The Phoenix... the restoration of a rare custom-made "Thunderbird"

[Lightyear]

This is going to be a beauty!

You've probably already thought of this but, just in case, make yourself a template, tracing maybe?, of all of you pickup locations screw holes etc - I could swear that I've never ever covered something like this up only to be stumped at locating the locations later - but that would be a lie 

[Hornisse]

That looks great!  Wish I had the talent to take on such a task.

[Highlander]

Cheers for that gentlemen...

Measured out all distances and things already, Buzz, but definitely appreciate any tips whatsoever...

Well, the head is on and clamped (single piece), but also experimenting with the "iron-on" technique that Buzz mentioned earlier... been trawling about that - definitely a "hot" subject in the "wood-working fraternity", with the "jury-out"... experimenting is NOT being done on the 'Bird...

There is a reason for this, well 2, actually, possibly several... I am not going to be able to lay my hands on anywhere near enough clamps (the several) aaaaand the burl has a curl... when flattening (this morning) after cutting the shape I found that there was a central "twist" in the raw veneer which just did-not show prior to cutting... I may resolve this with a cut (back to the "piece-by-piece" puzzle for the centre) near the centre of the "wing" sections and removing a sliver on a "pattern-line"... As Robert/Hornisse said in his posting ("talent"), I am now approaching the edge of my "envelope" and hoping I don't burn up on re-entry... 

[Highlander]

Heads on...


this is the raw article, no cleaning or trimming...


... and this is the (partially) cleaned and trimmed version, with some fittings to give an idea of what's to come...

[clankenstein]

looking good!

[drbassman]

Wow, very nice Kenny.  Keep it rolling!!!!

[OldManC]

That's gonna be beautiful...

[Daniel_J]

Looking great, Kenny! Looks like you did a fine job gluing that veneer to the head.

[Highlander]

Thanks Gents... Unlikely that I will be home early enough to do any more work until the weekend...

With this much variation in the look of the veneer, from raw to basic cleaning, the decision over the final colour, or colours, is really a struggle...

Anyone know what colours dyes work well on natural mahogany... ? Got to admit that blues and greens are very much in the forefront of my mind...

[uwe]

Just like rebuilding Sellafield without - ooops! - the technical glitches.

[Dave W]

I've never seen blue or green dyes on mahogany,either solids or veneers. Just shades ranging from cherries to browns. That doesn't mean it can't be done if that's what you want.

[Highlander]

This is one of my major quandries, Dave... Dave (the supplier) tried both blue and green on a sample of the veneer while I was there, and it immeadiately stood out, but once I cleaned up the affixed veneer, it looks really good too...

I have a sample piece affixed to the leftover piece of mahogany to play with, but not rushing the work...

I may post on the ReRanch to get an opinion, as suggested earlier...

Uwe... Sellafield...? Hmmm... anyone know of any "glow-in-the-dark" fins...?

... and on that subject... while researching for a move in 2002/3 (that didn't happen) we looked into relocating to the Lake District and a real "dream location" showed up, an old mill that also doubled up as a station on the Ravenglass and Eskdale minature steam railway line... the question we kept asking was "why is it so cheap?"... 3 miles from Sellafield was the answer... another place we looked into was a small hotel in North Wales, not too far from Porthmeirion ("I Am Not A Number...!")... similar problem... We stayed put...

[Highlander]

Veneer's on the body...


... jigsaw puzzle pieces laid on...


... with some hardware in their approximate places...

The pup-ring that George sent over with his Mudbucker is going on as well... gotta try and make a pup-ring for the RD pup before long...


... a bit of finishing and cleaning later... this veneer looks pretty good just as it is...

The sample piece of mahogany turns green with blue dye, so I think blue is out... cherry is starting to look tempting, but that natural fin...

[Dave W]

Even if you haven't decided on the dye or stain, it still looks like everything's coming together nicely.

[OldManC]

Wow, it's looking really good. That's gonna be a winner!