1931 Cadillac Coupe

[LiliB]

Hi everyone
We haven't been on the forum for a while, because David has been busy setting up his workshop. Now it's finished and he has few other things that need doing around the house, he is embarking on some more woodworking projects.

The plan for this Coupe is from Toys and Joys in the US, and it's a little more challenging than the previous two trucks he made.

The project is being done slowly, in between other jobs like pruning my hundred plus roses. Dave does love winter!!!

I bought him an oscillating bobbin sander, which has come in very useful for shaping curved parts. Much better than anything else out there. Highly recommended tool for anyone who might be thinking of getting one (Scheppach from Hare & Forbes $225). Nice motor, well constructed, comes with six bobbins from 1/2"-3"

The job is still waiting for assembly, with quite a few minor pieces to be still made. The wheels will be bought ones, dumb dumb here having ordered them by mistake when I bought the plans.

I'm going to have to get off my bottom and learn to use my airbrush which I got for Christmas, since finishing is my job. I want to achieve a deep lustre, and will be putting 5-6 coats of clear on the parts as I can get my hands on them. Red gum is not particularly lovely when its natural but takes on a lovely deep rich red when lacquered. So, don't be put off by how shabby the pieces look au naturale, because they really will be quite gorgeous if I can reach the standard I am aiming for in the finish.

Pics below, plus a couple of the workshop. Look and drool, those of you who need to share the garage with the car and caravan the way Dave used to. When a piece of timber flew off the table saw and went through the caravan front window flap AND the window, I thought it was time to make other arrangements for the woodworking hobby.

Cheers

Lili B
:U:U:U

[scotty60]

Nice clean shed plenty room,car looks great should look superb when finished:2tsup:

[munruben]

Wow another shed with no sawdust! How do you do that? :) Car looks great:2tsup::2tsup:

[munruben]

I bought him an oscillating bobbin sander, which has come in very useful for shaping curved parts. Much better than anything else out there. Highly recommended tool for anyone who might be thinking of getting one (Scheppach from Hare & Forbes $225). Nice motor, well constructed, comes with six bobbins from 1/2"-3"

Would love one of those but can't justify it to the minister of finance at the moment. :)

[wheelinround]

nice work and shed:2tsup:

[AUSSIE]

Glad to see you are back into it again.I was wondering about all those parts kits you got by mistake
(on your part)
I am glad you got the spindle sander,it is a must for shaping model parts in mho.
Looks like Dave is doing a great job there Lili.Keep the pics coming and one of the boss in action as well.
I am not keen on such a clean workshop though.It gives the rest of us a bad reputation.How do you do it? I couldnt see a dust collector or Vac in site.:C
Second look at pics___ I may have spotted a light grey Vac under bench

[LiliB]

Hi Aussie
I'm pleased to see Dave at it again. He really thrives doing this kind of thing. And I must admit, I love to watch the process coming to fruition. Yesterday I watched the headlights being made on the Proxxon micro lathe. What a gorgeous little machine. It has its limitations, but it's ideal for the small pieces needed in model making.

There's not much left to do. Plenty of cleaning up bits, rounding edges, making door handles, horns, the dashboard, even maybe some little badges for the grille. Then it'll be up to me to give it a good finish.

I think a big truck might be on the horizon, He is really intrigued by the size of the task, but I'd rather he did the Lincoln Town Car next, which I think is gorgeous.

I must admit I cheated a little with the pics of the shed. They were taken just on completion, however, I did read him the riot act last week and helped him clean it up. The Vac is indeed under the bench. His first piece of Festool equipment. A Christmas present from me. No excuse for not keeping the place pretty free of sawdust.

It's lovely, though, to be working in an organised environment where all the machines are at hand. Makes it much easier to achieve things more quickly. It's the librarian coming out in me, I love order!!

Cheers for now

LiliB
:U:U:U

[artme]

Love that shed LilliB!!! But I REALLY LOVE that there Cadillac!! :2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

How is Deni. holding up in these less than certain times? Haven't been there since umpring a cricket match years ago and then cleaning up an errant bullock on the way back to Leeton!:oo:

[LiliB]

Firstly, on behalf of Dave, thanks to those of you who gave such positive feedback.

The little Coupe is finished. I thought I'd be really clever and photograph all 3 vehicles Dave made since he first started on this hobby in December 2008. I put the early vehicles on the table ready for photographs when the Coupe was dry, but disaster struck!! Cat decided that the table was an interesting place to visit, and he jumped, knocked the wool truck off and broke the windscreen surround in 3 places. Needless to say, Dave was NOT IMPRESSED. Cat, young as he is, certainly knew he'd done something wrong.

I'm proud of how far David's building skill has come in about 18 months. The latest car is a cut above the first two, IMHO. I've also learned a bit about finishing. I tried out some advice I read in one of my books, to try gloss as base with satin on top. Should result in a deep lustre.I'm pleased with the result. What do others think?

I was going to make this finishing project my first with an airbrush, but the compressor made for hobbyists is so poor that I could make a sandwich between blasts of air, and Dave is going to look at making me a reserve tank, so the finish was one coat with the airbrush and several with the manual brush!!

The next project will probably be a Lincoln Town Car. I'd love him to do the Jaguar SS, but I'm not able to find out how people make their wire wheels. The fellow in Tasmania who featured in a Newspaper article that Aussie showed us, as well as the guy from Geelong who made those stunning models of motorcycles seems to have got the trick to getting the right look. I don't think they're bought. Does anyone know?

Anyhow, enough from me.
Hope you like the Coupe as much as I do.

Cheers
LiliB

[Billy]

top looking car there.
good finish so far too,
need more sawdust on everything in the shed though
cheers, billy

[wheelinround]

Lillib

Now thats a fantastic bit of work very impressive :2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[munruben]

Excellent lilib, Dave should be rightly proud of his efforts on all models. Looks like you did a mighty job on finishing too. Well done.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[scotty60]

Top job , Looks fantastic. The finish is a little bit hard to see probally but from the looks of it, it came up a treat.:2tsup::2tsup:

[LiliB]

Hi guys

Thanks for the positive comments. Dumb dumb here didn't realize until later, that the photos she'd taken of the coupe didn't come within a bull's roar of showing up the finish. Took the shots under artificial light, and really ought to know better.

Can't blame the camera, this time it was the operator. I also burned my fingers early in the job by clean forgetting to seal the grain, so the finish stood up like an indian's feather. I wouldn't get caught like that on a piece of furniture, but I went back to my painting childhood, doing this job. Guess it's a sign of encroaching old age.

I was so tickled with how good the little car looked to me, that I clean forgot the groundrules of finishing. So, what should have been an easy job stretched to a not so easy job. Made worse, by the fact that the mudguards were pine, which stood up like the hairs on my neck when I see a huntsman!!!

Now I'm no fan of pine usually, but I kind of like the contrast between the red gum and the pine. This is picked up nicely by the strips (Dave being a mechanic by trade naturally made them look just like they do on the cars he used to fit them to. Nice little pro's touch, the way he cut them for the door) and shaped the ends. It's the sort of thing the person on the street wouldn't notice, but I thought it was rather nice.

The colour is also echoed in the wheels (bought by mistake when I misordered on Joys and Toys) the lights and the strut "thingy" on the fold down roof.

I'm going to continue to pile on the coats of Satin, because I can still see grain in the light, and I didn't want that. If I'd known what a pain the airbrush was going to be I would have almost asked for Dave's Wagner HVLP gun. No problem with not getting enough coverage in one hit.!!! It'd probably come out like it was dipped!!!

Ah well, we live and learn.
Onwards and upwards. The next one won't be far away. First the Lincoln Town Car.

Then we're toying with doing a hot rod, just for fun. Then Dave can really indulge himself making mechanical bits. I'd like to paint it metallic purple or midnight blue, and paint flames along the side. I think I must still be a secret petrolhead. I do get a buzz out of seeing Scotty's hotrods. So professional, so cool.

Cheers for now
LiliB
:U:U:U

[artme]

Superb work there!!:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

Congrats to Dave and thank you for posting, LilliB.

[munruben]

I think the pine guards add a nice contrast and compliment the model:2tsup::2tsup:

[AUSSIE]

I think the pine guards add a nice contrast and compliment the model:2tsup::2tsup:
Is it pine? I thought it looked like Oregon.Like I have said before,I am not a wood expert by any stretch,but it looks like a lump of Oregon that I have here:?

[munruben]

Is it pine? I thought it looked like Oregon.Like I have said before,I am not a wood expert by any stretch,but it looks like a lump of Oregon that I have here:?Well I am no expert on timber either Ross, you could be right although it does resemble pine to me but then again, I haven't got any Oregon. Hey, you sure your Oregon isn't pine? Couldn't resist that. :)

[AUSSIE]

That could be right John.I Dun Oh:flasher::fartnew2::think2:
Any experts here? Stop your laughing at us and let us know what the timber is:D

[LiliB]

Trust me fellas

The mudguards are pine. Old pine posts from the backyard. Dave doesn't waste anything.

Recycled dog fence, built to keep our little dog out of my garden. Now that he's a pensioner, he does nothing but lie around and sleep, so he doesn't need constraining any more.

Cheers
LiliB
:U:U:U