CB750F Project: part II

I spent the past two evenings attempting to sculpt the new tail section on the bike. When it comes to designing, I'm more of a visual person, so I need to see things in place. Forget about using Photoshop! So, armed with several cans of expanding foam insulation, a discarded kitchen knife, a rasp, and some sand paper, I went to work. Needless to say, things never go as they should, but here is an update nonetheless.

Tail number one. This first attempt started life as a block of cured foam

After much hacking, rasping, and sanding, I got to a point where I sort of liked it, and decides to try my hand at fiberglass. Hmm...never done that before, although I used plenty of body fillers with success. How hard could it be? Well, it's pretty weird. I spread the cloth, stapled it to the foam, mixed my resin, and started spreading it with an old paint brush. The resin flows like molasses and sticks worse than honey. Within minutes I was in trouble and so was my foam. I ripped the mat off, but it was too late. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the mold before it got eaten away by the resin, but here is one just before it got real nasty. You can still get an idea of what shape I was going for.

After I ripped the foam off and cleaned all the sticky mess, I started building up a new block for attempt number 2.

While the foam was curing (overnight), I thought about the tailsection. The more I thought the less I liked the cafe style tail on this bike. Don't get me wrong, I like the simple, round tails, but something about this bike makes it not flow. Maybe it is the seat I'm trying to make, maybe it is the long chassis. Either way, with attempt number two, I decided to try something that will flow with the bike's lines better. Just remember: this is very subjective opinion.
So, tail number two looks nothing like a cafe.

This is likely not the final shape, but here is a semi-frontal view:

And the rear view, with mocked up taillight I had laying around. I even think that the round light will go well with the bike.

Of course, the stock fender is only there to support the foam and to get the inside lines right. It will be eliminated as I progress. And yes, I know the light is off-center in this pic.