I am making a decor panel to disguise some rather industrial looking hinges on my gull wing windows and ended up with this ....
It is worth mentioning that everything will be painted body colour when done.


[Edited on 25-8-06 by RazMan]
Rescued attachment roof panel4.jpg

I am thinking of putting some mesh in the front, making it look like a small roof vent - I could even make it funcional at a later date.
Rescued attachment roof panel3.jpg

So what do you think guys? I know you will be honest with me so say what you feel!

looks good. would look bettwer with a shark fin ariel on the back to follow the sweeping lines?

just a thought

EDIT: my spelling is aweful

[Edited on 25/8/06 by nib1980]

Thumbs up from me..

Looking good, i might of tried to fit some sort of air intake at the front maybe?

quote:

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Originally posted by scotty g
Looking good, i might of tried to fit some sort of air intake at the front maybe?

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I'd blend it in more. so its more organic etc. Just my 2p.

Point taken - I am going to blend the whole lot in to take away the sharp join lines.

Is it possible to widen it to hide more of the hinge, and include a cutaway for the parts that are currently siting on the body? Might look even more integrated that way, but looks good anyway. Mesh to disguise a scoop would probably improve it but difficult to tell until it is all one colour.

Originally I started out with a wider version but decided it looked too clumsy and trimmed it back.

I know what you mean though - the hinges might look better when the edges are chamfered down a little and painted the same colour.

Update: I have incorporated some of the suggestions made and have now come up with the Mk3 roof panel...
Rescued attachment Mk3 Roof Panel 1.jpg

It has still got to be blended in but you get the rough idea ...
Rescued attachment Mk3 Roof Panel 2.jpg

tht version is better; but being picky - can you extend it to cover some of the hinge or will that interfere with the door opening?

I could probably extend the hinge cover area another 10mm or so to cover more of the pivot pin - any more than that and it will risk getting hit when the door is opened.

When you said “chamfering down the edges” I thought you meant the hinges. I think they are a little too square to fit in. Is it possible to chamfer or round the upper edge slightly? (only did one hinge in the pic.)
Maybe a small radius in the corners of the hinge slots.


DOP2

Cool That looks miles better well done nice job , looks more like its there for a purpose now
how did you build it up ?
is it just fiberglass filler and normal filler?

That's pretty much it really - I made a matt & resin baseplate and bonded the previous version to it with bonding paste, then filled in the rest with fibre filler and topped it off with normal filler and shaped it all with production paper.

The vent is cosmetic at the moment although I might be doing something about that later.

I thought about your idea of applying filler to the hinges to make everything flush but the their shape didn't make it easy so I had to compromise. I have since covered the hinge pivots a little more which makes everything a little smoother visually and I have now got to blend the whole thing together - but thats another day

What are you using to fabricate these pieses out of?

What about using hot rod style hidden hinges??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-Hidden-Door-Hinge-hinges-Plans-Std-or-Suicide_W0QQitemZ260026207770QQihZ016QQcategoryZ10076QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem

Kango - They are made from very rough moulds in glass loaded resin. In the main section I moulded in a steel rod to give it more strength. This produces a rather heavy part but much quicker than making proper moulds, although I might be doing this depending on time limits.

Locostv8 - The reason I used external hinges was really due to the design limitation of the centre section (which I had already bonded to the chassis) If I could turn the clock back I would mould in recessed hinges but I was too impatient to get the car nailed together

I was going to ask how aeon had dealt with this problem.

Short answer seems to be that they haven't...

quote:

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Originally posted by stevebubs
I was going to ask how aeon had dealt with this problem.

Short answer seems to be that they haven't...

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Looks good.
Is the vent open or closed at the moment?
Open with no outlet wouldn't be good.

At the moment there is just a small recess behind the vent so it is just cosmetic. I might try and make it functional and feed some fresh air into the cabin with an eyeball vent but I think rainwater would be a problem so it might stay as it is..

Final version - blended and ready for painting. I will paint the hinges & doors in the same colour.

.

I'd have the vents in the side windows Le Mans style rather than the roof and leave the grill as a cosmetic touch. The rest looks very good now it's blended in. What colour is it going to be when it's finished?

The whole car will be 'scooby blue' with the odd silver accent here and there.

As you said, I will probably put helicopter vents in the side windows, and I have already piped fresh air into the heater intake. That will hopefully stop me cooking in a hot summer - although the window sections are designed to be removable for true open top motoring.

I must say the final article looks great. It must have taken ages to come up with that small detail but makes it look very well thought out. Well done from me.