Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have a frame that has got me thinking into a home build. I would like to build like a 3/4 Airstream Bubble however with not as many radius issues. Sort of like a larger Rimple design, but with a slightly sloped back (like a Scotty rear door). I was as well thinking of ripping 2x4 to provide the walls a slight curvature on the sides. I would not do the corner radius though as that would be far too complex for me, however I would use a number of design cues to give he appearance of an airstream such a proper door and window placement. For the front and rear top radius ribbing look I would keep it simple and use strips of channel to imitate the appearance of seperate cut aluminum sheets.
The interior would be similiar to a 16' Bubble with modifications for size (port-a-potti/closet combo instead of seperates).
Has anyone seen something like this done?
It is the confidence that this board inspires me to want to do this.
Thanks
Len

Check out this thread for ideas...

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... =tinstream

Mike...

Thanks Mike, an excellent thread. I wasn't thinking TinStream! I see he tackled the complicated radius corners. Now to find a place to hide this build from my wife. I'm running out of places to hide!

Well, I'm in the process of doing something similar. I decided to try to make the corner caps myself out of fiberglass. They will have a 24" radius.

Wow, that looks great. Any chance of posting some plans up?
Thanks

xrover wrote:Wow, that looks great. Any chance of posting some plans up?
Thanks

I wouldn't know how to plan this. I just made a compass out of a stick, a screw and drilled a hole for the pencil. I reamed the hole until I could get the pencil in tight.

Then made an arc. Then drew straight lines from the arc back to the radius center point such that I had 2 lines @ 90 deg.

Next I measured about 4" on both straight lines back from the arc. Drew a line across those 2 points (this is just because I wanted to conserve wood)



Then extend the ends of the arc (red) to compensate for the thickness of the wood.

Cut out the perimeter of combined yellow/red area. Then made 2 more copies of this piece.

To put it together you'll have 1 piece with both red areas, 1 piece with 1 red area and 1 piece with no red areas. I wanted the *inside* measurements of this structure to represent the plug (plaster doesn't stick to the wood edges well).

Then glue it together with polyurethane glue - holding the angles at 90deg with 3 picture frame clamps. (the clamps will be on the curved side - worked with my 24" radius however if your radius is small, I don't know if they will work)

Then I cut more arcs and made a lattice. I was not careful at all - didn't care about making anything straight. Just need fill in space and be strong enough to hold the plaster.

Then I took that 'weed stop' cloth and cut out pieces to cover the individual areas and used hot glue to fix them. I pressed the cloth and hot glue down to get it flat.

After that I bought some pine 1/4" x 1/2" trim from lowes, soaked and bent it to go around the edge.

Then start plastering. I used one of the side board scrap pieces with the arc as a gage . It takes many coats to get it to the right level and I didn't want it to collapse by putting it on too thick.

Once I got it to within 1/4" (3rd picture), I took it outside in the 20 deg weather and sanded all the extruding bumps off - enough so I could use a curved spatula on it. I used a (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95020) palm sander with 25 grit paper at this point. I had to repeat this process several times.

Then I made a curved 'spatual' out of a foot long piece of .25" luan - the curve being the concave arc of the plug. I started thinning out the plaster of paris more to the consistancy of a thin milk shake to fill the voids. And sanded the extruding bumps off in-between.

The final stage I had it built up to the right level but there will small pin holes and small voids. At this point I thinned out the plaster of paris to almost like whole-milk and poured it on a section of the plug and sqeegeed it off with a plastic 1.5" wide bondo spreader. Note: I squeegeed it ALL off ( i was not trying to add any more material just fill the small holes.) I wet sanded in-between passes. I had to repeat this process several times.

That's as far as I am. I'm not a professional. I did this only once before when I was a teenager. So we'll see how it goes.