I finished the first headlight pod. It took a few days longer than planned due to my wife's unplanned collision with a deer which jumped out in front of her car in broad daylight.
She's okay, the car isn't, and the deer is no more.
I used a paper pattern to get the basic shape. A flexible shape pattern would have been impractical.
I used this curved stake to begin folding the annealed .063 aluminum.
I like these plastic mallets. I bought the one, and a few others, at a hardware store in London. They're still sold in Europe to shape lead roof panels. Dagger Tools sells them in the US.
I stretched the lower edge and most of the upper edge in my English wheel.
I drove the panel into the headlight bulge with a wooden mallet (also Dagger tools). Note the small amount of mechanical shrinking on the lower left edge. This is where the panel sweeps up and around the grille opening. Rick Mullin gave me some good advice on how to do the grille opening, and so this area will mostly be cut away eventually.
Checking Kent White's website (metal encyclopedia?!) I found out that 1100 has a lower annealing temperature than 3003, but I went ahead and annealed it "the usual way" using the soot/flame method. I annealed the panel 3 times during the process and each time I got better at putting just a lighter coat of soot on it. Kent's site explains that 1100 anneals about 100 degrees F lower than 3003.
I used a variety of tools to continue to drive in the sharp valley. The tool here is actually "P" shaped and about 3/4" round. I also used a cheap 1/2" socket welded to a length of bar as a caulking tool.
The Mechammer worked really well to planish the panel. It is easy to offset the lower anvil holder to get into tight corners. Ben Van Berlo sells a variety of upper and lower tools. I'm using a radiused upper anvil hear to smooth out the front lower flange.
I came up short on two sections of the front headlight bucket flange and this required that I weld in two small pieces. Very much a pain...but "hammer and learn."
The fit is better than the photo would indicate. The finish isn't that good, but I hope to improve with each panel. I can honestly say it is comparable to that raw metal Maserati A6 I saw in Stuttgart back in March. Not great, but serviceable.
I added a "doubler ring" to the front flange because I want that area to be very rigid. I've got a lot of welds meeting there, and the headlight bucket (from an MG-B) will be kind of heavy. I used 3/32" countersunk aircraft rivets.
I'm learning a lot as I go along, and I very much invite and welcome all comments and critiques.