Another Truck Aerocap attempt with sketchup for modeling

[joggerfogger]

tonight I found some scrap coroplast, painted it black and trimmed and fit to cover my lower grill and tow hooks. BTW, the lower grill was just a pocket that didn't pass any air, just a design element.

I want make these mods as "stealthy" as possible. I don't know how long the black electrical tape will stay in place, but it blends in nice for now.

[skyking]

looks clean. I think gorilla tape is black, it would stay a little longer.

[BamZipPow]

Tape is always temporary...

You might be able to source someone scrapping an old appliance and using that sheet metal to replace the coroplast in the future.

[joggerfogger]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Tape is always temporary...

You might be able to source someone scrapping an old appliance and using that sheet metal to replace the coroplast in the future.

That's a great idea. And I feel the same way about tape. I have some black duct tape, but I cringed at the idea of sticking it on my paint. Maybe Gorilla Tape is better to work with?

I can fab up some brackets that attach to the tow hooks with the sheet metal idea. I'm supposed to take a used water heater to the dump for a friend; might be just the ticket.

It was a lot harder than I imagined to trim the coroplast to the right shape. I made two mistakes out of coroplast then finally one out of cardboard that worked and transferred the outline to the coroplast.

This is good training for my "aerocap" construction. I'm re-thinking the skin for the cap and maybe thin plywood would work better.

I did figure out how to create cross sections in sketchup so I can more accurately build the ribs for the aerocap. I'm thinking these will need to be very accurate to build the shape to match my design. I haven't yet figured out how to transfer the sketch to a life-size image in the correct dimension.

[BamZipPow]

Gorilla tape will leave serious tape residue when it comes off...especially after the sun heats it up. I've got a lot of cleaning to do on mine before I move on to my next project.

[NeilBlanchard]

GooGone is pretty helpful removing Gorilla Tape goo...

[joggerfogger]

Originally Posted by skyking

Kevin, that looks really good. If I were you, I'd just go for it....
Here is the stitch and glue method I'm suggesting.
Stitch-N-Glue
That 20' long triple cockpit boats weighs in at 64 pounds
The final product will still appear to have slices and slight corners but it will mimic the curves very well.

Skyking,
I've been thinking about this more and more, and I like the methods that you mentioned with the kit kayaks. I went back and re-read in more detail the methods of construction for the pygmy boats. really cool stuff.

I kept reading that the secret to the success of that construction is the absolute perfection of the shape of the ribs and the pre-formed slices of wood. It says that the pieces are derived from a computer model.

What I'm concerned about is how difficult it is to shape the "orange peel slices". After playing with some coroplast I found that a pattern would be an incredible advantage. I was horrible at making the shape correct. If I was a barber, everyone would leave bald. "There, that's even."

Any ideas? maybe I could have the pygmy boats people generate some plans for me based on my sketchup model?...

Hummmm.....

[skyking]

Go back and read what I posted. figure out the stations and cut those out of plywood with a sabre saw. Mount them on a "keel" of wood to keep things straight. Trim and adjust those so they will form the outline you seek.
Cut cardboard to make your "slice" templates. Once you get that cardboard to butt together and not overlap, you have a useful set of templates to transfer to plywood. For a "one-off" like you are building, I don't think it warrants making a whole set of 3D CAD drawings and slices.
Do one half to the exact midline with the cardboard. Now you can use those cardboard templates to make both the left and right sides.
You can make the stations out of thicker cheap plywood, thick enough that you could screw your slices to them while working it out. You can stitch to those, and then use the sawzall to trim it to 2". At 2" it is still a useful frame for strength but adds little weight.

[joggerfogger]

Originally Posted by skyking

Once you get that cardboard to butt together and not overlap, you have a useful set of templates to transfer to plywood.

First off, thanks for thinking this out with me. I have read your posts 3-5 times each trying to envision every obstacle I'm going to come up against. Maybe I'm over-thinking it. Usually if I don't think about it enough, it ends up as a disaster.

Second, I need to understand boat building terminology better. I get keel, transom, skin. Are "stations" just like "ribs"? And what would you call the front plane of the cap that is the same shape as the rear of the cab?

So this one line from your post is what worries me. I made about 4 templates for the shape of cardboard/coroplast that I fitted to the front of my truck as a airdam block over the tow hooks.

I think I'm going to need a lot of cardboard.

-Kevin

[skyking]

Call the back of the cab station 0 and work back. your drawings can be printed out at different distances behind the cab, and I can show you how to loft them to full scale.