Tigin Linn - Little House and Us

[McGuffin]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the encouragement! Progress is very slow due to a combination of the World Cup and very good weather in Ireland right now. It's hard to be in the basement when the sun is shining .

I'm thinking (at this late stage) that I would like to build some kind of bumper that would protect the TD the dings and dents that will come from your's truly as I attempt to park and reverse at low speeds. So I'm just looking for something which will protect the lights and corners from me

There used to be a car over here in the 1970,s called the Triumph Spitfire. It had a lovely rear bumper set up. Here it is:



So .... using that as my inspiration I'm going to attempt something like this: Obviously the thing will hinge and drop down out of the way so I can open the galley lid.

I'm thinking I will make it out of light box iron that I can bend and paint. The bumper will also be a useful handle for jockeying in and out of tight spaces when the Tigin is off the towbar.

Anyway that's the plan.


Larry

[McGuffin]

Hi All,

Progress slow ... but here are a few snaps of some small advances:

Got the door frames (re) sorted. I originally made the corners with a 4" radius (too tight for "T" molding bending) so I softened them to 6" corners. Basically I added another leaf around the door frame of 1/2" ply, got the new one right to 6" then used auto body filler and plastic wood to make new corners on the original sheet. After that I had to cut and shape a closer in 1/4" ply . It took a long time to do but the results are getting kinda OK:



Then, got the filleting pieces installed on both sides. This is one completed side with the door closer installed (1/4" marine ply) cut and shaped so as to make it 3/4" of an inch smaller the whole way 'round. The additional fillet pieces attached to the side are held with gorilla glue and s/s screws and will be used to give the cabinets and mudguards etc something to bite in to.




Here I am marking out one of the ash sheets which will form the inner skin of the Tigin -



I gave up at this point having marked it out there will be a lot of jigging and sanding to get this sheet right. I wanted to put coat of varnish on this sheet before I begin cutting so as to protect it from hardship. Also - Made the spars for the hatch. Thought it best to do this before the the sides are up permanently.



Here is the first side with the polystyrene istalled.



I used a "hot knife" technique:I got the information on how to do that here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjfwor-BUd4

which gives surprisingly accurate results once you get the hang of it . Here is my setup




Have given up any hope of having her ready for this year. Maybe next Spring?


Happy Building,


Larry

[noseoil]

Nice method, but I wouldn't want to do this with a good knife. Temper will be lost in the steel, so a yard sale blade would be in order. Does leave a nice finished edge and none of those white crumbles to deal with.

[McGuffin]

Hi All,

Gluing and clamping up the sides - ran out of clamps and had to revert to more primitive methods...









The ash veneered sides got a bit of scraping with all the tooing and froing but nothing a light sanding and a coat of varnish won't fix. Can't wait to get the sides up I<m really tired of tripping over everything in the garage it's time now it was all being screwed together...hopefully Monday

Larry

[McGuffin]

Hi All,

Just as I was getting things finished up and the sides glued on at long last, the rain stopped and sun came out, so... I wheeled her outside for some snaps.

Here's a shot of the ash veneered sides after four (yes four coats of matt varnish). The chunk of wood going across from one side to the other is of solid ash and will eventually hold the H/ Hinge to the hatch.



This is what took a lot of the time. Getting the inside curve right with the ash veneer so it leaves a lip the whole way 'round the inner walls. I got this shape with a Stanley knife and a belt sander. Taking away a couple of mil at a time:



This was another difficult one. I had to layer up the doors so they would be smooth on the inside and still have a 3/4" lip for a door stop. This is 1/4" ply which I sprayed with galv paint.



Here is a shot of the door stop from a few feet back. On the skin nearest you can see the silver stopper. On the farthest away skin you can see that the ash veneer is flush.



Here's the overall shape now, the bits of string are for pulling through electrical cables later which were channeled in walls. the plywood sides now come down to the bottom the chassis box. I used gorilla glue and a row of stainless steel screws to secure each panel onto the sides of the trailer they bite into the two lathes of solid ash which run from front to back.





Finally, here's a mock-up of the Morris Traveler fenders where they are likely to end up. I would've liked the bottoms of the mud guards to be flush with the underside of the chassis but because of where the centre of the hub ended up this was not possible.




Hmmm..... .maybe I'll trim the bottoms of the fenders so that they are only a couple of inches below the chassis. Something like this perhaps.



This looks a bit better - If only I could do all the building in Photoshop

Actually here's something else I did in Photoshop designing a decal for this baby. I've been thinking that an ancient Irish script would be nice so here you have "Tigin" - pronounced Tigeen (little house) in old script topped off by a Celtic spiral teardrop!



Anybody any idea were I can get this design printed in vinyl?

Larry

[S. Heisley]

.
It's shaping up to be a teardrop beauty!
Thanks for sharing your build.

[McGuffin]

Hi Sharon,

Thank you! I love your elevating teardrop.... I think I'm too late to do the same at this stage

Larry

[StockCube]

Hi Larry,
Lots of places will do your vinyl for you - I would just ask at your nearest print shop. Alternatively there are companies on eBay that offer it but you lose some control because of the distance.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DESIGN-YOUR-O ... 3cdddeee35

[McGuffin]

Hi All,

It has been over a year since I started building our teardrop. Slow going. I've been chipping away at it for months ... then yesterday things took a giant leap forward! A couple of months ago after I fixed in the worktop in the galley, installed a couple of IKEA drawer units and worked out what way I wanted the galley layout then I took the Tigin to a local cabinet maker so he could complete the cabinets - I was afraid that I would make a bags of them I also asked him to skin the inside ceiling too. I hoped that this could be done in a continuous curve of ash and this would require jointing some 8x4 sheets - skills WAY above my capabilities. Anyway, I got it back yesterday. Here the cabinets are fleshed out (this was about a month ago):







When all the bits were made I took 'em home and after days and days of varnishing and sanding a I brought back all the bits for assembly. Then I got the Tig back yesterday here she is at last beginning to look like something!







gallery/image.php?album_id=3472&image_id=131220









He also did a nice job carving out the fan frame:



Here is a detail of how he spliced the roof so there would be a continuous arc of ash veneer inside (the biggest sheet width we could get was 4 feet). It looks so nice I'm not going to clutter it up with down lighters.



Moving on to the wiring next - then insulating the roof.

I haven't decided on what to use to skin her - maybe fibreglass sheeting and then paint with auto paint. I would love to use anodised aluminium but it is proving very difficult to get here in Ireland.



Larry

[dales133]

He did an awsum job it looks fantastic

[pchast]

That was nicely done for you.

[Breytie]

That looks sooo GOOOOOOD!

[McGuffin]

Hi Dale, Pete and Breytie,

Thank you for your kind remarks!

I have someone coming tomorrow to help me with the wiring and then I will put the insulation in the roof. I am going to try is to insulate between the roof spars with this kind of stuff that is commonly spayed in sheds and barns here for insulation:

http://www.biofoamsprayinsulation.com/p ... found.html

Someone I talked to recently suggested that it will be perfect to use because, it basically goes on as an expanding lightweight glue so this should add a lot of rigidity to the structure as it insulates. It also (apparently) doesn't eat electrical wires like the white polystyrene board I was going to use.

I'm dithering also about what to skin it with. Getting the right size of anodised aluminium is not possible here in Ireland. So the options are either some kind of fibreglass sheet or the silvered sign writing material that a lot of the TD builders use over here.

Here is a link to the fibreglass sheet it is thin, light and strong:

http://www.grpconsultants.co.uk/translu ... sheet.html

If I use this stuff, I'd glue it to the sides and top and have her sprayed a silvered anodised colour by a auto spray shop. I might then used some light aluminium chequer plate to liven up the look at the front and the side. Something like this:



We'll see....


Larry

[KCStudly]

Word of caution on the spray foam; mask off everything you don't want covered really well. That stuff looks like Great Stuff (GS) which is very tenacious and will stain wood grain.

Be prepared for it to over expand, and plan on having to carve and sand away the excess.

[McGuffin]

Hi KC,

Thanks - I'll make sure I do that!

Larry