Front of the chassis

Now here is where the problems started. Remember the wooden model I'd made earlier? This is where it went a bit wrong. Turns out the Haynes roadster book has some errors, some of which I knew about but didn't realise I'd come across one so early in the build. I cut the metal, then found the uprights of the front section were way too short! They went into the spare metal bin...

The reason why the wooden model worked fine was simple. The Haynes measurement shows an overall measurement for the bent metal, and measurements for the two halves. The overall measurement was the wrong one, but because wood doesn't bend I'd used the two half measurements. So the model worked out fine, but the real one failed.

While I was having a little rant on locostbuilders, a considerate builder posted some further details on how to build the front, not only to compensate for the measurements being wrong but to save future problems with the suspension mounts. So instead of the two uprights being partly cut and bent, they were completely cut and welded with a 'twist' in. The twist was measured against the jib so that when the front is welded in place, the vertical pieces are perfectly in line with the other uprights for the suspension.

In short, this is what I ended up with;

Very happy with this now it's finished (and the uprights are long enough!).

At the same time, I picked up my welding gas;

OK, not a very exciting picture, but I couldn't resist! I've also ordered a side mounting argon valve from weldequip, as soon as that arrives I'll get things plugged up.