Metal/epoxy moulding and other things

 I'm sure I'm missing a few photos, but here's what happened...

Firstly I modelled a gas cap neck end in Onshape and printed it out;

Once I'd checked it worked ok with the cap, I printed a negative, basically a mould;

(The real thing would not have photographed very well, even this 3D model is difficult to visualise). . Then with nearly a full tube of JB weld I filled the mould;

I did try some release agent on the mould, hence the discoloured wood that it's sitting on. Unfortunately the release agent did very little as the epoxy had managed to get in between the plastic threads. At least I knew it was a good adhesive!!

Once it had cured, I set about removing the mould. It had to be done essentially one layer at a time, and in doing so I actually broke the thing I was moulding. That was a little disappointing, but more epoxy and I was able to get it back to it's final form. This is the original printed version alongside the new moulded version;

And... it does work surprisingly enough. It's certainly strong enough to cope with holding the cap on, it needs some fine sanding just on the edges to make the action smoother though. The epoxy worked so well that it duplicated the 3D print layers, which means the surfaces are rough.

Of course, in the meantime I did find a filler neck for a Royal Enfield bike that could actually do the job, so I have one of those on order. If that arrives and works I'll use that instead.

In other news, the gauges are progressing well. I'm adding paint on the bezels now;

A bit more sanding, painting, sanding and painting will get me some decently smooth surfaces. I've also cut and polished the acrylic faces;

I needed a lot of elbow grease and some watch face polish (polywatch is the name). It worked well to be honest, it got rid of most of the hazing. There's still a few tiny marks but hopefully they won't be seen once they're mounted in place. 

I've also added one layer of knifing putty to the hub caps, once they're dry I'll need to sand them;

By the way, knifing putty is really hard to work with. But on the good side it does mean it'll be quite tough. It needs a good sanding and shaping, and for some reason I'm missing one. I only had three when I came to do the putty work. 

And lastly, an update on wiring. It's horrible. That's the update. I can see why it's left until the end, and many builders opt for an aftermarket loom. However I do have most of it done, I've got maybe a dozen wires left. I've temporarily mounted the two fuse boxes in roughly the same position they will be in the car;

The spaghetti is what I need to get rid of. There's two main power feeds that go to most of the sensors and connectors, then there's fuses for a few extras (EG fuel pump). Many of the fuses aren't used anymore, if I put my mind to it I could have replaced both blocks with a smaller unit. But for now I'm staying standard with all the challenges that brings.

Oh, and Mr Insomnia kicked in last night with an interesting question... where did the dashboard connectors go? I've got the one for the ignition switch, but there's one required for the indicators and one for the lights. Oh, and the horn (why do I keep forgetting the horn?!). From my 'donor photos' I can see three connectors that look like they would have been at home on the column;

Two white connectors and one black. Hopefully they will match up with 'something' on the extracted loom!