Like the idea somewhat, how deep would the honeycomb be? But I would think that anything more than about 1/8" would be a pain to clean.

 

I would like to see a smaller honey comb myself. The image is way to big and bold. I would like to see it a little more suttle myself. I would look at using the same print as the 72 Mach..

 

:notnice:

 

Ok... as promised I've updated the image to the best of my admittedly poor abilities to let everyone see what we're working on. You will notice the following in the new image (which I edited the first post to display now as well):

1) The honeycomb is a duplicate of the front honeycomb, scaled ~60% down to make it smaller / repeat a few more times (original scale would be 10, this is ~17)

2) There is going to be a raised ring around the trunk emblem, which will have a single step in it.

3) Around the perimiter will be the same stepped ring, but trapezoidal in shape.

4) Yes, thickness of the honeycomb will be kept in check to aid in ease of cleaning. It will however be thicker than the aftermarket one available for the 99-04 body style. Here we will be at about the same thickness as a 71-73 piece (1/8") The overall thickness is going to make up the gap from the taillight body to trunk face, which is a little over 1/2" thick.

5) Due to the fact that Ford placed the emblem off-center vertically, the honeycomb has to go up into the rolled section to balance out the appearance.

Ok, see what you think and let me know, I appreciate the input.

 

Possibly, but need a clearer picture.

Marcello, sometimes the server like AOL for one will compress the photo you are uploading, therefore it is not presented clear. Try replacing your above pix useing Internet Explorer.

 

I'm unsure of how to do this. If you can explain it, I'd be happy to do it for everyone. For this forum, I just used the "attach image" form at the bottom. I have a version of it on my website in the product section, maybe that one can be viewed uncompressed? The original is almost 2Mb, and with us still on dial up (no high speed available here) I've learned not to upload files like that for the sanity of any other dialup users - as an aside, when we had high-speed at our old place, our website was pretty bloated, and I couldn't understand why everyone didn't just get off of dial-up. Now I understand...

Of course, if needed, I can upload the 2Mb version to my website, and just put a link to it for those who would like to download it. That would probably be the simplest solution.

 

Marcello, I too have dail-up. After you log on to the internet with your server. Next you must open up Microsoft's "Internet Explorer" it is a server like AOL, Yahoo, etc. Then using "I E" log on to TMS site. Then just do like you did orginally, but this time you will be replaceing your above picture useing "I E" it willing come up clear on this page.

Also I checked out the honeycomb today on friends Mach 1. The recess is only approximately 1/16". She said that any deeper and it will be a pain to clean. Hers is bad enough.

Hope this helps, if not ask more questions.

 

Ok, well I was using IE, as I don't do the AOL thing, so I don't know how it could get compressed. I even checked my accelerator settings, and I have it set to not compress on the upload. Either way, I've added a link to my site with the uncompressed image, as well as the image in a smaller jpg file. You can view them HERE. I also re-uploaded the picture in the links above, so maybe this time it is easier to see on the other end.

As to the depth of the honeycomb, I have a 73 Mach I, and I was checking over the panel today on it since there's been a lot of talk about the depth here. The depth of the original Ford pattern measures .180" deep. That is way less than 1/4" (.250) but quite a bit more than 1/16 (.0625). If I did 1/16, it would be much cheaper to produce initially as you could forgo the mold and go with vacuum forming the part, but that's not what we're after. At between .125 and .180, we will find a sweet spot that shouldn't be too hard to clean, yet allows the pattern to be easily recognizable from more than 2 feet away. The shallower pattern, while easier to produce, just won't have the same effect. Anyone who's seen the 99-04 panels that were made by the aftermarket can say that unless you're almost on top of them, you can't make out much of a pattern on them, and they instead end up just looking like blackout panels.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend, we'll be meeting with the mold manufacturer again tomorrow, and will discuss the concerns that have been brought up to this point.

Thanks!

 

And make sure the sides of the honeycomb's sides follow the lines of the rear lights. In your photochop the sides go straight up and that little area of white at the top hurts to look at it.

-Dan

 

Exactly - it needs to follow the lines of the tail lights Other wise it just looks tacked on with no concern for blending in.

 

That will be taken care of. Understand that the photoshops are from yours truly, and that my skills with photoshop are somewhat limited.

Thankfully for everyone who is interested, the designer working on the mold and prototype is a lot better at this stuff than I am. The solid models to date are truly amazing, and we may have a working prototype within 2-3 weeks if all continues on schedule.

That all said, we may run into a point where the panel will have to end before visually you would like it to. This has to do with the thickness of the part in the termination of the corner, and the radius of the trunk coming back out to meet it. While we may have enough room to make it thick enough there, I don't want a really thin corner that cracks off after six months. Having it terminate where it can retain some strength is better than having a bunch of parts come back at you because they are of poor quality / designed improperly and break off when whacked with a washing sponge. Also, I want the part to have enough strength so that it can be removed for painting 5-10 years from now when all of our new Mustangs start to show their age, instead of having to mask around it the MAACO way.

 

UPDATE!

Anyone who is interested, we have a listing on EBay now for pre-production pricing on the panel, incorporating some of the requests from readers here. Once we hit 200 units, pre-production pricing will end. Anyone who has watched some of the engine covers on EBay knows how that goes (I just saw one at over 220.00! Yipes!) so I urge you to take advantage of the 89.00 price while it's being offered.

Thanks to everyone who posted on this topic with both their likes and dislikes concerning our design.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=ADME:B:LC:MT:1

 

I like them...yeah the honeycomb is a little larger but then again...these aren't 73' Mach 1's. I think they look slick!

Having said that....I am finishing up my own version....don't have it mounted yet...took ABS honeycomb sheeting (found it in the flourescent lighting department). It has the smalll honeycomb shape and comes in 24" x 48" pcs. Used a Dremel to get the honeycombs to match up. Used ABS strips (from a good hobby shop...sell them for RC aircraft parts) to go around the edges. Was 4 piecing it until a friend showed me how to warm up the ABS to form to the curves. 1st try stinked :notnice: 2nd try was worse :bang: ....on my 3rd set but this time have a local body guy helping....will post pics when I get something I am not ashamed to post
The honeycomb is 1/4 deep but MUCH smaller...looks twisted....will keep you up on it....


Jay

 

Jay,

Being a hot-rodder and tinkerer myself, I can appreciate your efforts. I will say though that I think it will be very difficult to heat stretch anything of any thickness to take not only the arc of the trunk, but then the reverse arc of the lip as it comes up above the emblem. This was a problem for us (measuring it, not shaping it) so that our piece would fit properly. Bending would be esp. difficult with the honeycomb, since the honeycomb is there to keep it from bending, if I'm imagining what you started with correctly.

That said, orders for ours are starting to come in, thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered so far. Another meeting today with the mold shop to look at the final CAD's before it goes to the SLA shop for prototyping. I will say that we made a change to the emblem area that I like a lot, but don't want to mention until I can take a picture of the real deal and show it off. It really accents well with the "modern retro interpretation" that we've been going after with this product. We also fixed the upper corner areas over the taillights, and have what I feel is going to be a real winner here.

 

 

???

 

Pics of: "I will say that we made a change to the emblem area that I like a lot, but don't want to mention until I can take a picture of the real deal and show it off. It really accents well with the "modern retro interpretation" that we've been going after with this product."

PICS! PICS! PICS!

 

Ok, ok, don't twist my arm! Well, originally we were doing a "stepped" ring, similar to the original 71-73 piece, but then decided that with all the angular interpretations on the car (emblem vs. original gas cap, etc) that we would do the same. Here's a close-up screen shot of the center, although the length of the angle has been increased a little bit from this shot to where we are at right now. The idea here being that it will form a "V" with the trunk emblem.

We are currently on schedule to have a physical product in our hands by the end of the month, which we will be able to take real pictures of for everyone to see.

 

eh, I dont like it. :notnice:

 

The tapered center ring or the part in general? We're always open to ideas to improve our products, if you have a direction to go in.