Slippery Anne update

[Mark Atkinson]

Now you have the wheeling machine it must make it even harder for you to resist over finishing the panels you make Mark. You commented in the past on the conflict you have between authenticity and craftsmanship, do you go back over panels and place strategic mallet and hammer marks to match the original a closely as possible. You do have the benefit of some extremely clear and detailed photos to assist this build, I am aware some of the uneducated observers of the finished car may say "its a pity he could not get that smooth", but who cares about them!

Hello Ian,

It does, the wheeling machine produces some very nice finishes, which do not fit with this car. I use the wheel to get the shape of the panel and then refine the finish with a suitable tool. Study of the period pictures is interesting, the same dint almost never appeared on the car from one picture to the next, but a number of the pictures show quite considerable damage to individual fairings, as such I think the cars appearance was in a constant state of flux. So my approach is to just make the panels look 'worked'. I have found that sometimes the wheel may also be utilised to distress the panel; during the wheeling action it is possible to alter my hold on the panel and cause the anvil to cause undulations in the finish, which allied to planishing is quite effective. This effect is almost imposible to capture in a picture, but here goes:

   

Some parts of the car never changed, such as the half pipe panel which fittes around the drivers leg, so I have carefully copied the rather random placement of fasteners onto the very straight flange. This must look insane to some, but the car I know is in the pictures and details like this make it feel like the car I know!
Note: this picture shows that only a couple of small screws are  holding the panel in place, this is because I do not want to drill all the holes until the Irish Linnen is doped onto the ply skin, which may alter the specific sit of the panel onto it.

   

I fully expect that some will some think the car could be better finished, but for me that would be missing the point, in the period pictures the car has a specific nature and feel, which I hope I have captured.

All the best, Mark.