Greetings from South Carolina!

[Irmo Atomics]

I've been reading on here for a while and thought it would be a good time to join. I started my build a few weeks ago using a pop-up as a starting point. Since it's too damb hot to do anything outside, I thought that a teardrop build in an air-conditioned garage would be the way to go. I'm sure that I'll be cutting off the AC and using a heater before I'm done. I put some pictures in my gallery to let you see what I'm after and where I'm at now.

Bob

[bc toys]

welcome to site and like you work so far is the tear torpedo your ideal for a build think it would look good

[CliffinGA]

Welcome from GA! Have fun with it!

Cliff

[mezmo]

Hi Irmo Atomics,

Welcome to this great forum.

Are you planning a build along the lines of the
'Airstream-Torpedo-Teardrop' shown in your album?
It looks like you have curved the front corners of the frame
already. If so, it will be a distinctive retro look.

Have fun planning and building.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[DriverOne]

Hey, Irmo! I'm from the Clemson area and I drive my rig through your area a lot. You weren't lying to these folks when you said it was hot out. So far this year Columbia has reached 111°F with a humidity you could wear like a shirt! I too am loving my AC.

[Irmo Atomics]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I am going to build my teardrop based on the Torpedo. I got the idea from the "Modern Gypsies" pdf in the Design Resources - Vintage Plans section of this forum. It took me a while to find out that the picture that I had on my desktop was a "Torpedo" and there aren't a lot of references to it, but I have enough information to get close enough.
In 1935, Wally Byam - the Airstream guy - sold the plans in magazines for $5. Building the camper was up to the individual, so no two would have been the same. I don't have a full set of plans, but I do have one page with enough dimensions to let me scale it down to fit my frame and a sheet of plywood. It won't have all the windows, but it should have the same basic shape. I'm looking forward to seeing how this thing turns out - I'm wingin' it.

[les45]

Welcome, Bob
I'm right down the road in Aiken and trying to finish up a weekender if this heat ever breaks. Looks like we have enough SC folks on the forum to have our own camp in.
Good luck on your build and feel free to ask lots of questions.
Larry S.

[DriverOne]

Welcome, Bob
I'm right down the road in Aiken and trying to finish up a weekender if this heat ever breaks. Looks like we have enough SC folks on the forum to have our own camp in.
Good luck on your build and feel free to ask lots of questions.
Larry S.

Les, if you're serious, there's a great KOA out here in Anderson/Pendleton. It's nice & quiet with room for the big RV's, so we'd have all kinds of space. I can take pics of the place if you like. It's where I hold my yearly Spring FestivaL meet for the fordfestiva.com owners club, and they have always been treated well by the staff. I'm sure they'd be happy to accommodate us.

[CliffinGA]

Don't forget the GA folks also as we're down the hwy! Sheri and I actually camp out in SC more than we do GA especially the Army corp parks. Check the TJearkers link as there is a good group from NC and SC that camp together.

Cliff

[les45]

Welcome, Bob
I'm right down the road in Aiken and trying to finish up a weekender if this heat ever breaks. Looks like we have enough SC folks on the forum to have our own camp in.
Good luck on your build and feel free to ask lots of questions.
Larry S.

Les, if you're serious, there's a great KOA out here in Anderson/Pendleton. It's nice & quiet with room for the big RV's, so we'd have all kinds of space. I can take pics of the place if you like. It's where I hold my yearly Spring FestivaL meet for the fordfestiva.com owners club, and they have always been treated well by the staff. I'm sure they'd be happy to accommodate us.

I would like to attend some sort of teardrop group get together as soon as I finish my weekender. Right now it looks like early fall. I haven't even begun to check on the various organizations that already exist in our area.

[Oldragbaggers]

Welcome to the forum and to the addiction. Lucky you, having an air conditioned garage to build in. It's hotter than hell here in Maryland too.

I am very interested in the design you chose and will definitely be following your build. Please take a lot of pictures.

You were smart to leave your frame its original width. I also started with a pop-up frame and I had mine cut down to 4-1/2' wide (one of my MANY mistakes) to save on weight, materials. I am sure I did save on weight, but I ended up wasting a lot of materials that could have just gone into making it wider and having that extra space. Anything over 4' wide and you may as well go for all the space you can get.

Good luck. Hope the heat breaks for you soon!! (Us too.)