Chassis Materials

[Guest Wragie]

I've been reading the forum messages and looking at all the hi res pictures I can

and I've noticed there seems to be (or was) a bit of a disagreement on what

alloy was used in the kit.

 

There is no easy way to know unless the guy who purchased the stuff for RH

tells but I somehow doubt that will happen. One thing I've noticed in all the

pictures is that there doesn't seem to be any grain in the sheet. It looks

fairly uniform. That definitely rules out the 2X and 7x series, and I'm about

90% sure the 6x series. That leaves 5x and 3X and possibly something like

6063. the 1x series is too soft to use.

 

Does anyone have any high res closeup pictures that show grain? Has anyone

seen or experienced any corrosion?

 

Has anyone seen any printing or stickers on the sheets or protective coating?

It might show a QQ number or AMS or A-XX type of thing.

 

I know this is a exciting topic but thought I'd ask anyway as I'm bored ;-]

 

Dave

[Guest gdc]

hi dave

first of all welcome to the forum.

re the ally no one knows the quality no numbers on any thing i have seen , its not going to be an expensive alloy as the whole kit when sold here was arround 1700 gb pounds , it got very expensive however when sold in the states through a second party.i have a pile of lightweight kits here and i will try to find any thing distintive.

re corrosion i have had a prob with one of the cars , mine , it was on a trailer and i think something from the road splashed

up on to a lower panal and 2 of the wheels causing what looked like very shallow pitting, i flatted out the prob on the panal and painted the wheels. hope it helps .

 

regards graham

ps you have a pm in answer to yours

[Guest Wragie]

hi dave

first of all welcome to the forum.

re the ally no one knows the quality no numbers on any thing i have seen , its not going to be an expensive alloy as the whole kit when sold here was arround 1700 gb pounds , it got very expensive however when sold in the states through a second party.i have a pile of lightweight kits here and i will try to find any thing distintive.

re corrosion i have had a prob with one of the cars , mine , it was on a trailer and i think something from the road splashed

up on to a lower panal and 2 of the wheels causing what looked like very shallow pitting, i flatted out the prob on the panal and painted the wheels. hope it helps .

 

regards graham

ps you have a pm in answer to yours

 

Hi Graham

 

If the aluminium corroded even that helps narrow things down. Almost rules out 6061. Was it white powdery? Did it look slike worms crawling around?

Or was it black?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[Guest gdc]

hi dave

 

definatly white and quite deep

 

graham

[Guest Wragie]

hi dave

 

definatly white and quite deep

 

graham

 

That's galvanic or salts corrosion. Can get it fairly quick by contact

with other materials such as steel or slowly by moisture

coming off of other materials. The pitting is typical as well. The

pitting will get bad enough for the aluminium to go away if you

ignore it.

 

Trying to think of if I have ever seen 6061 with this. 6061 is used

in salt water boats as it is pretty immune to everything. Between

the lack of grain in the pictures (even closeups) this corrosion,

and the sharp bends, distortion around pulled rivets I still think

the material was something like a 3003 half hard. Not as strong as

6061 but cheaper and easier to work with.

 

Dave

[Guest CDD]

Hey Dave: Moved this discussion out to the forum to get some more traffic since 2006. Those old dates are great for reference; that's for sure! Like I said in the messenger when I get the insurance claim settled I'll get the DVDs (and missing parts)from GBS. After I sent a registered return receipt letter to Coveland and got it back as undeliverable I knew that relationship was over. Dolittle 52 has some thoughts on Coveland.The Coveland guy certainly had sorta a whiney bunch of excuses in posts on the internet. Mr Hall from GBS e-mailed me noting Coveland is not their US dist.Cie la vie! Your getting way to technical on the type of aluminum for me. My second TR3 had no floor boards as they had rusted away so this kit is going to be a great advancement. Besides I live in Southern Utah now so salts and body rot are not even a consideration. The fold tabs on the kit look like they were sawn out of a pattern with a 10 pti hack saw. Your comment about cleaning those up in the aircraft industry makes sense. I 'm looking at this whole thing like a very complicated model with the added benefit of learning more about fabrication and perhaps a Cosworth to keep things British. You might want to look at the ZERO if the monoque is too daunting.

Doug Dewitz

[Guest Wragie]

Hi Doug

 

I'm not sure what the actual storey is on Coveland. I've heard people tell so many differing excuses they were given I have doubts anyone really knows. I see the website is still up so they are either still playing the game or the hosting service forgot to turn them off. There was a fair buzz about them on Locostusa but not too much lately.

 

Didn't mean to get too much into the aluminium but there is a fair amount of difference in strength and how well it stands up to things. Some of the better alloys have strength that approaches mild steel (corrodes like a bugger tho) and others you can bend in your hands they are so soft.

 

Those edges and corners are the one real bad thing I've seen. Those are how you start/get cracks from vibration or movement. Corrosion is going to be interesting. Depends on the alloy again but there is lots of stuff that you can use to prevent it.

 

I wouldn't call the LW kit intimidating. It's more a matter in my mind anyway how much has to be fixed to make it last. That and you have to admit the pictures of the polished car is how a 7 is supposed to look.

 

Dave