Wooden Morgan: 1950 DHC - Week 12

The parking lights were made from a stick of Hop Hornbeam I filed to about 1/8" diameter spinning it in the electric drill.  Then shaped the tapered end and parted it off the stick and then repeated for the other one.  This gave me the two streamlined light housings.  The Hop Hornbeam bases were made by making a perpendicular cut across the edge of the work piece then drilling a 1/8" hole down the centre of the cut. (Just like making the jig for the door handles.) The drilled section was then cut from the wood giving me two pieces with half cylindrical slots to hold the parking lights.  These were then shaved and sanded to size and shape.

Next job was supposed to be turning hub caps and head lights at Al's using his lathe.  But on the morning of my appointment he had gotten a call that had him rushing to catch a flight to the U.K. so we only had about half an hour.  After sizing the work piece to the 0.85" diameter I want for the hub caps I figured I'd better let him go.  In saying goodbye I mentioned looking for a red coloured wood for tail lights, Al turned around picked up about a half board foot of Padauk and said, "Here you go."

I used the perpendicular saw guide to cut a wedge from the corner of the board.  Then cut off the thick end of the wedge.  The remaining wedge I sanded and applied some Tung Oil to get a feel for the finished look.  The little stick from the end of the wedge I shaved sort of round with the thumb plane and then mounted in the electric drill to spin it and file and sand it to 1/8" diameter.  These tail lights all have a chrome bezel so I drilled a 1/8" hole in the end of a scrap stick of Hop Hornbeam and glued the little dowel of Padauk in the hole.  This I cut out as a 5/32" x 5/32" square stick about 3/8" long.  Again using the thumb plane I rounded it enough to get it to spin without wobble in the drill as I filed and sanded it to 5/32" diameter.  The ends were then rounded over to give a lens and bezel look, and the piece cut in two.

The lights went on the vertical bit under the tail, with this lighting it looks like the brake lights are on.

While I was drilling the holes for the tail lights I decided to drill another in the recess under the tail for a tail pipe.

I completed the top of the spare hold down with another turned-in-the-drill short dowel of Hop Hornbeam with a 1/16" hole drilled across it guided by a door handle type jig.  I sanded down the tip of the 5/64" Hop Hornbeam dowel I have for the head light mounting bar until the tip would fit the spare hold down's 1/16" hole. A little smear of glue and it is ready for the final assembly of the spare wheels.

I have started applying the Tung Oil.  My new can of it is getting too old, the oil is getting thick.  But I found I have an old can that is fine.  Hopefully the two coats of the sticky stuff I put on will not interfere with the finish with the good stuff.

You can see the spare hold down and the tail pipe in the yellow squeeze clamp.

In preparation for Al's return, I'm taking his suggestion to make a template of the hub caps' profile.  If I can file the profile in one of the blanks that came with the edge beading tool then I can use that to make all the hub caps with the same profile.



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.
- 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
- Parking lights
- Tail lights
- Spare hold down


In progress:

- Apply Tung Oil finish.


To Do:

- Head lights
- Hub caps
- ? Morgan wings badge for the radiator?
- Install wheels and spares.