The Fine Art of Metal Shaping Continued - Part 4
 |
Lacking an old part, a new form must be made. Assembled from carefully lofted and shaped pieces of plywood, this form also is used only as a guide to bring pieces to needed shape.
 |
This is a view of the inner side of half of a wheel pant. The weld lines have been emphasized with a marking pen to show how this quite elaborate shape has been created out of several different pieces, each being easier to form with hand tools than would be a unit formed with difficulty out of a single piece of metal.
 |
Above is a molded fiberglass wing strut fairing. Note lines made on it with a marking pen. They show what a skilled worker judged would be the best shapes for pieces of aluminum needed to make a metal duplicate.
 |
A paper pattern for the top piece is being made. A number of V-shaped cuts are made in the surface of the paper and the tabs bent back to expose the underlying metal. Short strips of masking tape are laid across each such cut to stick the paper to the metal. This keeps the paper from shifting while it is being worked into place and marked.
