I have been having a pleasant day down the garage, and got to thinking what a great learning experience building a roadster from scratch has been so far.
I have had far more satisfaction, and learned a lot more doing it all myself, than I would have just assembling a kit.
Some of the things I have done for the first time;
- Spray painting - OK, only blowing the chassis over, but you still get runs and sags if you get it wrong (which I did initially)
- Sheet metal work - So far I have cut and folded both side panels, and the rear tub is in position, just need to trim to size and fold over the top and bottom
- Fibreglass - I made a splash mould earlier, and it released first time
This is to let me widen the cheap nosecone I got off EBlag, which will become the plug for my own nosecone
I was fairly handy with general mechanics before, same with welding, but that has improved as well.
Sure, I could have bought any of these bits, and in the long run I will probably spend just as much, if not more, by doing it myself, but I will, eventually, be able to say "I made that - Yes, all of it"
I hope this is how other people feel, because there is a wide range of skill and experience on here.