Garage Job

[bondo]

Thanks for the complimentary words. One cannot judge their own work.

Bondo

[winkosmosis]

I don't like it and here's why:

-The general shape is ungainly. It's tall, narrow, and looks like it's tilted forward. It seems as though it's on the verge of tipping over.
-The details are too busy. Too many character lines, slashes, cuts, etc. These things also increase manufacturing costs.
-The front end looks like it has a fat lip hanging down, and the long thin headlights look like eyes with a contemptuous expression. The hump in the hood to me looks like the bulge in the head of a dolphin and some whales.
-The sharp sides and the bulbuous, organic looking front don't match. It's like mixing styling from two eras, the 90s and the 2000s.

I do like the fins on the back though. It's like a space ship.

[alohaspirit]

personally i like cars to be simpler and i do agree that this would be very pricey to build

it has an "andromeda" like quality however

[bgd73]

if to continuosly fall from great altitude maintaining a level car, nasa would be interested...
boxhead boxy brown: I was loooking for a boxer engine with all those boxes under your nick.

my car is brown with a boxer...I wonder what I could derive from your nicks to make my own...

[bondo]

Thanks for the critique winkosmosis. You have some valid points. Back to the you can't judge you own work thing. Your comments force me to look at the styling from a different perspective for when you are creating the shapes you sometimes lose sight of the overall picture, which is important in automobile styling.

You nailed me on the bulge in the hood area being like the head of a dolphin or whale. I wanted to have ample room for the electric powerplant.

If I ever do another model I will take your suggestions into consideration. Mainly, I enjoy doing the clay sculpture and consider myself to be very fortunate to have learned the skill from some of the old Master Modelers at Ford. I hope someday to reach the skill level those old guys had, no five axis mills and computers, just sculpture.

Bondo

[winkosmosis]

Designing cars in clay is really interesting. I've been drawing cars since I was a kid, but side views, and I've never been able to draw vehicles well from perspective views. I bought some Sculpey a couple months ago to experiment with, but it seemed difficult... Your thread is inspiring me to try it again. A credit card seems to work for shaping

[bondo]

Clay is the way to go. The challenge in automobile design is to have it look good from any angle. This is rarely, if ever accomplished. You have an eye for design for in your critique of the scale model I did you brought up some good points.

Drawings and renderings are very important to car design. They set forth a theme, a personality you want the car to have. It is the clay which transports you off of the two dimensional drawing board and into the world of three dimensions.

Credit cards do work good for smoothing (cutting the clay). What we use in the car biz is spring steel. Check out www.chavant.com

This is the company which makes the clay used by the auto companies. You will also find pictures of clay tools there also which you can order.

The computer and five axis mill have changed the process of automobile design forever. Having been trianed in clay modeling at the Ford California studio in the 1980's, I learned the old ways of doing things. The designers would draw wonderful rederings of cars by hand and tape them on the wall. Us clay modelers would sculpt what we saw, either in a scale model or full scale. I always enjoyed the full scale.

One regret I had was never working in the wind tunnel. In the tunnel a run would be made on a full scale clay model and then the sculptors (clay modelers) would rush out and change radius's of leading edges or even the slope of a hood in record time so another test could be made of the car with the modifications. The clay modelers I have talked to who have done this kind of work said they were exhausted at the end of the day. Moving that much clay around is very physical and doing it to precise measurments is mentally taxing. But when you see something you worked on pull up beside you at a stoplight or pass you on the freeway at a high rate of speed, it is worth all the work.

Check out the Chavant site and maybe order yourself some tools. If you have a passion for automobile design, which you seem to, it will never leave you. Mastering the clay will open up a whole new world of design to you.


Bondo

[evolutionmovement]

Drawing perspective as designers do it is all just tricks. The thing is to exaggerate certain things and angles to actually make it look more realistic (or just cooler, like wheels that would actually be 30" or something were the drawing true to life). I prefer three-dimensions myself, but I like to use a cheap easy method of wood filler over foam insulation. Lots of sanding, but the typical 1/18 scale models I make cost me about $5 including paint and scale wheels.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I have some questions for you, bondo:

Is there a purpose for the "slot" opening on the lower part of the back? (Cabin air flow exhaust, maybe?)

Did you envision a particular drivetrain setup for this "2015 Ford Falcon"?

Were you planning on using video cameras for the side (and rear?) view mirrors?

I wonder about the way it would feel to sit in this car; in the back in particular: the high windows sills would make it feel pretty enclosed, I think. Visibility to the rear would be limited, too, I think?

I like the solution of the openings through to the back -- this would seem to let it be wasp-waisted (for good air flow) but let the rear track be wide enough for stability.

[bondo]

Hello Neil,

Yes there is a function to the slot at the rear of the car. I cannot divulge the reason due to the fact there is a patent pending on the reason. I went ahead and filed a patent after having three Engineers review the concept. For years I had thought the idea was perpetual motion until recently having the three Engineers review the idea and they said it was not (perpetual motion) and may even be viable. I had built a scale model of the idea 18 years ago and it worked. I am now building a full scale version to run more tests. It may work, it may not, but it is all fun stuff. You have to at least try.

Drivetrain setup- front wheel drive electric. The whole car body is designed around what the patent is about.

Cameras for side visibility. Truth is I got lazy and need to put the mirrors on the model.

Front passengers sit rather upright which allows for more knee room for the back passengers. The side glass lower line does need to be lowered to allow better visibility for the rear passengers.

The rear has two rear windows, like the Prius. This should allow for decent rearward visibility. Check the picture which shows the lower rear window.

Thanks,

Bondo