54 Pontiac Bonneville Special.

[customsrus]

This is one I started about 13 years ago but could never get the canopy right so in storage it went. Amt 53 corvette that I moved the interior back and did major surgery to the body (there’s just too much to list). Semi scratched built frame  ,made front spindles, exhaust made from round tubing. I resin cast a Mercedes straight 8, scratched built brackets and exhaust and intake manifold. I have most everything needed to get it done but have been unable  to get the canopy right. I have tried to vacuum form it with different thickness of clear plastic but all have tuned into a disaster. Any help on what to do for the canopy would be appreciated. I included a picture of the real car. Thanks for looking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by customsrus
New pictures

[DumpyDan]

Wow that is amazing work, I wonder if you have tried to make a wooden buck and then heat plastic over the buck then trim.  Just a thought.  Would love to see this finished, keep it up!

[camaro69]

Hey John, still a rough shape but this is custom work. Wow!

[espo]

Major plastic surgery going on here. 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Lots going on there. Some good looking starts to things. I will soon be trying to shape some windows. I'm going to try clear styrene in hot water, to shape.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Found some clear vinyl baseball card envelopes, soft and pliable. Might give that a try.

[customline]

I think bubble packaging might yield something.  Hit a few stores that sell stuff like small toys and household items. I have my wife trained to show me every item with clear flat and bubble packaging that enters the house. It's stuff you throw away, see it in a new light ?. You probably know this. I would just throw a windshield on it ?

[customsrus]

5 hours ago, DumpyDan said:

Wow that is amazing work, I wonder if you have tried to make a wooden buck and then heat plastic over the buck then trim.  Just a thought.  Would love to see this finished, keep it up!

I have a buck for it. i really don’t know why this one is so hard to make a canopy for. Hopefully I can make one soon. 

[customsrus]

4 hours ago, camaro69 said:

Hey John, still a rough shape but this is custom work. Wow!

Thanks. Finished with the mods on the body just have to do some filling in here and there. 

[customsrus]

3 hours ago, espo said:

Major plastic surgery going on here. 

Definitely a lot of work done to this, hopefully I can get it done. 

[customsrus]

3 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Lots going on there. Some good looking starts to things. I will soon be trying to shape some windows. I'm going to try clear styrene in hot water, to shape.

 

1 hour ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Found some clear vinyl baseball card envelopes, soft and pliable. Might give that a try.

Thanks for your comments. I may have to try the baseball cards. Everything else I’ve tried doesn’t seem to work. 

[customsrus]

43 minutes ago, customline said:

I think bubble packaging might yield something.  Hit a few stores that sell stuff like small toys and household items. I have my wife trained to show me every item with clear flat and bubble packaging that enters the house. It's stuff you throw away, see it in a new light ?. You probably know this. I would just throw a windshield on it ?

I have my wife bringing different types of plastic containers from the grocery store. So far nothing has worked out. If all else fails I may have to go a different route on the canopy. I have a few futura canopies left. Lol

[customline]

47 minutes ago, customsrus said:

I have my wife bringing different types of plastic containers from the grocery store. So far nothing has worked out. If all else fails I may have to go a different route on the canopy. I have a few futura canopies left. Lol

As I look at that "canopy" I'm thinking " who would think a plastic  bubble on a car would be a big seller? "......I guess if it had a/c......still.....it would be cool in a snow storm.  What about sun visors?....bubbles go way back.  Made good sense on a fighter aircraft. But a car?  Who was that "hey! I got a dynamite idea!" guy?  Maybe a GM vice president, huh?

Edited September 6, 2023 by customline
Added more b s

[NOBLNG]

Sorry I can’t help you with the canopy John. You’ve sure done some nice surgery and sculpting so far. I hope you get the canopy issue solved because I’d sure like to see this one cross the finish line. Here’s a picture I found online.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by NOBLNG

[customline]

It looks like a vampire toad.

[bobss396]

In a nutshell, the canopy is a model in itself. ZERO room for error, it has to be right on the money. Good luck. I have a couple of stalled chop-top projects that need glass formed for them.

[dino246gt]

Wow, that's quite a major amount of work! I love it!

 

[RomanII]

Can you post a pic of the buck you have used in vacuum forming attempts?  

Also, are you attempting to create a piece that will fit inside your already constructed framework?  If so, I would respectfully recommend forming the glass first and then adding the framework on the outer surface of that.  

Have you considered blow molding the piece instead of vacuum forming?  Obviously you would need a negative mold to push the clear plastic into.  But that might be easy to make by casting your existing windshield buck.

I hope you can figure the best way to get the top.  This is too much work to leave sitting in a box unfinished.

 

 

[customsrus]

On 9/5/2023 at 7:53 PM, customline said:

It looks like a vampire toad.

Lol

[customsrus]

17 hours ago, bobss396 said:

In a nutshell, the canopy is a model in itself. ZERO room for error, it has to be right on the money. Good luck. I have a couple of stalled chop-top projects that need glass formed for them.

Tell me about it. This thing is driving me crazy  

[customsrus]

13 hours ago, dino246gt said:

Wow, that's quite a major amount of work! I love it!

 

Thanks for your comment 

[customsrus]

6 hours ago, RomanII said:

Can you post a pic of the buck you have used in vacuum forming attempts?  

Also, are you attempting to create a piece that will fit inside your already constructed framework?  If so, I would respectfully recommend forming the glass first and then adding the framework on the outer surface of that.  

Have you considered blow molding the piece instead of vacuum forming?  Obviously you would need a negative mold to push the clear plastic into.  But that might be easy to make by casting your existing windshield buck.

I hope you can figure the best way to get the top.  This is too much work to leave sitting in a box unfinished.

 

 

Here’s a picture of the buck and the vacuum former I’m using. 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by customsrus
Added picture and text

[customsrus]

This is what I mean by failed attempts to form the canopy. No matter what thickness of material I’m using it comes out so thin I can put my finger through it just by handing the piece. 

[RomanII]

Do you know someone who has a vac forming machine with a larger surface area?  I think you may have too much buck for that device to handle.

[Deathgoblin]

What about the type of plastic?  I've been watching a series of YouTube videos by PaulRestorer where he rebuilds old die-cast cars, and he uses PLA plastic for the clear parts in a vacuform machine.  PLA is pretty tough stuff.  I dropped a model of the USS Kyushu (Star Trek) that was PLA and it bounced.  

Edited September 8, 2023 by Deathgoblin