Making the nose cone....

[Wynand]

Although Im not building a Haynes roadster, but a McSorley 442E chassis, I decided from word go that Im not building a kit car, meaning everything possible I will make myself. Btw, nose cone, bonnet etc not available for the wide nose 442E in my country anyhow...

The chassis is completed with WB's etc, engine fitted, but all stripped again to bare chassis for the body parts to be made. Thereafter I will send it for sandblasting and painting before finally assembling the car.
The front wings are made so the rear mudguards - used 3mm Coremat in the laminated - strong and light.
The body sides and rear panel will be ally, leaving me the scuttle, bonnet and nose cone to be made, and I started with the nosecone.

My criteria for the nosecone was to be streamlined, meaning the side panels have to joint to it with no or big gaps as is the case with most nose cones that is box shaped at the sides. That leave some of the front chassis slanting upright exposed, but a little triangle plate will be welded to the chassis and indicator light will fit to that covering the exposed steel.

The Nose Cone

Firstly I built a rough cheap particle board "box" mimicking the basic shape of the nose cone, lined it with newspaper and poured expanded closed cell polyurethane into the box. When cured, removed the foam block and temp fit on the chassis, using a batten and straight edge to roughly shaped the foam to the nose cone shape.

I then filled some dents etc with a homemade mix of resin and talc to get the shape approximately. Then covered the whole foam plug with 450g/m2 CSM.
Then I started to smooth the surface and curves with a fairing compound I made from GRP Micro-Balloons and GP resin. This bog is extremely lightweight and sand very easily and perfect for the job. I used about 4 liter of the stuff to get the plug reasonable accepted.

Next I cut some wood strips to put on the edge of the cone at the wishbone sides and faired in with the bog.
Then followed a coat of 2K epoxy paint to highlight all the rough spots, lines etc. It fits quite nicely on the chassis and I include a few photos of the procedure thus far.

My next step will be put the final fairing onto the plug and for this I will use body putty and get the curves and lines perfect which is still very rough now. Then a final coat of paint, about 7 coats of ram wax and the mold will be take from that, which incidentally will be a split mold.
The nose cone will also be CoreMat sandwich layup.

The scuttle plug is also underway and soon a mold will be taken from that as well...

[Wynand]

some more pics

[Talonmotorsport]

Nice work there well done for having a crack at it.

[flyerncle]

All credit to you Wynand,a lot of hard work for a good result.

[ozzy1]

Looking good.Dont think i would have the patience to do it so fair play to you for having a go.

[Wynand]

The nose cone plug is now finished and tomorrow I will take a mold from that What an experience it was (elbow grease) and very fulfilling by achieving a pleasing result from the challenge and gives meaning to the saying "necessity is the mother of invention".
Would I do it again? No, period. Would rather buy a Locost nose cone, cut it in four pieces and make it fit and live with the less than perfect shape and curve resulting from such surgery....

Here are some pics of the finished plug.

[shaun]

Good job there Wynand, maybe you can sell those to SA builders...reminds me of the saying...' 'n boer maak a plan'

[shh120m]

looks awesome mate, how many hours did you put into it?

nathan

[Wynand]

Originally Posted by shh120m

looks awesome mate, how many hours did you put into it?

Shaun, goeie dag vriend, hoe kan jy in daardie nat en koue plek bly?
Sorry guys, some private gossip meant for Shaun eyes only

Nathan, from start to finished plug took total of 56 hours...

Thanks for all the compliments chaps - made the effort worthwhile

[Wynand]

Just an update on this project....

The mold was made - split mold which split on the bonnet flange and easy to sand off the joint on gelcoat of molding - and the nose cone molding taken off mold.
The nose cone has 3mm CoreMat sandwiched between 450g CSM layers and the nose cone is so stiff, one can stand on it without deforming it! Total weight of the nose cone is 5.1kg

Here are some pictures of the mold taken and the end result. The white gelcoat is streaky and done on purpose. Since yours truly hates gelcoat (repair boats daily and knows its sins) I only used enough to get a smooth finish on the laminate. This will be flatted down and the nose cone painted with some proper epoxy paints that is light years better than GC....