Hey Everyone,
Some of you have been wondering why I have fallen off the map since school started. Truth is my school program is very fast paced and involving (projects literally exist 24/7) I am Currently in my 4th year of my Industrial Design Degree specializing in Automotive Design.
Enough about me and more about the project I have been working on. We have been assigned a project by a local company to help design a car for the xprize competition. In short they have to make a car which goes 100mpg and can be sold to the masses, prize money is in the millions.
Anywho they came to the school with the task of designing the exterior and the interior of the car. However there were strict specifications we had to go by, Mainly we had to design around an existing chassis. For some reason they chose… the Audi A2
Apparently this car is super efficient and has an extremely low drag co-efficient. with that aside… its as ugly as sin.
So Let the Sketching Begin. After many consults with the client I came up with this direction. It took about 90283109283 different sketches to come up with these. If you want to go into this program you have to love drawing. I honestly drew non stop for 2 weeks to come up with this direction
Ill bust out some sweet photoshop renderings closer when its due on December 7th.
Now the design direction was chosen and approved by the client, it was time to start on the scale model. for the autoshow we have to build a 5th scale model of the car. The dimensions from the audi a2 were used so the whole class is each working on the same size model.
This is where i have been for the last couple of weeks. This room kills social lives. But it is also pretty sweet to work with the select few people who take the course seriously. But hey it sure beats the fuck out of doing essays.
The Models start life off as sheets of R20 insulation foam and get carved down to the desired shape.
My Work station and Tape Drawings. these drawings are used to get measurements and plot your lines on the foam. I started out by gluing 3 silhouettes of my together i had cut out on the bandsaw.
foam was glued together with water based contact cement and shaped using 80 grit sandpaper and rasps.
Model starting to take shape. alot more defining to be done tho. Measurements are key. Since all the models have to work off the same chassis (a2) they should be about the same size as eachother. My prof noticed my buddies model was 1 inch to short. so it was off to the chop shop . Hurtin lol.
Cut in half to have another bit inserted
Since the models have to be painted, they first have to be coated in an epoxy resin. Paint and Bondo will eat the foam if it isnt treated.
You better hope to god that you dont have any pin holes in the resin or when you spray it for the first time it will eat its self. First coat of primer is always sketchy.
To my luck it was all sealed and i didnt get overspray on my Ken Block DC’s ( they add +10 Drifter points).
Enter the heavenly world of BONDO
We use colour flow premium deluxe bondo, you can get it at car quest. it sands really nicely and allowed for nice edges and body line definition. Its also a really lurid green colour.
That should be enough 
It makes your model look like its driven through a nuclear fallout.
I Started mocking up the side vents using sheets of styrene plastic. These will be attached and smoothed out using bondo. Fuck if i know how ima paint behind them. :/:
Anyways its 130am and I gotta be at school tomorrow for 8 am to continue the bondo. sand . primer . repeat process.
Let me know what you think. any advice on bondo or painting would be appreciated. im not a body man, im just experimenting and figuring shit out as i go along.
Regards
Jordie
