Hi All,

In the mid 1980's I was stationed at NAS Miramar California, (The
place they shot the "Top Gun" movie) I had 1979 Triumph Spitfire
1500, but had to give it up (the Navy had other plans for me).

I was recently given a second chance, and bought a 75 Spitfire. It is
amazing what 30 years will do to a car (sadly, it had not been kept up
as well as the first).

I am recreating the valences forward of the radiator out of ABS
plastic. Eventually I will be getting to the side valences. Then I am
going to tackle the glove boxes. All made of that cardboard stuff.

I am also a member of one of the paper model groups here on Google, and
I am finding that some of the skills I developed for that hobby (and
some of my old aviation skills) are paying off as I bring my Spitfire
up to speed.

I have two questions:

1. Does anyone know of a paper model (or a CAD like file) of a Spitfire
out there?

2. What was with the treated cardboard, why that and not something
else?


Thanks,

R/
Howard
Columbus, Ohio.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Howard" <pnhnt (AT) insight (DOT) rr.com>
saying something like:

Cheapness, pure and simple. Dead easy to mould a paper slurry in a glove
box shape. Many of the BL/BMC cars at the time had paper[1] components
inside where nobody would see them - door panels, glove boxes, etc.

It was quite common in the motor industry at the time and before cheap
plastic moulding was properly developed.

[1] I use the word paper loosely to include cardboard, hardboard, and
any other paper-based or woodpulp material.
--

Dave
SE6a

In article <1151246747.685110.227790 (AT) m73g2000cwd (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
Howard <pnhnt (AT) insight (DOT) rr.com> wrote:
Commonly known as fibreboard. And used by just about every car maker at
that time. Not really much worse than the cheap plastics used these days
and unlikely to survive 30 years intact.

--
*How come you never hear about gruntled employees? *

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article <3r50a29re8r0v7lukdmmb5mi9re1ge4dfb (AT) 4ax (DOT) com>,
Grimly Curmudgeon <grimly4REMOVE (AT) REMOVEgmail (DOT) com> wrote:
It's easy to criticize, but what material would you have used in those
days for this purpose on a cheap car?

--
*Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)"
<dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk> saying something like:

Fibreglass. Cheap, strong and unaffected by damp. My abiding memory of
paper-product parcel shelves and gloveboxes is the unstraightness of
them, caused by humidity.
--

Dave
SE6a

In article <ugs0a2hs1181n68k84a1e3m4co5047ppbv (AT) 4ax (DOT) com>,
Grimly Curmudgeon <grimly4REMOVE (AT) REMOVEgmail (DOT) com> wrote:
Maybe - but try pricing out the cost in a mass produced car. They would
have had to be made by hand.

Yes - it's not an ideal material. ;-)

The instrument cover on my SD1 is fibreboard and they all warp. A club
member has threatened to reproduce them in fibreglass but so far no show -
despite many provisional orders.

--
*Never test the depth of the water with both feet.*

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave,

Thank you. That does make some sense. I guess it was just a matter of
what they had at the time.

Maybe they had a good idea but did not take it far enough. Paper Mache
cars. Consumers could make their own body modifications, and it would
be faster than fiberglass, and without all the itching.

R/
Howard


Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

Dave,

I can vouch for the 30 years (31 to be exact) not staying intact. I
have the stuff broken up in parts in the garage.

So, they used inexpensive paper pulp and yet were environmentally
conscience. That works for me.

Thanks

R/
Howard

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Hi Yippee

I noticed that they had just used straight board. This will make it so
much easier for me to replicate it. When making paper models, I have
fournd that curves have a tendency to complicate the design and
construction. I also like that they are open, nothing hidden. My
passenger one even has parts in it now. I don't know what they are
for, but it has parts.

Thanks Y

R/
Howard


Yippee wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)"
<dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk> saying something like:

Chopped sprayed mat and resin - no hand laying necessary. Mind you, I
don't know if that technique was around 30/40 years ago.
--

Dave
SE6a