New Prototype Kit Car...
Discussion
If you're after inspiration for a sports car interior that combines modern and classic check out what TVR did with cars like the Griffith and Chimaera. Traditional wood, leather and round dials, but with a very modern look.
Maybe I'm biased, but when it comes to car interiors nobody does it better than us Brits.
Maybe I'm biased, but when it comes to car interiors nobody does it better than us Brits.
BladeX1 said:
Hey guys…
Ok finally got my doors fully functioning now with hinges and door latches. Also I temporary mounted the Windshield and A-pillars. I also went out and picked up all the weather stripping for the hard top and doors to insure that I had a proper seal and made sure everything was aligned the right way.
Is that a Mazda mx5 windshield ?, looking good so far....Ok finally got my doors fully functioning now with hinges and door latches. Also I temporary mounted the Windshield and A-pillars. I also went out and picked up all the weather stripping for the hard top and doors to insure that I had a proper seal and made sure everything was aligned the right way.
Cheers
Italo
Edited by fuoriserie on Wednesday 14th November 14:24
Wasn't this car a Pistonheads headline a while back?
Seem to remember I wasn't sure what to make of the front end when I first saw it, but I've definitely changed my mind. That's an awesome looking car you've got there. Strikes the balance between retro muscle car and modern originality just right
Look forward to seeing it in the flesh.
Seem to remember I wasn't sure what to make of the front end when I first saw it, but I've definitely changed my mind. That's an awesome looking car you've got there. Strikes the balance between retro muscle car and modern originality just right
Look forward to seeing it in the flesh.
fuoriserie said:
BladeX1 said:
Hey guys…
Ok finally got my doors fully functioning now with hinges and door latches. Also I temporary mounted the Windshield and A-pillars. I also went out and picked up all the weather stripping for the hard top and doors to insure that I had a proper seal and made sure everything was aligned the right way.
Is that a Mazda mx5 windshield ?, looking good so far....Ok finally got my doors fully functioning now with hinges and door latches. Also I temporary mounted the Windshield and A-pillars. I also went out and picked up all the weather stripping for the hard top and doors to insure that I had a proper seal and made sure everything was aligned the right way.
Cheers
Italo
Edited by fuoriserie on Wednesday 14th November 14:24
Hey guys…
Yes the windshield, hardtop and doors are all from a Miata MX5… However I am only using them for the glass and window mechanisms. The doors will be a complete different shape but will use the MX5 side glass. By doing this I have can use standard glass and parts without having to have them specialty made for me. Also I can use the same weather-stripping and seals. The hardtop will be cut and extended and the top will be modified to look like my design. Once everything is done you will not be able to really tell it has MX5 parts on it at all.
A lot of production cars use parts from other makes and models to cut down on manufacturing cost. This is where I got the idea to use some parts from a common car like the MX5 for ease of getting parts and replacing parts. As for the parts that’s all I am using everything is custom or aftermarket.
- Neal
Yes the windshield, hardtop and doors are all from a Miata MX5… However I am only using them for the glass and window mechanisms. The doors will be a complete different shape but will use the MX5 side glass. By doing this I have can use standard glass and parts without having to have them specialty made for me. Also I can use the same weather-stripping and seals. The hardtop will be cut and extended and the top will be modified to look like my design. Once everything is done you will not be able to really tell it has MX5 parts on it at all.
A lot of production cars use parts from other makes and models to cut down on manufacturing cost. This is where I got the idea to use some parts from a common car like the MX5 for ease of getting parts and replacing parts. As for the parts that’s all I am using everything is custom or aftermarket.
- Neal
Chris71 said:
Wasn't this car a Pistonheads headline a while back?
Seem to remember I wasn't sure what to make of the front end when I first saw it, but I've definitely changed my mind. That's an awesome looking car you've got there. Strikes the balance between retro muscle car and modern originality just right
Look forward to seeing it in the flesh.
Interesting… I did not know it was on the headline. If you can find it let me know I would like to see what was said about it. Seem to remember I wasn't sure what to make of the front end when I first saw it, but I've definitely changed my mind. That's an awesome looking car you've got there. Strikes the balance between retro muscle car and modern originality just right
Look forward to seeing it in the flesh.
- Neal
Hello everyone…
Just another update… things are moving along nicely. I reworked the foam on the working doors now. Everything is still rough but you can really see the shape coming together. Reworking the foam with the actual doors in place was much harder than it was to build them out of wood/foam. For some reason I thought it would have been easier. Now that I have full functioning doors and windows I feel better about being able to keep all the dimensions and measurements true and accurate.
Anyway let me know what you think…
Also I have posted a gallery at my site with more photos…
http://www.baileyspeed.com/gallery2/main.php
- Neal
Just another update… things are moving along nicely. I reworked the foam on the working doors now. Everything is still rough but you can really see the shape coming together. Reworking the foam with the actual doors in place was much harder than it was to build them out of wood/foam. For some reason I thought it would have been easier. Now that I have full functioning doors and windows I feel better about being able to keep all the dimensions and measurements true and accurate.
Anyway let me know what you think…
Also I have posted a gallery at my site with more photos…
http://www.baileyspeed.com/gallery2/main.php
- Neal
Hey guys…
It’s been a while since any updates… so here is a quickie.
I don’t have much to post in the way of pictures as I have had to rework some of the foam panels and wooden forms on the front hood area. I had a little accident with a failed jack and the front end came crashing down. This did not cause any damage as it only fell a few inches… but it did shift two wooden forms of which I had to realign with my crazy makeshift laser system. I stayed up till 3:30am last night fixing the alignment of the panels… I re-foamed a few sections and everything is measuring just perfect now. Once I clean up all the mess I will take a few pictures… it looks like one of those fake snow scenes in my garage except the snow is pink!!
Also I am still waiting on some supplies of resin and lots of body filler for prepping the main surface. I have a few issues with that as well. Its difficult finding the right materials that will not react and melt the polyester foam. So far I am left with covering the foam with an epoxy resin and fiberglass mat for support. I was hoping to use a standard polyester resin or vinyl ester as it’s a LOT cheaper to get. My first idea was to paint the car with a latex house paint to protect the foam from reacting with the resin, well this did not work. So back to using the super expensive epoxy resin.
Anyway I will make it work one way or the other. I just don’t want to end up with a bunch of gooey napalm like goo on the floor.
Today I woke up to find my car in two magazines… crazy huh? It’s not even a real car yet. LOL. I posted the articles on my site… one is an 8 page full spread!... can’t believe it really.
Oh yeah can anyone translate Romanian and German. LOL. The article look cool… but I can’t read either of them.
Romanian Super Car Magazine:
http://www.baileyspeed.com/articles/COX_SuperCar_B...
German Rich People magazine:
http://www.baileyspeed.com/articles/MARKT_Magazin....
Also there is another one coming out in an Austria Luxury Magazine. I will post that one when they send the PDF.
- Neal
It’s been a while since any updates… so here is a quickie.
I don’t have much to post in the way of pictures as I have had to rework some of the foam panels and wooden forms on the front hood area. I had a little accident with a failed jack and the front end came crashing down. This did not cause any damage as it only fell a few inches… but it did shift two wooden forms of which I had to realign with my crazy makeshift laser system. I stayed up till 3:30am last night fixing the alignment of the panels… I re-foamed a few sections and everything is measuring just perfect now. Once I clean up all the mess I will take a few pictures… it looks like one of those fake snow scenes in my garage except the snow is pink!!
Also I am still waiting on some supplies of resin and lots of body filler for prepping the main surface. I have a few issues with that as well. Its difficult finding the right materials that will not react and melt the polyester foam. So far I am left with covering the foam with an epoxy resin and fiberglass mat for support. I was hoping to use a standard polyester resin or vinyl ester as it’s a LOT cheaper to get. My first idea was to paint the car with a latex house paint to protect the foam from reacting with the resin, well this did not work. So back to using the super expensive epoxy resin.
Anyway I will make it work one way or the other. I just don’t want to end up with a bunch of gooey napalm like goo on the floor.
Today I woke up to find my car in two magazines… crazy huh? It’s not even a real car yet. LOL. I posted the articles on my site… one is an 8 page full spread!... can’t believe it really.
Oh yeah can anyone translate Romanian and German. LOL. The article look cool… but I can’t read either of them.
Romanian Super Car Magazine:
http://www.baileyspeed.com/articles/COX_SuperCar_B...
German Rich People magazine:
http://www.baileyspeed.com/articles/MARKT_Magazin....
Also there is another one coming out in an Austria Luxury Magazine. I will post that one when they send the PDF.
- Neal
Hi Neal,
Sorry to hear of the mishap, and glad it didn't cause too much damage.
Have you considered using clay to finish it? It may work out cheaper & it's certainly easier to modify (I was using filler for a while, but got fed up with reworking what I'd done). I'm using Chavant from these folks:
http://www.styling-clay.co.uk/styling_clays.asp?ID...
Sorry to hear of the mishap, and glad it didn't cause too much damage.
Have you considered using clay to finish it? It may work out cheaper & it's certainly easier to modify (I was using filler for a while, but got fed up with reworking what I'd done). I'm using Chavant from these folks:
http://www.styling-clay.co.uk/styling_clays.asp?ID...
Ok Guys… major update here.
Over the past week I have made a decision to make slight changes to the front end of the Blade to address some concerns and possible issues.
First possible issue is with the headlights… this has been something that I knew was an area of concern because my original design placed them rather low to the ground. I did a lot of research and found that placing them at the height of 22” from the ground to center of the light was the minimum height allowed, and for Europe it’s as low as 19.6” inches. However I have learned some new details about this and it seems that 22” inches is ok for some States but not all. The actual national minimum for specialty cars is 24” inches so this means that I need to move my light at least two inches higher. This unfortunately means that I will have to redesign the front end because I had already moved them as high as possible at 22”.
So back to the drawing board…
After thinking about how to fix this little problem… ugh! (Did I say little?) I decided to take this opportunity to address some other design issues as well. As a lot you know the plan has always been to keep this car affordable and honestly the current headlights were anything but affordable. I decided to find a standard head light assembly and incorporate this into the new design. The great thing about the new light is that it contains everything needed for the front end lighting… it includes the projector main light, high beam, turn signal and reflector all in one unit. And everything is DOT, SAE and ECE legal. Can’t ask for anything more really… This simplifies the whole lighting issue and makes installation super easy.
Along with the lights one of the other things I also wanted to address is the over all styling of the front end… while it is aggressive and unique I felt that was lacking a little from the side profile. This was also and area that many people commented about as well. This car has received a lot of attention on the internet and I do not want to change the design up too much, so I tried to keep the unique features while incorporating the new lights and addressing some of the styling concerns.
List of changes:
Headlights are moved up to locate the center of light 25” from ground.
New headlight design using standard headlights from a 2008 Mazda 3.
Nose of hood has been narrowed for better aerodynamics.
Air Ducts sized smaller and over all height is reduced.
Added vertical vent diffusers for looks and to direct air flow.
Here are some of the first concepts of the redesign… the only area I changed was the front end.
Please comment and give feed back… so far some of the people I have shown this to seem to like it better than the first design.
- Neal
Over the past week I have made a decision to make slight changes to the front end of the Blade to address some concerns and possible issues.
First possible issue is with the headlights… this has been something that I knew was an area of concern because my original design placed them rather low to the ground. I did a lot of research and found that placing them at the height of 22” from the ground to center of the light was the minimum height allowed, and for Europe it’s as low as 19.6” inches. However I have learned some new details about this and it seems that 22” inches is ok for some States but not all. The actual national minimum for specialty cars is 24” inches so this means that I need to move my light at least two inches higher. This unfortunately means that I will have to redesign the front end because I had already moved them as high as possible at 22”.
So back to the drawing board…
After thinking about how to fix this little problem… ugh! (Did I say little?) I decided to take this opportunity to address some other design issues as well. As a lot you know the plan has always been to keep this car affordable and honestly the current headlights were anything but affordable. I decided to find a standard head light assembly and incorporate this into the new design. The great thing about the new light is that it contains everything needed for the front end lighting… it includes the projector main light, high beam, turn signal and reflector all in one unit. And everything is DOT, SAE and ECE legal. Can’t ask for anything more really… This simplifies the whole lighting issue and makes installation super easy.
Along with the lights one of the other things I also wanted to address is the over all styling of the front end… while it is aggressive and unique I felt that was lacking a little from the side profile. This was also and area that many people commented about as well. This car has received a lot of attention on the internet and I do not want to change the design up too much, so I tried to keep the unique features while incorporating the new lights and addressing some of the styling concerns.
List of changes:
Headlights are moved up to locate the center of light 25” from ground.
New headlight design using standard headlights from a 2008 Mazda 3.
Nose of hood has been narrowed for better aerodynamics.
Air Ducts sized smaller and over all height is reduced.
Added vertical vent diffusers for looks and to direct air flow.
Here are some of the first concepts of the redesign… the only area I changed was the front end.
Please comment and give feed back… so far some of the people I have shown this to seem to like it better than the first design.
- Neal
BladeX1 said:
I do have one comment though - the square-ish raised portion of the bonnet at the base of the screen jars a little with me. It seems to be a bit out of line with the rest of the "swooping and edgy" feel that you've got going on and have integrated really well.
BladeX1 said:
I can tell you one thing regarding lights though - if you're using LED indicators you need to make sure there is a resistor in the circuit so that when the LED fails the resistor load makes the indicators flash quicker than normal. This means you know when your indicators fail - it's a trait of having bulbs which has had to be engineered in to the circuit when we now use LED's. I don't know who you're using for lights, but if you're using Hella, they know all about this. One more tip the hella "ring" range of 80mm and 50-55mm lamps and indicators (bulb and LED) are available at a much cheaper price from Perei. They're dimensionally the same, but they are Perei's own design and thereore much cheaper than the Austrians
Good luck and keep it up.....
Hey Thanks Sidney Sideways,
Yeah the hood is really not as flat as it seems… It tends to look sharp and flat in the 3D renders… but on the full scale model you can see the curvature in the hood.
You might be able to see it better in the below… I refined the 3D model a lot over the past few days.
Hey Thanks for the Perei LED tip… I did not see many choices on their website but I signed up and sent them an email although not sure if they will be interested in helping little guy. I really like their Lotus LED tail light and originally had planed on using that until I found out how much they cost. But those are the perfect tail light assembly I need.
- Neal
Yeah the hood is really not as flat as it seems… It tends to look sharp and flat in the 3D renders… but on the full scale model you can see the curvature in the hood.
You might be able to see it better in the below… I refined the 3D model a lot over the past few days.
Hey Thanks for the Perei LED tip… I did not see many choices on their website but I signed up and sent them an email although not sure if they will be interested in helping little guy. I really like their Lotus LED tail light and originally had planed on using that until I found out how much they cost. But those are the perfect tail light assembly I need.
- Neal
Sidney Sideways said:
I do have one comment though - the square-ish raised portion of the bonnet at the base of the screen jars a little with me. It seems to be a bit out of line with the rest of the "swooping and edgy" feel that you've got going on and have integrated really well.
I've had a hack with it with my limited photoshop skills...
I've lowered the bonnet a little and played with the front grille to see what it'd look like.
Hey No problem… I like it… actually I had tried this in one of my previous remodels. A few reasons I did not go with is that the center bar was one of the things that was unique to the design… and second the nose area really needs the extra support that the center bar provides, otherwise it may sag over time. I figured that it’s better to leave it there as anyone could easily modify it to their own liking.
The hood will have to stay the same... there is a reason for the Hump. The Hump is to add extra clearance for big motors with tall intakes. As a Hot Rodder this is something I know from experience. During a lot o my builds I always ran into issues with hood clearance when adding motor mods. I made sure on this design that it would not be an issue. I made it square-ish and turned it into a Cowl Induction hood much like the old Camaro aftermarket hoods. This also provides a function as well by circulating the hot heat inside the engine compartment. This is important be cause it’s sealed with a full belly pan underneath and needs air to circulate around the headers and catalytic converters.
Thanks,
- Neal
The hood will have to stay the same... there is a reason for the Hump. The Hump is to add extra clearance for big motors with tall intakes. As a Hot Rodder this is something I know from experience. During a lot o my builds I always ran into issues with hood clearance when adding motor mods. I made sure on this design that it would not be an issue. I made it square-ish and turned it into a Cowl Induction hood much like the old Camaro aftermarket hoods. This also provides a function as well by circulating the hot heat inside the engine compartment. This is important be cause it’s sealed with a full belly pan underneath and needs air to circulate around the headers and catalytic converters.
Thanks,
- Neal
Neal,
I'm really interested in what you're doing here, kudos on the fabulous design especially the almost complete front end redesign just recently, you've managed to capture the spirit of the original while still being completely different. I'm wondering about the base Mazda that you're using and how it's incorporated into the design - having had a little play with MX5s on paper and in 3D Studio myself I know that the proportions are sometimes awkward especially for a full restyle as you're doing - are you stretching the wheelbase, moving the front wheels forward? I noticed the door and passenger compartment appears to be much further back on your full scale mockup than normal. Is this the case? It really helps to give it that muscle car look, these proportions are very important...!
I'm really interested in what you're doing here, kudos on the fabulous design especially the almost complete front end redesign just recently, you've managed to capture the spirit of the original while still being completely different. I'm wondering about the base Mazda that you're using and how it's incorporated into the design - having had a little play with MX5s on paper and in 3D Studio myself I know that the proportions are sometimes awkward especially for a full restyle as you're doing - are you stretching the wheelbase, moving the front wheels forward? I noticed the door and passenger compartment appears to be much further back on your full scale mockup than normal. Is this the case? It really helps to give it that muscle car look, these proportions are very important...!
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