TOPIC:

I don't think Hib was criticising you JR, just making a comment.

I think you've done a great job on the driver - the pleated seats look very 70s-tastic! Just need to be painted as brown vinyl to complete the look!
Why not keep the original driver in a bag and if you come to sell it, you can include it for the new owner to do what they want with it?
Alternatively - is the original driver good enough to make a mould from? Maybe fill it with epoxy or something to stabilise it, then cast a mould from it?

Thanks Martin, and yeah, no problem with your methods at all Jonny Every collector/enthusiast is different. Every single person has their idiosyncrasies, and if anything, hobbies like this only amplify those behaviours.

So for me, "originality" is pretty much my only rule, and I like it for the fact that it keeps things simple, as much as I find it more satisfying in the nostalgic sense.

In my experience, waiting for the right spare part does usually work. Sometimes it takes 5-10 years. But you might find another Spital Trial 12 driver when you least expect it, so keep an eye out.

One of my current projects is a complete clean and reassembly (I hesitate to say "restore" as the car is a basket case) of a LaTrax Hustler. Similar era as the Spital Trial 12.

My dad bought a ruined one at a garage sale about 15 years ago, for 50 cents. Recently I found another one with the ultra rare original box. So from the two, after all these years, will come one.

But the only front bumper I have is one which was shattered into about 6 pieces and then glued and rejoined with rusty brackets and pop rivets

During January, I finally decided to start this project. I spent half a day just trying to pry the pop rivets and brackets out of the plastic, and clean all the fragments, in order to try gluing the bumper back together as it was meant to be (and without breaking it any further). I got there in the end! It will look alright on the car. I could have just used an SRB re re bumper, as its practically a clone of that. But no :/

In a sense, I even think I find it amusing - as an activity - to restore cars as far as they can be restored (while still original), and no further.
If 60% is the best I can do, then I'm happy with that - I like the patina of the car that's had a hard life, being brought back to its best level (without upgrades).

It's like polishing a mosquito trapped in amber, and just being happy that you can see it. As opposed to say, extracting it fully, and mixing it with some modern insect DNA to make it living hybrid that can fly again.

Cheers,
H.



www.rctoymemories.com

Yeah I'd go with that.
It's the old "Depends what you plan to do with it" thing again - a hobby is about doing something you enjoy, doing it in a way that brings you enjoyment, & once you realise that the more effort you put in the more satisfaction at a "job well done" you get, the more effort you put in next time, to get that feeling again only better.

What you do & how well you do it only really matters if you plan to sell it or impress someone else

I spent most of Saturday afternoon stripping the paint off the body, and a bit of yesterday evening starting on repairing the damage.



I already knew about the damage on the front left - and that it would have to come apart to be fixed properly ...





... but the damage on the rear (thanks to inadequate packing) was worse than I'd thought ...





There was also a couple of cracks on the front right, and more on the rollover hoop:






As the front right was still intact, I used that to make templates for replacement bits of styrene sheet for the left side, e.g. this bit of paper was shaped to cover one of the three areas ...





... mirrored over to the right hand side ...






... and once I'd marked the inside, I knew what shape bit of styrene I needed ...





... so could cut it out & stick on:



...

...


Repeat for 2nd surface....








.. and third, with a final bit of infill too:








It's not meant to be perfect, it's just a guide to help get the shape right. I'll be reinforcing the inside & filling the outside before sanding back to shape

andyaus wrote:

Nice project Jr I'm already looking forward to your body restoration cheers Andy....

And your not disappointing us with your efforts

Onwards with the reinforcing ...


Very fine glassfibre cloth...





... covered with "odour free" Z-poxy resin. Whoever labelled it "odour free" clearly has no sense of smell - imagine something worse than essence of rotten prawn shells






Masking tape didn't do that good a job of sealing the gaps





... but lots of work with a scalpel & some sanding later...





... I slapped a load of Squadron white putty on...




Then sanded 99.9% of it off again...





...

One of the cracks started to open up again during sanding, so I've further reinforced the arch ... some more sanding, filling, and sanding again & it'll be ready for a guide coat or two of primer, so I can see where I need to do more (you guessed it) sanding & filling

Wow nice work there JR.

This Spital Trial will look perfect after you finish working on the body.

It's just amazing how fast you can scroll through the "rebuilding" thread and how long it takes for real to achieve such a result

Can't wait to see the before and after comparison pictures

Excellent work

Great bodywork skills and a nice save im lookin forward to seeing this with a coat of paint on it