Building my wooden buck
 

When I started my Jaguar project I knew I needed a buck. The magnitude of body modifications demanded that I identify the shape and build the form to work on. Initially the model was built from several layers of pink insulation glued together with gorilla glue. Cement blocks were used to weigh down the sheets.The foam was then hollowed out using a 4 1/2" rough disc air sander and the bolted to the body with long lag bolts countersunk 1". The foam was shaped to give the general shape quickly with a body filler rasp. Final shape was accomplished with about 100# of clay. The foam and clay work waz done in about 3 weeks time ( about 100 hrs).

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The picture shows the clay work done and grid using a crossline laser level. Each vertical gridline is given an ID#. The idea was to have 3xy coordinates for every rib, thereby providing the means to keep ribs in skew and aligned vert & horizontal. At each intersection of the grids a measurement is taken, marked on the clay and entered on spreadsheet. 2 level horizontal lines give a constant dimension at 12" & 18" up from the ground and a 3rd line measured in 12" from the perimeter of my platform that the car was centered on and down.

Templates are then taken from the clay. I started with the smallest area rib so that template would be the first rough cut for the next template. The templates each get marked where they touch the constant lines and took about 20 minutes each.

The big box serves to take up as much space as possible. The box is square and very rigid. The box dimension is known and grid exactly the same as clay except for 3rd line. Rib #s and axle centerlines are marked on the box.

Each rib blank is cut and verified to be square (important). The rib blanks are measured and lined square at 12" , 18" up horizontal and 12" inward but vertical.

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Using that big box allowed me to use relatively small ribs. Because the ribs are small in area I could get as many as 10 ribs per 4x8 sheet. I used 23 sheets in to build the entire buck. This method meant I could closely space the ribs and get significant detail without the trouble of building a traditional eggcrate style buck. Full length fore/aft templates, ribs fitting and slotting isnt required.

Good stuff Mike. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole process.

Please take a look at this thread. It will help you and us.

http://allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=10602

Thanks Kerry, I'll try. I'm not very tech savvy. More tomorrow.

Mike,
This looks like a great project with a big reward when finished. Keep up the good work and post photos frequently, please.

I really like the car because I’m into sports cars as much as I am into street rods, I see the potential.
But to me that buck just isn’t that usable because there’s no underside / backside access or viewing. I’d rather have 1/3 the stations (in key areas of my choice) and have the stations not be nearly as deep so I can see what’s going on from the back. I’m by no means an excellent shaper so I need as much information as I can get. If you have a good understanding and feel for body flow you don’t need as many stations IMO. I don’t know of a better way to get that understanding / feeling than blocking out Bondo covered cars for a year or two……. It’s sorta like you are paying your dues. Just some random thoughts from a tired old body man, going to bed now, hopefully I’ve got a guy coming in and helping me for a few hours tomorrow. ~ John Buchtenkirch

Hi Mike, you are doing a good job there but I am afraid I agree with johns comments. You will find it hard to make the panels unless you can see how they fit. Large holes through the 'box' and a few less stations would help.

David

John and David, you guys point out a design consideration in my buck. When I started this project I had an experienced metalshaper who agreed to do the metal work. I was going to be the apprentice, learn and do some of the simpler panels. Before agreeing my friend told me that he wanting a wooden buck with 3" spacing on the ribs. That seemed excessive to me, however I felt I needed him to shape the difficult sections. I questioned him and got a stern reply, "if they get in the way we'll cut some out". So off I went and built it his way (sort of), he was expecting a traditional eggcrate. Can you imagine the struggle to see the backside? I could have built with larger spacing in areas with less shape change, but I didn't want to p..s him off. As you will see in the following posts, there are large cutouts per rib and the ability to rotate the buck nearly on its side allow fairly easy viewing. Now, I have done all the shaping and wish the spacing was at 4" and as is in shapely areas. Additional 1" would make it easier to get my hands in deep. This relatively tight spacing allows the inline sander to touch as many as 5 stations when doing the final blending of the ribs. Viewing really isn't much of an issue, just rotate the buck or use a flex mirror.