Before I started working on the main body plug, I made an intermediate manhole mold. This will be used for the creation of both a manhole cover and a full hood. Very rough finish obviously at this point. I’m using this to establish the general parameters of height and width. This will be set aside for a while, those projects will be created later.
I used thickness wax on the upper surface of the plug. The hood will rest on top of the body, while the sides of the hood will rest in recessed areas, similar to the WAW hood. And I made that very rudimentary shape out of coroplast and lots of flash tape.
I have to say that this was a bit satisfying, digging out the manhole area!
I didn’t want to mess with the blue-green foam causing problems with the body filler, so I used two part expanding foam to help creating the curved edges of the manhole opening.
On the forward edge of the manhole, I’m creating a rain gutter that will catch and direct any moisture that falls between the hood and the body, and then a small “dash” will be bonded onto the surface to create the rear wall of the rain gutter area (it’ll make more sense when you see it!). There will hardly be any actual dash, since this is falling in the area between my knee bumps.
After it’s first coat of gel-coat:
And the back end of the plug is shaping up nicely as well. I used the fiberglass template that came with the rear suspension kit, and made that orange piece. That was then bonded to the main body. Added more foam off the rear of that to give myself more molding room.
And then a coat of gray gel-coat:
I’m making the rear wheel well wide to accommodate rear tires up to 55mm or so; I’ll lose some of this width eventually, but should finish at about 70mm wide; right now it’s 80-85mm wide.
