Wingloader's first build

[donnan]

mmmm Images are not showing?

[Oldragbaggers]

Your build looks really good. I like the shape of it very much and you did a great job with that hatch (my hatch, on the other hand, is kicking my behind).

Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

[donnan]

Hi Wingloader,

For some reason I can't see any of your images.

Can you upload them to your Gallery so I can take a look at your build. Incidently, once you upload an image to your gallery they are very easy to include in your build journal too.

Cheers
Paul

[wingloader]

Skinning the outer shell. I messed up the sequence but here it is anyway...

I ran the wiring through the space in the roof



I used the same method for the outer skin as I did for the inner skin. I glued a cross brace to make the edge stiff and straight and so I could attach it to the "next" section



It was a bitch to get this sheet bent around the curve. I had to get creative.



One cheap clamp wasn't enough.



I didn't get a pic of it, but I glued a cross brace on the next sheet and attached them together. Then when I drew the next section down into place, it pulled the two sheets as though they were one. I ended up clamping a section of 2x4 across the joint until the section dried as it still wanted to bow out a little bit.

[wingloader]

mmmm Images are not showing?

I originally put my pics on another site and pointed to them via the URL. I read the thread on uploading pics into the Gallery and displaying them using the Image-URL as opposed to the "album" tags. It worked much better and it shows the images at the larger size.

Thanks for looking!

Joe

[Loader]

Looking great! Thanks for sharing the pics.

[wingloader]

Your build looks really good. I like the shape of it very much and you did a great job with that hatch (my hatch, on the other hand, is kicking my behind).

Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

I read a LOT of posts about hatch making. I dreaded doing it because it can be so problematic. Even after reading all the posts about putting hurricane hinges on backwards, I STILL screwed it up partially. I got the upper part of the hinge right, but I flipped the lower part lengthwise. DUH. I know have 5 holes in the part of the hinge that is supposed to look smooth with no holes.

I am going to fill them with body filler and do some kind of finish over that part of the hinge to attempt to hide it.

Thanks all for the kind words.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Joe your build is coming out great!! I'll be keeping an eye on it for sure! Nice work!

[donnan]

Great looking build Wingloader.

I like the drop down storage area at the front, great idea

Look forward to seeing more of your build.

Thanks for fixing the pics.

Paul

[Junkboy999]

wingloader


Looking good so far. Keep up the good work. Hope it is a least campable and water tight before your june
deadline. Hey who is the little fur ball on your shoulder?

[wingloader]

The furball is my little Sammy. He's my 5 year old best friend.

I am going to mount the doors, do the remaining prep work on the finishing of the outside and get a coat of polyester resin on the outside by the end of Saturday. Sunday I plan to sand the resin and start painting.

I've got a bunch of aluminum on the way from Grant so I can get the finishing touches on before next weekend.

I can do all the fancy interior stuff when I get back from my trip.

Just saying...I feel like I'm part of a family now! It's so cool to have others who can appreciate the work I'm doing on this. You folks know the deal.

[wingloader]

There are a LOT of steps I've left out, but at this point, I am almost ready to prime my wagon. This pic is just after I updated the edge to get it ready for the trim and weather stripping.

[wingloader]

Monday morning. Just about to start another day. This is after a very busy Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was all about sanding. This is after the first coat of paint.



After a LONG day, the camper is painted, hurricane hinge is installed, trim and weather stripping on the hatch is installed and the first door and window are installed.



I hope to get the other door and window installed tonight.

[IslandStorm62]

Your build looks great, you seem to be tracking very smoothly. I like how you raised the floor above the tires, I thought about doing the same thing in order to get that extra foot of floor space, but changed my mind. Of course seeing yours, makes me want to reconsider. Do you have a long bolt going through those 2X4s into the frame? What type and size are you using? Thanks

[wingloader]

Yup. I have 8 3/8" carriage bolts going down through the 2x4 frame with nylock nuts. I recessed the heads a bit so that when I put the flooring on it would be flush with the 2x4's. This may be a bad thing if I ever want to take the camper off of the trailer. :-)

I took the idea from Zach. This allowed me to make the inside big enough for a queen mattress and not have to put wheel wells in it.

Keep in mind, you will not be able to use a 4x8 sheet of ply alone. The frame and 2x4's use up a lot of that 4' from the ply. I had to put an extra bit on the top otherwise it would have been about 3' of head space and that would just be in the tallest spot.

If I had it to do over again, I would have spent a couple hundred extra bucks and got the 5' wide trailer. Then I could put some cool fenders on it (which would cost more too). Raising the floor did add a bit of complexity to the build though.

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate the pat on the back. This has been a much more difficult project than I ever thought it would be. Which, in turn makes it much more rewarding!

Joe