I spent several hours more hours reshaping the sides of the car. Adding filler here, shaving some there... It's wierd how from some angles the car looks absolutely great (like the angle in the photo), yet from others the car shape is unsatisfying to me. Lately I have spent more time staring at the shape trying to analyze that 'unknown' feeling I get.  I will probably spend more time just staring at it. I have said this before, but at this stage you really can't see what I am doing in the photos. I end up focusing my gaze on one line or panel and shifting myself to different positions to see how that particular area interacts with the rest of the car. It's very subtle work. Maybe I'll try to do a video...

I did have another large crack in the surface that I had to fix. I decided to rip a large area of foam out and then used my angle grinder to reduce the wood outline well below the final surface. That way I did create a much rougher surface for the joint compound to adhere to. I also embedded a series of drywall screws into either side of the wood so that the drywall mud would surround it and lock into place.

On Friday evening I got a phone call from someone that I had contact with over a year ago. Even then we had just talked on the phone for a few minutes. John Horton, a very interesting chap. Lives about 10 minutes from my house had heard that I might be building a locost and wanted to talk about the little cars. Well I haven't built a locost, but I really feel like I have, and I have been around the breed enough to know what I am talking about. (or at least I can fake it...) I mentioned that I was working on tail lights from ali castings and John mentioned that he had a Lathe. A LATHE! Well to make a long story a bit shorter we decided to do a little bartering.  It will be a very beneficial friendship for both of us. John is also a driving instructor for ASRA. That will certainly be beneficial for when La Bala is needing some track time!

Back to tail lights. The tail lights have a very rough casting. The parts were certainly not intended to be a visual element on a car! I was thinking about ways to make them look nice. When I spoke to John, the solution seemed quite simple, just use the lathe! Sunday night I took the castings over to John's house and he machined them for me. The finished product is gorgeous.  As an interesting side note, on Sunday night when I checked my email I had an offer from Joe Kovacs out of Canada to polish housings, for free. That's a great offer. Joe is a musical instrument repair technician and has access to all kinds of buffing equipment. However, for now I think I like the satin effect that the lathe gives the housings, but if I ever need something polished I hope I can get Joe on the job.  Thanks Joe!

For all you married guys out there.  Jobs that keep the wife happy keep the builder happy... Saturday I built a shed for the side yard. Cheap shed, heavy box, giant erector set. Wish I had built the shed years ago. Now here's the secret. The wife thinks its for her gardening supplies but I know it's for storing parts. But I'm not telling her because I've already earned my brownie points and if you have your brownie points taken away for scamming the wife you can almost never earn them back. :) <wink>