Skinning mini-update

Now the engine has been temporarily put to rest, I've set about actually assembling the car. With a bit of manual assistance from my brother, I've moved the bodyshell off the chassis and have begun the fairly tedious process of drilling the hundreds of rivet holes required for the aluminium paneling.

This is the first time I've actually seen the chassis naked and unadorned (anyone under 18 or of a nervous disposition better look away).

Phwoar eh? Eh?

Anyway, so far I've gone through the process of clamping a panel, drilling pilot holes, fixing the panel with skinpins, drilling the remaining holes, and removing the panel about 10 times. There are I think about 8 more to go although some (notably those that would make the transmission tunnel inaccessible) are left until later in the build.

Skinpins are re-usable temporary mock-rivets, often requiring a specific hand-tool to fix in place and remove them. I got a handy set of the ubiquitous e-bay that are fixed using wing-nuts. Quite handy.

Hiccups on this stage are a missing GRP panel that I have been in discussion with Westfield to get sent down to me, and about 1 botched rivet hole on each panel so far. Many of the holes required are pretty inaccessible, even with a 90-degree drill attachment, leading to some over-sized or oddly angled holes. My plan here is to straighten and neaten them with a hand reamer and then fix them with a larger size rivet. If I mirror that on panel pairs then it may just look intentional.

Oh, I've been getting through a fair few drill bits too adding Drill Bit Factory to the White Spirit and Masking Tape Factories that would be handy to own if I ever do this sort of thing again.