The process involved in making the nosecone was a long one and will be split into two posts.
If one goes to the beginning of this blog, one will find that I acquired the blue nosecone along with the fenders etc. The reason I could not just use the nosecone was due to it being skew. I think it was taken out of its mold before it fully cured. As the say;
“Necessity is the mother of Invention”
Now technically I more problem solved than invented but here is what happened...
The nosecone was placed on the Seven to determine if it would clear the radiator or not, it was found that the radiator bottom was interfering and hence the lower section of the nose had to be cut out.
Once this had been completed it was evident that the only way to rectify the nose was to pull it straight and then take a mold from it, finally using the mold to glass up a brand new straight part.
Holes were drilled into the cone and threaded steel bars were inserted. Nuts were then used to squash the nose into the correct shape. Once the shape was finalized the rods were fibreglassed into place and cut off below the outer surface of the cone. This was done so that they could be filled and sanded smooth resulting in a smooth plug to mold from.
The plug needed to be extended. This was due to the aluminium I had left for the bonnet being a certain length and I didn’t want to buy a whole new sheet. An aluminium sheet was riveted to the plug and fiber glass laid up.
The aluminium was removed and the surfaced smoothed out using body filler.
The duct in the front of the cone was filled in allowing for the fibreglass to sit properly when making the mold.
Once this was complete an aluminium strip was bend at a 90 deg angle and taped down the center-line of the plug. The surface was prepared and then a layer of gel coat applied before applying the chop strand.
Both sides of the mold were laid up and then the following day pried from the plug.
The mold was found to be a bit too flimsy for my liking thus I added in some core mat ribs to stiffen it up.
