frenchyd
frenchyd PowerDork
2/4/20 9:46 a.m.

Spruce Goose, British Mosquito,  early airplanes, a lot of home built airplanes,   Marcos, MG T series, and of course Morgan. 
Wood,  with cloth coverings.  
I'm building my MGuar  and why can't I use a simple pair of aluminum rails and make and mount the rest of rest of the chassis and body on them?  
  I don't need to conform to SCCA set of rules since it's not intended as a race car. Just an old Geezers toy that might enter a track day event someplace.  
 

Most of you are familiar with the super abundance of wood I have ( that nobody seems eager to acquire ) and stretching cloth over a wood frame seems a whole lot easier than forming a bunch of aluminum  

Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa GRM+ Memberand Reader
2/4/20 9:47 a.m.

Aren't a lot of Locost's done like that as well?

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
2/4/20 10:07 a.m.

I think you are just making your life harder than it needs to be with the fabric cover. The good lord made boat wrap for a reason.

 

frenchyd
frenchyd PowerDork
2/4/20 10:41 a.m.

In reply to NOHOME :

Interesting idea, but what I was thinking of is semi retro look. 

frenchyd
frenchyd PowerDork
2/4/20 10:42 a.m.
Mr_Asa said:

Aren't a lot of Locost's done like that as well?

Not to my knowledge.  Most seem to be steel tube frame with a Fiberglas body.  

T.J.
T.J. MegaDork
2/4/20 10:46 a.m.

Hey Frenchy, I thought about you the other day as I was driving past a local school in the evening and saw a few busses parked in the lot. Do school bus doors lock? How are they opened from the outside? I remember the big handle to driver would use to open/close to the door during normal operation. In my mind the door don't lock and to enter you just push the door where it folds in to get it started, then just manually open it. Is that correct? Not making a plan to steal a bus just wondering how the doors work.

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
2/4/20 11:17 a.m.

I know BMW made a concept with a cloth-like material that covers the body not too long ago. I don't know if it's useful to you, but it's at least an interesting design study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSSMjV3PNEU

frenchyd
frenchyd PowerDork
2/4/20 11:19 a.m.

In reply to T.J. :

Newer (last 15-20 years) buses don't use that lever. They have buttons on the steering wheel.   On the outside is a key hole.   Twist it one way and the doors open, twist the other and the doors close.  
 

Modern buses have 3 really big batteries to get the Diesel engine started in the -30 weather. Opening and closing doors is a piece of cake compared to that. 

jharry3
jharry3 GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
2/4/20 11:37 a.m.
T.J. said:

Hey Frenchy, I thought about you the other day as I was driving past a local school in the evening and saw a few busses parked in the lot. Do school bus doors lock? How are they opened from the outside? I remember the big handle to driver would use to open/close to the door during normal operation. In my mind the door don't lock and to enter you just push the door where it folds in to get it started, then just manually open it. Is that correct? Not making a plan to steal a bus just wondering how the doors work.

I haven't been in a school bus for years but my grandpa sold Thomas School Buses in the 60's and 70's so I worked on school buses a lot..

There was a trick to opening the front door involving sharply pushing in on it and the manual handle would jump past the detent from the inertia of springing back and the door would open.  I have no idea if the current design allows this.     The other way to enter was unlock the rear door and climb into the bus from the rear.  That was how you were supposed to do it. 

frenchyd
frenchyd PowerDork
2/4/20 11:44 a.m.

In reply to jharry3 :

I had to climb into the back of one a while ago.( long and boring story). I'm 5'9" but Almost 72 and grossly overweight. Tall skinny young guys might do it easy enough. 
It took every bit of trickery and willpower to finally get in the back door.  The floor is almost to my arm pits. 

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