Some of the skin panels needs to be cut around body details. If you are using standard body detail parts the template may work ok, but since I custom made the front vents and utility arms I traced the parts to be sure I got a tight fit.
The utility arms were really tricky since the cut outs needed to be large enough to allow the arms to swing out. This took a lot of fine tuning even after I attached the body panel.
Once the two main layers of the skins are installed the next step is the detail panels. When cutting the top layer of the skins I made sure to number all the panels since the cut out pieces can be re-cut to make the detail panels. Here you can see some of the solid detail panels cut smaller to leave that narrow gap around the outside.
Some of the panels need to have the inside cut out with rounded corners are shown here.
To make these I started by cutting the panel to the correct outside dimensions. I then laid out the inside cut.
Next, I made a jig for my drill press that held the pieces in the right position to drill the rounded corners.
Here is the panel with all four corners drilled.
From there I used an X-acto knife and straight edge to make the straight cuts. I then used some sandpaper to clean up the cuts.
These were glued in place using liquid styrene cement and held in place with tape and strap clamps.
To attach the inner skins to the wood frame I started by drilling small holes along the top and bottom edge so that I can use nails to hold the skin in place while the glue sets. The outer layer will cover a good part of the inner layer which will hide the nails. To glue the inner layer to the frame I used White Gorilla Glue, https://www.gorillatough.com/product/white-gorilla-glue/
Since I made each layer in two pieces I glues them in place one at a time, further securing them with strap clamps. To glue the outer layer to the inner I used a combination of styrene glues. I first used the Testors gel glue, which has a longer working time then the liquid, being careful not to go to close to the edges with it. I then used the liquid to tack town the edges.
You can see where how I secured the skins with strap clamps and other types of clamps any where I could get them in.
At the seems only a small part of the skin has frame behind it, so I also added some piece of styrene on the back ok the skin to span the seam.
