View Single Post
 
Old 02-21-2012, 06:54 AM
AlanG's Avatar
AlanG AlanG is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Cambridge, UK
Posts: 506
Total Downloaded: 20.39 MB
Hi Edgardo, good to see you back. I'm afraid "nearly finished" might be putting it a bit too strongly. The bulk of the model is now there, but there are lots of small bits and pieces still to do, and these seem to take just as long as the major parts.

The saddle is a case in point. I have lots of pictures to go on, but most are of restorations, and they are all different!

Anyone want a Harley-Davidson?-examples.jpg

[The centre pic is from a 1911 H-D advertisement, and gives us some hint, though there is a certain amount of artistic licence to be accounted for.] The main authentic characteristics seem to be the sweeping lower edge of the saddle side and the rather odd springing at the back. The rear of the saddle rests on two coned compression springs, the bottoms of which are attached to the bottom of a pair of cylindrical tension springs by a long rod. Then the tops of the tension springs are fixed to the frame.

It took quite a while to come up with something that looked reasonable yet had some chance of being makeable, and then developing the shapes. Putting it together turned out to be the easy bit, but in all it has taken over a week for just a tiny bit.

Anyone want a Harley-Davidson?-sadd01.jpg

I cheated with the rods linking the two sets of springs, and used pins. The heads serve to suggest the bolts holding them together.

Anyone want a Harley-Davidson?-sadd02.jpg Anyone want a Harley-Davidson?-sadd03.jpg

Anyone want a Harley-Davidson?-sadd04.jpg

As a cyclist I must say that the steeply-sloping saddle looks pretty uncomfortable, but maybe it's not so bad when you don't have to pedal.

Alan
Reply With Quote