Rocking Motorcycle

While I have some larger projects outside, I have decided I also need an indoor project for rainy days etc, because my life just isn't busy enough!

So I have been toying with the idea of making a "Rocking Motorcycle"

This is going to be made mainly from plywood, most of which has been salvaged from skips, packing cases from work and dumped furniture that has been left for inorganic collection and I have "liberated" from the kerbside.
The only wood I have bought is some dowels of various sizes, I also have used gorilla glue and lots of various sanding supplies.

Plywood various thicknesses

Jigsaw

Bandsaw

Grinder with sanding discs

Bench sander

Hand sanders various

Drill and bits

Hole saws

Dowels

I like the look of "custom/chopper" motorcycles, so this is the type of look I am going to try to emulate.

First off, I sketched an approximation of what I wanted, This isn't an engineering drawing by any stretch and the perspective on the seat/handlebars is a bit naff, (it was mainly to illustrate the main components)
I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of modifications before I'm finished.

I will be using several layers in order to get the thickness I need and will laminate the detail pieces on.

Also the whole look is going to be suggestive of a chopper rather than over detailing, I find that too much detail can actually detract from the appearance as well as giving more things for the recipient to break!

I've got a load of old knocked down packing cases, so decided to make full size templates for the components. (you never know I might make another one, one day), The ply is really cheap and nasty half inch (12mm) but ideal for this purpose and best of all -- free.

This also gave me an idea of size/scale etc (I borrowed a friends child to see if it was about the right size ---- you can have him back now I've left him in the cupboard under the stairs!)

It is also a lot easier and quicker to make any detail adjustments on the templates

After drawing around my template, I used a jigsaw to roughly cut out 3 of the main shape, 2 from 18mm ply and one from 15mm.
These were then laminated together and clamped to allow the glue to dry.
They will be finished on the bandsaw when dry.

While the Main Body was drying, I traced and cut out 2 Mudguards (Fenders) from 18mm ply, a circle to represent the tyre and a sprocket, both from some 9mm ply.
They were all sanded ready for final fitting to the rear wheel area.

Now that the main body had dried, I ran it through the bandsaw to even up the slight differences in sizes of the 3 pieces from when I had roughed them out using the jigsaw.

All the Wheel, Mudguard and Rear Sprocket pieces were glued onto the main frame and clamped
I also made similar items for the front wheel and glued and clamped those in position.

I cut out 2 large and 2 small ovals from 18mm ply and glued and clamped them as the 2 sides of the petrol tank.
When dry I roughly shaped them using a (very aggressive) sanding pad on my angle grinder.

These were clamped and glued again. Once they had dried I completed the shaping and sanding of the tank, mudguards, wheels and frame.
They were then sanded with 80 grit progressively down to 240 grit.

I cut out a seat from 18mm ply and glued and dowelled it into place.
I also cut out the exhaust pipe and engine details from 9mm ply and glued and clamped them in position then sanded.

I decided that I didn't like the engine cylinder detail "suggestion" so cut off those bits and made 4 cylinders from a piece of scrap decking timber, sanded them up and glued them into position.

Using a jigsaw I rough cut 4 rocker pieces. These were then drilled and dowelled together so I could shape them on the bench sander. Putting them together like this ensured all 4 would be the same shape.
Once shaped they were then taken apart, glued and redowelled into 2 pairs.

I cut a piece of 18mm ply 200x250mm as a foot board and drilled, glued and dowelled it to the 2 rockers.
It was then sanded and edges bevelled.
I then mounted the main body to the frame using several dowels.
I found that I needed to support the base of the frame with a wedge in order for the motorcycle to sit correctly.

I cut a circle using a hole saw, sanded and shaped it, and fixed to the petrol tank with glue and a dowel.

I measured and roughed out the front forks from a piece of 18mm ply and sanded them.
I then drilled through the bottom of the forks and wheel centre for a location dowel which was glued into position.
I also cut 2 round spacers from 18mm ply using a hole saw to act as "bearings" and eliminate any flexing at the fork bottom. These were also sanded before being glued into place.

Using another hole saw I cut a circle from 18mm ply for the headlight. I then shaped the back using the bench sander by eye.
Then I drilled a 15mm hole through the centre, through the top of the forks and into the petrol tank and dowelled and glued it into place.

Initially I was going to make the handlebars from one piece of plywood but they didn't look right, so a revision was made.
I cut a small oblong block of plywood and drilled an angled, tapered hole in each end with a step drill.
I then cut 2 short pieces of 15mm dowel and tapered one end of each on the sander.
These were then glued into the tapered holes and it was all sanded.
The assembly was then attached to the forks with glue and dowelled.

I wanted some "nuts" for the top of the handlebars/forks. To make these I glued 2 steel
nuts on the ends of a piece of 15mm dowel as guides, then sanded the dowel to make a hexagon. I then cut slices from this as nuts and glued them on the handlebar yoke.

The whole shebang was now sanded once again with increasingly fine sandpaper ready for varnishing.

Many, many coats of polyurethane varnish were applied to finish, between each a light sanding with scotchbrite was carried out and a wipe down with a damp cloth to remove dust and debris.