Update | fitting tank cap and rear light

The body has been trimmed; the rough glass fiber edges have been trimmed off. Even so the cuts have been made to fit in the fuel cap and the rear light. Using a lot of paper templates made in Solidworks; digital CAD modelling.

The body and the frame will be joined soon! Some brackets and flanges will be welded on the frame to bolt the body on the frame.

Last weeks I have been working on the handmade glass fiber body for the MTD café racer. With the valuable help of Antony, one of my Spark design & innovation colleagues! Check our website http://www.sparkdesign.nl/

After two layers of white gel coat, the glass fibers have been positioned in the mold and soaked in epoxy resin. Lot of small clamps kept the fibers in place while adding the peel-ply and all the foils and vacuum plastics layers.

After the epoxy resin hardened the mold was opened and made super happy! The body is super clean and fitting on the frame perfectly! The coming period the body will be sanded and painted. Keep posted for the latest developments.

Update | Mold making

The three molds for the MTD café racer are finished! The glass fiber molds have been made following the hand lay-up glass fiber laminating. Over the HD PU plugs; which are the CNC milled positive parts of the final motorcycle body.

The plugs have been sanded super smoothly and finished with a clear coat. On top of this coat 7 layers of mold release wax have been added.

All the layers and patterns for all the glass fiber fabrics have been cut with care, and fitted on the plugs before adding the polyester resin. After which the laminating started, merging the fibers with the resin over the plugs.

After the polyester completely hardened the rough edges of the molds have been trimmed, releasing wedges were slammed between the molds and the plugs,… and finally air pressure and two large chisels released the molds from the plugs!

Now these molds will be bolted together for construct the large mold in which the body kit will be made. Keep in touch for more footage..

The first body kit of the custom MTD Ducati café racer will soon be made. If you have interest in this body kit send an email to info@maartentimmer.com

Update | First mold ready

Last week the first of the 3 mold pieces have been made. The glass fiber fabrics have been laminated with the polyester resin. The mold you see in this blog post is the center one; the top of the fuel tank. The other 2 HD PU plugs are now being prepared for the final mold making.

Once these molds are finished the first body kit can be made for the custom MTD Ducati café racer. If you have interest in this body kit send an email to info@maartentimmer.com

Update | Sanding the plugs for mold making

The last two weeks I have been sanding the HD PU plugs. These parts need to be super smooth before I send those over for a coat of 2K-paint. 2 coats of spray filler have been added and many hours of sanding.
Looking for the right company for the paint job now..

Update | Plugs for mold making back from CNC milling

Last week the plugs for mold making have been CNC milled at Solid Shape! After clay modeling the body, 3D scanning the clay model and 3D CAD modelling in Solidworks, the pllugs are ready.

These plugs will now be sanded, painted and polished. After which the glasfiber molds will be made around these plugs. In the resulting glasfiber molds the final café racer body will be made, using a mix of carbon fiber and glasfibers.

More information about CNC milling and Solid Shape, please visit http://www.solidshapes.com/

Update | Plugs for mold making

After weeks and weeks of CAD modeling in the evenings and weekends I finally finished the entire body of my café racer. The body has been split in three different parts which will be CNC milled in RAKU-tool Modeling Board 600. This high density foam plugs will be used for the fabrication of the glass fiber molds.

Update | 3D scanning the body

Last week the body of the 4Nol motorcycle has been digitalized at GEOpoints. The clay model was taken of the frame and sent over to Geo Points in Culemborg, the Netherlands.
Over there Nico Velzel of GEOpoints used the flexible hand scanner to translate the clay model geometry into a 3D nurbs model. Using CAD software the body of the motorcycle has been positioned onto the frame to define the exact mid plane. That eased mirroring of the body; to create a perfect symmetric 3D model of the motorcycle.

Currently I am checking and smoothening the body in the 3D software before milling out the plugs for the glass fiber mold making. This would most likely take a couple of weeks since I will be working on this great motorcycle only in the evenings and weekends..

End of February I will be at the Motorbeurs in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Which is the largest motorcycle fair in the Netherlands. Over there I will work together with the guys of Star Twin, at the Men @ work area, on technical issues on the bike. A custom stainless steel exhaust manifold will be designed and finally the 4Nol will start for the first time during the fair!

More information about GEOpoints http://www.geopoints.nl/

Update | Sneak preview..

Starting 2013 with a proper sneak preview of the café racer I am building!
The clay model is finished for 3D scanning, some minor adjustments will be made once modeling in 3D CAD; radii on the edges for example.

As you might have noticed, the Spark exhausts are not properly aligned at the moment. The one positioned on the right side it positioned in its final position and the one on the left will be lowered as well to match the other one.
Currently the exhausts are mounted to the frame by bended sheet metal plates; these I used to verify the position of the silencers before milling the final brackets. In the coming weeks the milled headlight and exhaust brackets will arrive!

Video | Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo - the design process

Intresting to get a glipmse of the development of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo. I always love it to see the development of clay models, hard models and the show cars!

Via the Porsche Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Porsche?feature=watch

Update | Fuel tank refinement

Quick update of the refinement on the tank area and around the vertical cylinder. Last weekend I have been tweaking all this.. hope to finish the clay modeling before the end of the year.
So we can 3D scan the body early January..