Shaping the back end wasn't that hard.Getting the shape right around the rear of the tank was trickier as was blending the front to the back. It was beginning to take shape but as i'd find out later i'd already created a problem for later on......
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Fair play, lots of work!

Always wanted to do something like this myself but haven’t got the space for the mess

This is about half way through the process,.It looks a lot more finished now but it'll need a two piece mould taking from it yet.Will update the rest of the process to where it is now as soon as I can.

Next stage was to coat the clay with the pva solution.This didn't stop it cracking completely but it did hold it all together so the fine glass matt could be applied.
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Once the glass had cured it was now hard enough to apply filler to and start shaping the finer detail.Using the fine glaze filler to skim over the flat bits and easy sanding filler to smooth out the curves
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During the shaping/filling process it became apparent that the right and left side below the rear tank edge were different.There was no way to correct it or compensate as it was a high spot on the outer tank edge.If it was a low spot it could have been filled easily but the high spot meant the" side panel" from the knee cut outs was always going to be too far from the fame!
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It was a pity i'd got this far before i'd realised the tank was distorted!
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There was only one thing for it, the tank had to be changed! Using a dremel i cut through the filler/glass skin around the back of the tank and along the styrene sheet until i could peel back the adhesive holding it to the tank.
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With a replacement tank sourced from Holland a quick comparison confirmed the distorion in the original tank.Once in place it was possible, with a bit of trimming to get the styrene sheet snug to the tank lower edge.This kept the side panel part much flatter and the correct distance from the frame tube.
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Obviously the new tank required the clay,matt,filler treatment and the shape was much better.It has to be said that due to prolonged periods when i didn't have time to work on the bike ( during the very hot weather the shed temp was often 90 deg+) you would find small blisters or dents in the surface particularly on the back of the tank and where the clay blends to the neoprene.It could be that i rushed the 2nd tank a bit and may not have laid the matt up quite as thick.What i ended up doing was cutting these out with a stanley knife and plugging the holes with filler to make it more stable.It was a case of filling and rubbing back and spraying light dust coats of black paint to highlight the low spots.It's very easy to put too much filler on, so a little at a time is the key.
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