tried blackening the tires with the Black Walnut stain. (A home brew from Black Walnut husks and household ammonia cleaner.)  But it does not penetrate very much, a little rubbing with steel wool and it's gone. Maybe just use a marker pen...

I had to see how it is going to look:

Check List Update

Done:

- Cut outlines of the doors and the bonnet.
- Do a wood inlay of some Hop Hornbeam for the bonnet hinge.
- Do a wood inlay of some Hop Hornbeam for the side trim.
- Bonnet louvers
- Trafficators
- Wing scuff guards
- Bonnet catch knobs
- Router off under the wings.
- Round off edges of wings.
- Glue on the wings
- Router off under the wings.
- Round off edges of wings.

In progress:

- Wind screen pillars


To Do:

- Smooth the line under the wings
- Door handles
- Wind screen frame
- Head lights
- Hub caps
- Gas and rad caps
- Spare hold down
- Steering wheel (top that shows above the door)
- ? Morgan wings badge for the radiator?
- Blacken tires.
- Apply Tung Oil finish.
- Install wheels and spares.