Pete 367 in brass

[Timmy]

A brass master.......
I'm not so sure, but thank you for the compliment
As for polished versus painted I'm still tossing that idea around. If I could get larger sheets of brass, I wouldn't second guess it, polish it all the way. However I'm using 4x10 sheets which is causing more joints. But we shall see.
I didnt get as much done today as I'd hoped, I had to clean shop a bit(I could find $:&@) however I did get a start on the fenders

This was the first form I made. My hope was to be able to form both sides at the same time

However, if you look closely, it doesn't follow a consistent curve, it's to flat at the front

So I built a new one, but I decided to only build one side, and work one side at a time

So I cut a fender blank, and soldered it to my form

I then began hammering it around using my trusty dollar store brass hammer
That's right, I got it at the dollar store, and I use it almost exclusively, and I have purpose built hammers in my tool box!

Unfortunately that's as far as I got. All my hammering woke the baby and angered mommy, so I had to stop.
I'll be back at it in the morning, I'm going to start by heat shrinking the edge to form a nicer curve.
Thanks for looking.
If there's another way to form this fender, I'm open to ideas
Tim

[Timmy]

This truck seems to just fall together lately.
I was able to finish one fender about 85% today. I used two methods of shrinking and I'll explain them with the respected pictures

On the outside edge I heat shrank the edge using my torch. I didn't do it all the way around the way as I didn't want to have the heat ruin the rest of the fender

But after some hammering, it left a fairly wave free roll. It's not perfect, and I can still work it a little, but the brass being thin to begin with, and my introduction of heat, I decided to leave this side alone at this point

So I got ready for the other side

Now because this side meets the spacer on the inside, I cold shrunk the edge by twisting the edge with very fine needle nose pliers, then gently hammer the fold together. It's not the quickest way, and leaves a dirty edge unless you spend hours dollying it till its perfect, but it will work on the inside where I'm soldering anyway

So like I said, I went about 85% finished, but the end result looks decent

I need to build the spacer yet so the fenders will sit square

But even without them it makes the truck look more complete
Now the fender is supposed to have a low crown (curve) in it, and I have not yet put one on, but I think it looks cool just flat like this.
What do you guys think?
Tim