David Coulthard Race Used Formula 1 suit

[TheFrameShed]

First attempt at a large box frame, caused me no end of nightmares. Was going to go for Robo's stacked frame method, as used successfully on golf balls, pre-historic sharks teeth and all manner of stuff recently (awesome method) but this suit was just too deep. I needed about 12cm depth so had to build a box, painted satin black, sanded, painted again, sanded, painted again...... the racesuit legs had to be folded behind the body as customer just wanted top half showing, used a tag gun to secure everything with a foamboard former. All stitched onto another sheet of foamboard covered in black cotton. Face frame was Simons Westminster moulding in black satin. Took me two days and didn't charge anything like enough but c'est la vie, cust was delighted and lesson learnt.

[Nigel Nobody]

Nice job, well done!

[Roboframer]

Impressive!

Know what you mean about not charging enough - but then you can't really on a 'virgin' job - it's not fair on the customer to have to pay for your learning experience - but 'learned' you have and next time you'll do it quicker and the time after that, quicker still - and then you'll be looking at doing it on auto-pilot with the confidence to up-sell to the whole freakin' suit at the right price.

What glass did you use? - Just that the reflections of the flouros look purple

[TheFrameShed]

Yeah, it's a steep learning curve when you start creating these custom jobs, so difficult to price but as you say next time there will be some more profit involved. Glass was standard 2mm float, offered the customer UV but he didn't want to pay the extra. I know I was pushing the boundaries of a 'safe' size for 2mm but being such a strong box and frame there was very little chance of any flexing.
All the best

Simon

[David]

Very neat job. Would have looked brilliant with a waterwhite anti-reflective glass it's frustrating when the customer won't go for it though. Now you've done one you will get quicker and more confident - in the job and pricing. We've all been there.