Following the (I hope) immense popularity of the tale of the upper shell construction, Team Keen Photographer Martin has kindly developed his own picture story of the event. Quite behind the times, it nevertheless offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of composite-bodging…

The front fairing has just been fitted permanently to the shell.  This means that, instead of the previous solution of bolting the two pieces of carbon fibre together at discrete locations (which are then under more stress), the whole lip has been glued together using a two-part epoxy glue, and then an additional layer of carbon fibre has been resined around the outside of the join to provide strength.  As with all composites work this has to be followed by lots of filling and sanding, our favourite part of building the car….

Also on the composites front, hatches have been cut in the front and rear fairings to allow access to the wheels and suspension parts without removing the whole shell.  This should allow us to easily check the car over, and, for instance, change the tyres in the event of a flat.

- Mike

The Taming of the Mould

Conclusion

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

After much time had passed, the first layer was complete. Some extra carbon fibre strips were laid around the boundary. Much painting of corrosive, toxic resin was involved and, since, Lucy’s favourite stripy jester trousers had been bleached by the foul stuff, she took no chances and fully suited up in one of those protective things. Despite this, she still managed to get epoxy up her nose. This was not pleasant. Some unplanned extra composite material was also made when Lucy’s hair dipped in the resin by accident. After everything was laid up and resined, release film, felt and finally a vacuum bag were placed on top of the mould which fully sealed it. After some false starts with the vacuum cleaner and then the pump, most of the air was removed and a good 30 minutes spent listening for and plugging leaks. By 1am our heroes had almost reached the end of their task, at which point Kento, overzealous in his electrical safety of turning everything off, unplugged the pump which steadfastly refused to start until Rob did something magical. But Rob had almost run…
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The Taming of the Mould

Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

At this point, Rob revealed that, by using magical drill-bits, our heroes had impregnated the mould with magical properties, and by rubbing it, they would be able to conjure up a genie. First the mould was rubbed with sandpaper to smooth out the filler. Next the mould was rubbed with wax. Eventually, after much hard waxing, during which our heroes developed many outstanding martial arts powers as a side-effect, a genie did indeed appear, whose name was Amber, and granted our heroes three wishes.

Yesterday saw the finishing touches to the lower shell out in St Neot’s. Kento – that was an amazing job – well done! Additional thanks to everyone else who helped out. It was probably lucky that we got used to staying up until 4am writing our projects…most of us are still on Tokyo time.

The Taming of the Mould

Part 2

Part 1

Rob told our heroes that in order to free the beautiful shell, they must first tame the mould. He took them to a large workshop, and showed them the ribs belonging to the mould. They had to put all the ribs back together in their proper shape and screw them down before daybreak. But alas! On trying to fit the ribs of the mould together, Kento and Lucy discovered that two pieces were missing without which the great monster would never be trapped. Undeterred, Kento ventured into the forest until he met a lumberjack. The lumberjack – Mark – helped Kento cut replacements for the missing pieces out of wood which were, as it turned out, 2mm too thick. But the lumberjack was good and kind and sanded down the bits until they fitted with the rest of the ribs – even though he got completely covered with dust and looked utterly ridiculous.

Today is a joyous day for all, for the upper shell has been completed! The following tale of its birth is of such epic proportions that it has been serialised. With apologies to Hans Christian Andersen…