1949 Bentley Boattail Speedster

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Heres a couple pics of the process of forming a fender piece. Not too clear, just the general idea. I first rolled the piece, then hammered it to get the 'compound' part, and then english wheeled the hammer marks out (second pic). Sometimes I need to re-hammer it a couple times and wheel it over--thats a lot faster than just moving the steel with the english wheel.

Then theres a lot of trimming and fitting--bending twisting etc (Last pic)..

Screwing the pieces on per Sammies suggestion is a good idea--easy to see what it's going to look like and adjust it around..

PA41
 

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Lookin good! I think you bondo when your patience runs out. They say 90% of the time is spent on the last 10% of the metal shaping. So get it 90% and start spreading filler. Just remember, you can't fill high spots, you have to beat them down.

Thanks DJ, I kinda expected to hear the last little bit took the majority of the work.. Story of my life--made Bs all through school, and an A took 2 or 3 times the effort--same way in life. Bs are good--getcha down the road...

Gotta let it rat..

I think If I do much more of this metal forming, I'll spend the time and $ making tools that will make these metal pieces--stamps-molds--press etc.. I'm more of a 'tool guy' than a craftsman.. I'm thinking an air over hydraulic jack for my shop press and make molds etc. out of Oak (got 200+ acres of trees and a sawmill)..

Just came to me--This would be a real good excuse--uh--I mean 'reason'--to get a CNC wood shaper--Man I NEED one of those.. Any shape you can want--program it--throw in a chunk of wood--pops out a mold-- It IS that easy--Right? Ignorance is FUN :)
PA41
 
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Now that you've got a good start, the key is to keep going and don't get hung up on perfection. An idea would be to screw it together then replace the screws with rivets. Make the rivets a detail. Welding, grinding, planishing takes forever and usually needs filler anyway (at least my welding does).

Still lookin good![cl
 
Multi Taskin!!! N Undershort weldin...:) If those skinny tatted up girls in the mags holding a cutting torch wearing a G-string can do it--then so can I!!

Man you can get alot done if ya ain't got all those interruptions!! (Mowin the yard--changing oil in the Toyota--(Honeydoos).

I cut and rough shaped both the rear inner fenders Sat N Sunday, and even watched the 500!! There are some lumps and grooves I need to roll out --I have tomorrow off, so will get them wheeled some more and maybe welded in tomorrow..Screwing them on is a good idea--easy to fit and see how they look, and remove and E-wheel some more. They are all screwed on now.

When do you decide its time to stop E-wheeling and start bondoing??

I built each inner fender in 3 pieces--the botom part was almost to big to use the roller on, also the freebee tool wouldn't hardly bend it--18ga is too much for it in large pieces. The lower section is not a compound curve--just a simple bend on a 45--I just repeated the bend from the factory side.. The 'peak' doesn't split the fender in the middle--kinda runs up the side a little, but it works. I used the peak as the edge of the panels and the flange as a attachment point.. I hammered the compound curve pieces after initially rolling them, then E-wheeled out the hammermarks, and they worked pretty good--time consuming-and ya gotta develope an 'eye' for it, that I may not quite have yet. Lots of lumps and grooves to massage out. I might lightly spray paint them and sand them a little to see the high/low spots. Quite alot more fitting and welding to do on them tomorrow.

Different work for me--pleasant--but my hands are kinda arthritic--been broken alot, and they hurt at night from all the hammering and wheeling--that's what Aleve's for--

PA41

KILLER!!:cool:

Yeah, that was James Hetfield's Auburn I was talking about earlier.

Keep up the GREAT work, PA![;)

Regards,
Shea:)
 
Now that you've got a good start, the key is to keep going and don't get hung up on perfection. An idea would be to screw it together then replace the screws with rivets. Make the rivets a detail. Welding, grinding, planishing takes forever and usually needs filler anyway (at least my welding does).

Still lookin good![cl

Yo DJ, Thanks for the input--always helpfull. I came to that same conclusion this afternoon--I could spend 40 hours on these fenders--easy. I worked on one trouble spot for 4-5 hours, and decided I need to get these in an adequate shape and move on so I welded them in. The factory Bentley fenders are in very poor shape--very rust eaten with lots of bondo from their last resurection--they really need the support of this new 18ga skin-structurally. I wish I had thought about the pop rivits, I've got a bundle of them and a good air powered gun--I used them racing all the time. They are suprizeingly strong. I plan to make more fenders now that I've got my feet wet--my 33 Dodge is my next ride to fender up after the Speedster is driveable..Got a plan!! Then I've got a couple Ts --

My wife came in after I got the fenders on solid and called me Batman!! Said the car was looking like the Batmobile-- Uh Oh--I'm seeing this Auburn/Duesy/Mormon Meteor thing, and everyone around here is going to see it as that 'Batmobile Car'!! :) Oh Well--Living in my own head..

I'm trying to get the bottom of the boattail/top finished off to match the fenders now. I like the 'stinger' look of the Meteor-In the last pic-not BatMobile-ish eather.

Might try for that look--I did a little more 'fun with art supplies' tonight and came up with these. The second shot is without any change after I welded in the fender work--need to trim the bottom even and may just leave it that way. The tape lines on the last pics are proposed cut lines.

Something to think on this week..


PA41
 

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looking sweet my man! keep it up! I think the shorter filler panels between the fenders and boat tail would look better. The last pick of the auburn kinda looks like a fan tail of an LHA (helo landing pad on a navy ship for the non militarily inclined). Over all it is coming out killer. [cl[P[;)
 
My wife came in after I got the fenders on solid and called me Batman!! Said the car was looking like the Batmobile-- Uh Oh--I'm seeing this Auburn/Duesy/Mormon Meteor thing, and everyone around here is going to see it as that 'Batmobile Car'!! :) Oh Well--Living in my own head..

PA41

HHH.jpg

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UH OH!! Look at the fenders--

I might be BATMAN!!!!


Identity crisis pending--more time with the shrink...


PA41 (Batman)?

Ya know where Batman goes when he needs to Pee?? Tha Batroom!!!
 
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I was digging through some of my hotrod junk and came up with these fenderskirts.. Look like they were made for it. Years of car junk collecting pays off.

Heres a 'with' and a 'without' shot from the same angle--Look how they make the rear look change--all filled in and bulked up.. Interesting how just one piece makes such a big difference.

PA41
 

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Women!! They can alway figure out how to ruin our fun -sometimes without even trying.

I'm not seeing Batmobile, in fact, it looks a lot like that Dusy in the photo. (You don't suppose that's where they got the idea for the Batmobile do you?) The skirts really look right.

Remember, just like in high school football, you've got to play through the pain. You're gettin there!
 
I was digging through some of my hotrod junk and came up with these fenderskirts.. Look like they were made for it. Years of car junk collecting pays off.

Heres a 'with' and a 'without' shot from the same angle--Look how they make the rear look change--all filled in and bulked up.. Interesting how just one piece makes such a big difference.

PA41

Definitely needs those skirts.
 
I'm agreeing UI, It looks sort of like those Foose/Decorides fenders.

Handy to have weird stuff laying around..

Thanks for the input-it's helpfull to hear peoples thoughts and tips.

PA41
 

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