Burdekin
Chief Bodger
- Messages
- 6,685
- Location
- Aberdeen
Just back from a week's wheeling course at MPH Motor Panels in sunny Cornwall in Englandshire, had a great time and learnt loads in the 5 days. I think it's fantastic that there is a course like this in a proper workshop with constant one on one tuition, couldn't recommend the week's course highly enough.
MPH Motor Panels is owned by Geoff Moss who is an ex-Austin Martin panel beater and he produces some really lovely stuff. Geoff has a young bloke working for him, James, who is lucky enough to be working with Geoff and learning the trade and between them both they showed me the principals of wheeling. The guys were currently working on a Lotus Eleven front bonnet and the craftsmanship was first class, I was particularly impressed with the quality of the work; there was no cutting corners, no bodging things and they spent the time to make sure everything was spot on. I think Geoff's built a reputation as an E-type and Lotus 11 expert but if anyone is after any bespoke panel work and they want a first class job then I'd really recommend giving Geoff a call.
My week mainly involved learning the principals of wheeling but I also took the time to watch what the guys were doing and how they made things and how they construct their panels I was really keen to see and I took plenty of pics. One thing the guys aren't short of is praise and Geoff probably told me a dozen times that with practice I'd be knocking out panels like his and it wasn't hard once you knew what you were doing. I'm of course a long way from that but I'll put in the practice and I hope to go back in 6 to 12 months for some more tuition.
I've attached the pics of my projects that I did over the week and it shows how I progressed. The first day was learning to wheel and how to put shape into a panel and then take it out. It was amazing that I could make the panel dead flat again after having a big lump in it, I did this three times on the first day and is a technique I need to keep practising as that is the basics of wheeling. I also made a bowl with plenty of shape, a couple of compounds into a return (wired the edges after) and the final item was an E-type front OS wing section. There is loads of shape and I made it to match the fibreglass buck. I roughed the basic shape out pretty quickly I thought and then spent an eternity getting the shape spot on as there was one wee corner I struggled to get for a while. I spent a long time with the panel being so close but finally in the end I think it was pretty good. Geoff and James pretty much leave you alone to work out the panel by yourself, as the idea is to apply what you've learnt earlier in the week.
Anyway anyone keen to learn how to wheel or looking for some quality hand made panels give Geoff a call, his website is:http://www.mphmotorpanels.com
My wife and I stayed at a little pine cabin in St Ive about 10 minutes drive away, nothing fancy but it was very clean, warm, self catering, great shower and 5 minutes walk from a friendly traditional Cornish pub. Link to the cabin: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Vacatio...l_England.html
MPH Motor Panels is owned by Geoff Moss who is an ex-Austin Martin panel beater and he produces some really lovely stuff. Geoff has a young bloke working for him, James, who is lucky enough to be working with Geoff and learning the trade and between them both they showed me the principals of wheeling. The guys were currently working on a Lotus Eleven front bonnet and the craftsmanship was first class, I was particularly impressed with the quality of the work; there was no cutting corners, no bodging things and they spent the time to make sure everything was spot on. I think Geoff's built a reputation as an E-type and Lotus 11 expert but if anyone is after any bespoke panel work and they want a first class job then I'd really recommend giving Geoff a call.
My week mainly involved learning the principals of wheeling but I also took the time to watch what the guys were doing and how they made things and how they construct their panels I was really keen to see and I took plenty of pics. One thing the guys aren't short of is praise and Geoff probably told me a dozen times that with practice I'd be knocking out panels like his and it wasn't hard once you knew what you were doing. I'm of course a long way from that but I'll put in the practice and I hope to go back in 6 to 12 months for some more tuition.
I've attached the pics of my projects that I did over the week and it shows how I progressed. The first day was learning to wheel and how to put shape into a panel and then take it out. It was amazing that I could make the panel dead flat again after having a big lump in it, I did this three times on the first day and is a technique I need to keep practising as that is the basics of wheeling. I also made a bowl with plenty of shape, a couple of compounds into a return (wired the edges after) and the final item was an E-type front OS wing section. There is loads of shape and I made it to match the fibreglass buck. I roughed the basic shape out pretty quickly I thought and then spent an eternity getting the shape spot on as there was one wee corner I struggled to get for a while. I spent a long time with the panel being so close but finally in the end I think it was pretty good. Geoff and James pretty much leave you alone to work out the panel by yourself, as the idea is to apply what you've learnt earlier in the week.
Anyway anyone keen to learn how to wheel or looking for some quality hand made panels give Geoff a call, his website is:http://www.mphmotorpanels.com
My wife and I stayed at a little pine cabin in St Ive about 10 minutes drive away, nothing fancy but it was very clean, warm, self catering, great shower and 5 minutes walk from a friendly traditional Cornish pub. Link to the cabin: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Vacatio...l_England.html
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