Fiat - rear former

Today the former for the rear bodywork was temporarily put in place to give an idea of how it would fit. Suddenly the car looks massively long - and very purposeful. The finished thing is going to be very impressive. I've started a flickr gallery of photos of the build too...

Fiat - Front axle

Thought I'd try something with a bit more detail today. I've seen people like Scott Robertson using ballpoint pens to draw futuristic car and spaceship designs and thought I'd try it out. It actually works quite well - I can't write with one at all but they're not bad for drawing with - allowing you to lay down very feint perspective and construction guides which can later be made heavier and clearer.

This image shows the front axle, part of the suspension and the wonderful radiator which comes up to about nose height. That swooping shape on the left arm of the chassis is a wooden former for a part which will later be made in aluminium. There are various pieces like this which can be bolted on to make the car more streamlined...

I later added a bit of colour in photoshop. With a bit of tidying up I'd be able to hide the outlines altogether. If I get time I'll give it a go...

Fiat - rear suspension

The rear wheels were off today and a little more of the wooden frame is in place. This will be shaped to fit the curves of the rear bodywork and will support the seats. It also houses the fuel tank. Mostly it's held together with beautifully done joints but the firewall has been screwed on - using big reclaimed screws from the same period...


An interesting thing i saw today was how almost every part right down to individual nuts and bolts are stamped with matching pairs of numbers so that you know exactly where they belong - almost like the joints on an oak framed building. If you look closer still you can see other scribed lines and dots - showing where to cut or file to. It's great to be able to see marks made by the engineers 100 years ago - it really brought home to me how hand-crafted cars used to be compared to todays machine made ones.