Work started on the nose cone. I was fascinated by the shape of it, in that it is very narrow at the tip, and quite flat along the top, before tapering out towards the monocoque. As it reaches the monocoque, it suddenly widens, similar to the modern day Mercedes but less dramatic. The bolt to hold the nose onto the monocoque at the top is accessed from the front rather than from the side. I've started adding a little detail to the front of the nose, but expect that area to get much busier as the suspension elements are added.
The underneath of it is connected directly onto the front wing, so I had to improvise that part of the shape a little to follow the contours of the underside of the front wing.
There is a bump where the front suspension meets the monocoque, and the top of the nose is quite rounded there, and it took some time to get that looking right and the normals looking smooth. The underside of the car is almost V shaped with a flattened bottom.
The monocoque widens around the driver, and this is where the FW16B differs from the early season car. The cockpit is now rounded at the front, exposing the steering wheel and the sidepods are much further back.
Modelling the floor was interesting. The tea tray element is quite narrow and then thickens as it gets further rear wards. The sides are very rounded underneath the cockpit and around the front of the sidepods. The bottom of the monocoque tapers in, whilst the floor maintains the same width as the top of the monocoque to satisfy the regulations that you can't see any of the car from bottom up view. The floor at the rear of the sidepods is stepped.
The rear of the sidepods has an interesting curve as the underside of the car narrows earlier than the top half, making use of the coke-bottle shape to energise the diffuser. The bulge in the middle becomes an indent as it goes towards the rear of the car.
I'm quite happy with the front end of the engine cover, and also the hole to the rear of it. The bump near where the Renault engine would sit needs a bit of work, but the basis for the shape is there. The FW16 had its rear light as part of the bodywork which is why there is a box shaped hole there at the moment.
Please ignore the driver body at the moment, that was imported from another model and there as a place holder.
Progress continues slowly on this car, but I will post updates here when there is something more to show.
