Happy birthday!

One year old.... how quick has that year gone?

Quick  reflection back over the last twelve months, firstly a couple of photos which I hope shows progress...

So am I where I wanted to be 12 months down the line?

Its fair to say I had hoped to have the chassis off the trestles and on wheels after the first year however that has not proved to be the case. In reality you realise as these builds progress they can become all engrossing to the detriment of other aspects of life - house, garden, DIY, holidays, visiting family & friends etc. A sense of perspective has to be put on such projects and at times the build has had to (quite reasonably) take a back seat.

Also, a cold wintry night in a garage does not carry the appeal of a warm cosy living room!

On reflection I am pleased with how far the build has progressed, its testament to GBS that so far the build has been fault and stress free, a sign that the kit has been well engineered and problems ironed out over the years. i am learning a huge amount in this project and in a lot of cases venturing into new territory as I build the car. The main thing is I AM ENJOYING IT and it has ticked all the boxes i wanted to tick in terms of satisfaction, quality of build, support available (be it the web, fellow builders, GBS)

no regrets so far - here's to trouble free further progress in the next twelve months...

Tunnel top panels wrapped

Got distracted!

Well, actually got drawn into a "Black Friday" deal on the web for some vinyl wrap and ended up buying some carbon fibre effect wrap from www.carwrapdirect.com.(see links tab for link)

My intention is to wrap the car and although exterior colour is still open for discussion I am erring towards an overall white colour scheme with carbon fibre effect detailing. Having never done vinyl wrapping before I thought this was an opportunity to practice on some simple panels to see if there is knack to it and see what the overall effect is like and something I can live with.

So applying to the tunnel tops seems as good a starting point as any!

Process is actually straight forward:

• clean the panel with soap and water
• dry thoroughly with a lint free cloth to remove any grease, residue etc
• cut the vinyl to size (over size to allow for folding, cutting etc)
• peal away backing film and apply pushing out any air bubbles as you go.
• Work round the corners cutting "nicks" out where necessary

I understand using a hairdryer provides for folding round more tighter rounded edges although not had need to try that technique yet.

as you can see from the photos, it looks quite effective and provides a professional finish.