I needed some input on the choice of front wing, so I sent this picture out to the Special Builder's Breakfast Club and waited to hear what they'd got to say.

Naturally, opinion was split down the middle. As I have the casting vote and favour the lower design (though it still needed some attention as the cut-away behind the wheel was wrong).....

... I hacked off the running board and filled in the wheel arch. I think it's more or less there. The roof has also been flattened where it peaked just above the windscreen. The distortion inherent in phone cameras doesn't help, but in real life it looks quite good. Anyway, up to the point of production, nothing is set in stone and aesthetic gaffs can be dealt with.

You may remember that the model is only of half the body (the red line is my trim mark). This ensures the other half will be a mirror image when scanned, the downside being that you never quite know what the complete car is going to look like.

This image reveals that the body could be a bit broad in the beam, though in reality it's the same as the RME.

The front engine mount bolts and their chassis tubes are finished. After a session with YouTube, I paid more attention to cutting angles and feed speeds on the lathe and, although still not perfect, it made a better job of it than normal. The tool inserts don't seem to last very long so I'm going to fish out some tool steel and grind up my own tools. At least I'll be able to sharpen them when they become dull instead of having to buy replacements.

And then I turned my attention to mounting the bead roller motor. The shackle on the back of the motor seemed too good to waste, so I turned up a shaft, popped a thread on the end and welded that to the mounting plate. That arrangement locked the motor solidly in position.  Then it was time to find a piece of thin aluminium to use for testing.

It's wasn't the best piece of metal - I don't have a lot of ali in the workshop - but what I found slightly concerning was the mark the rollers left on either side of the bead. I think I'm going to have to trim up the dies on the lathe. This test was done using four runs over the same area, increasing the pressure on the dies by half a turn on each pass. On the fifth pass the motor didn't want to know and refused to turn. Backing the pressure off cured that, but it was clear that we were lacking the necessary torque. Hmmm.

Luckily, a more serious motor was in store - the one I'd planned to use before I'd acquired the chair motor. The wiring and control side of this setup will be a bit more complicated. The Special Builder's Breakfast Club will have the gen.