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Yes, it is great to see it in the physical world! The back is a bit smaller than I thought it would be; which is a good thing. Overall, it is a little bit smaller than I pictured it - and bit longer (due to the gluing process) and that is also good. I knew that this method of construction would not be the most efficient at doing certain parts, and I really had to make my best guess at the entire inside of the motor bay.
I am thinking that I'll use honeycomb composite boards to reinforce the suspension attachment to the foam. I like the way Gary Krysztopik (the guy building the EZ-EV open source project) is using honeycomb and a CNC - he stacks them up a lot like I am stacking foam.
The main difference between my overall method and most other car builds is that I am doing it "from the outside in" because I started with the design of the outside. I also designed the passenger compartment to try to allow for 3 tall people and 2 shorter people to fit - so the "inside" is the space occupied by the foam and the motor compartment. The structure and the suspension mechanicals and the hinges and latches and rain gutter, etc. - all have to be built after the outside and inside surfaces.
I considered doing it the conventional way, but my skill set is not in bending steel tubes or welding, etc. and I wanted to "control" what I know is the most important part of efficiency i.e. the aerodynamic drag. The structure is hopefully going to be "more than the sum of its parts" because about 8/10ths the chassis is one big piece. I'm hoping for light weight by virtue of using the chassis as a stressed monocoque shape.
Obviously, the other *key* reason for doing it this way is by using the PhlatPrinter 3 CNC machine, I was able to directly transfer the 3D virtual model into physical reality with some bit of accuracy. I know now that I would have been better off having periodic braces across the hatch door opening (and I have already added these in the CAD sections, and they need to be followed through to the foam layout sheets), but what I have will do nicely for now, thankfully.
So other people can build a CarBEN EV5 for themselves, too! With the updated g-code files that I can provide you, and a PhlatPrinter 3 and about 98 sheets of 1" Dow foam and 3-4 gallons of glue (rough back-of-the-envelope guess is the cost for all these is now ~$3,600) you can build this car up to the point I have now.
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