Voiturette à pédales à fabriquer

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Intrepid Wheelwoman

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Oct 29, 2011
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Curt, - yes it's a nice little car. That very appealing bodyshell is made from laminated cardboard and paper over a wooden framework. It's something I've wondered about as a way of building a bodyshell as it's strong, lightweight and CHEAP.

Ludwig, that is a smart little vehicle. A lot of work and thinking has gone into that.
 

wheelbender6

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Sep 4, 2008
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Wow. Front wheel drive and steering.
I enjoy these plans that you have been posting. I'm also impressed with the resourcefulness
of post WWI France.
It makes me feel like I should certainly be able to build a Morgan styled trike without possessing
professional skills.
 

rustycase

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May 26, 2011
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Pretty cute little pedal car!
I don't read a bit of French, and I was trying to figure how they were doing compound bends on wood construction! lol
I'm glad IWW explained it!

Wood probably has a really nice feel at the slower speeds, but from the simple pics shown, some high quality lumber would be required, and 1st class joinery skills.
rc
 

Intrepid Wheelwoman

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Apparently issue #83 has the article on how to build a body with laminated paper and cardboard. Unfortunately I don't have that 'Systeme D' issue, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for it.

My French reading skills have slipped over the years, but usually I can still manage to work my way through these articles with a little dictionary help.

I don't think any of the vehicles I've posted plans for are intended to be for hi-speed use so the wooden framework and chassis should work quite well. Being postwar designs intended to give ordinary folk a means of transport the major use of wooden structural parts makes a lot of sense. Steel would have been in short supply (apart from the huge amount of bombed and shot up scrap lying about) and most folk wouldn't have been equipped with either the skills or equipment to undertake major metalwork projects.
 

curtisfox

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Dec 29, 2008
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Curt, - yes it's a nice little car. That very appealing bodyshell is made from laminated cardboard and paper over a wooden framework. It's something I've wondered about as a way of building a bodyshell as it's strong, lightweight and CHEAP.

Ludwig, that is a smart little vehicle. A lot of work and thinking has gone into that.
Love that little car reminds me of a early mopar. Thanks for telling how it was made VERY INTRESTING.
i suppose something like plywood cross laminated ......Curt
 

rustycase

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May 26, 2011
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Yep!

Kind of like aircraft semi-monocoque construction...

I don't know if I have that kind of skill ! lol

I think I'd rather do a one-off fiberglass skin and bag it over a foam plug.
rc
 

Intrepid Wheelwoman

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No there's no use of cross laminated plywood Curtis, it's all cardboard and paper. The wooden framework I was referring to was the actual structural body framing itself.

I've been able to locate a copy of issue #83 from a French trader so in a week or two I should be able to tell you more about how the bodywork is constructed.

Believe it or not RC laminated paper and cardboard can make for a quite a strong structure. I did some bodywork mods to an old car I owned when I was a much younger woman and it was all done with paper, cardboard and resin. Once painted it was impossible to tell it was cardboard and I drove that car for the next ten years in all weathers and never had any problems with any of the mods I'd done breaking apart or cracking.
 

Otero

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Feb 1, 2010
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I've seen a video of an actual working model of those plans.
It was yellow and seemed to get around quite well, but I
can't recall where I stumbled onto it. Out there somewhere?
 

curtisfox

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Dec 29, 2008
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No there's no use of cross laminated plywood Curtis, it's all cardboard and paper. The wooden framework I was referring to was the actual structural body framing itself.

I've been able to locate a copy of issue #83 from a French trader so in a week or two I should be able to tell you more about how the bodywork is constructed.

Believe it or not RC laminated paper and cardboard can make for a quite a strong structure. I did some bodywork mods to an old car I owned when I was a much younger woman and it was all done with paper, cardboard and resin. Once painted it was impossible to tell it was cardboard and I drove that car for the next ten years in all weathers and never had any problems with any of the mods I'd done breaking apart or cracking.
I should have worded it different: what i meant was cross laminate craboard and paper the same way plywood is made in layers. Paper and cardboard do have a grain.
This is truely intersting LOL. One could use maybe a powerd resion glue?
I think the Cubains used a lot of paper in there car repair ...........Curt
 

rustycase

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Essentially, then, Otero, it is plywood! :) Pulped wood??? lol

This might be one of those places where hemp fiber would really shine....
and use casein or hide glue???

Interesting... well, I'm rambling again...

lol
THAT's what it looks like... a Nash Rambler!

rc
 

Otero

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Feb 1, 2010
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Ramble On. The one in the video had a nice glossy
finish something like Chinese lacquer ware I suppose.
Believe it or not I built a kayak in much the same fashion.
Very light but not too good with rocks, sigh.
 

fasteddy

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Feb 13, 2009
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My brother is standing on my heels to finish the tricar and get busy on a velocar. He can see the purpose in building one since he would like to have it to scoot around our area while going to the store and this is a beauty. Thank you I.W. for supplying these and the language help. :).

I had envisioned a plywood covering. They sell what they refer to as wiggle wood which is a very bendable one directional plywood. That is it bends on the horizontal or the vertical and is two layers of rotory cut 1/8" wood with a membrane in between. This can be rolled like heavy paper into a very tight roll. The wood looks to be like poplar or cotton wood.

It bends across the middle of the sheet for short runs and along the length for long runs. Glued and nailed to the frame I would then glue canvas to the plywood and make or buy a filler paste to fill the canvas grain much like they did with canvas covered cedar strip canoes.

Paste filler is available on line from furniture restoration suppliers and when used to fill the grain in wood it is coloured with an appropriate stain. It can be painted over as it comes in the can and only needs to be thinned out with paint thinner. A light sanding would be needed to smooth it out.

Not as inexpensive or authentic as cardboard and newspaper though.

Steve.
 

Intrepid Wheelwoman

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That's quite alright Steve, I'm just pleased to get these old plans out where they can be seen and made use of.

I suppose canvas or any tough fabric could be laid over laminated paper and cardboard in the same way as laying it over a plywood shell. Back in the day it was fairly common for the Mochet velocars to have their plywood bodies covered with motorcar upholstery cloth to give them a nice looking finish.
 

Intrepid Wheelwoman

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Faites attention classe s'il vous plaît. ;)

Today the post lady brought the No:83 copy of 'Tout le Systeme 'D' from Novembre 1952 that I ordered from France before Christmas. This is the magazine that has the article on building a car bodyshell from paper.

I will scan the article, but I think I'm going to need to do some text translation as the diagrams don't clearly show how the body lay up is done. Essentially the body frame work is covered in rayon cloth and the paper layers are built up on that. The French text gives the advice to, 'arm yourself with patience', - so I would imagine that trying to lay up too many layers at once isn't a good idea. I have yet to discover what glue it is that they are using, but that's more to do with my rusty French than any fault of the instructions.
The article does point out that body repairs can be easily made and the overall weight of the body is only a little heavier than an aluminum skinned body of the same size.