My bit of Lakebay fiberglass work on a historic Lotus

I still can hardly believe I did this body for Robin Marshall, back when I was in my 20s. Gluing his crashed Lotus 17 fiberglass body bits back into shape enough to create a pattern and laminate him a fresh body for his very rare race car. I delivered it in black, as black is best for checking for any ripples or misalignment. Robin had the car re-sprayed to it's original color, after he raced it a few years. I need to get in touch with him and see if he still is it's caretaker, or has moved it on -

Pulled engine stud socket repair

Did this engine case repair on Will Perry's Viper cases a few years back. Will took a couple photos , and posted them on his Facebook page at the time. Will's notes : " Action shots from yesterday in Lakebay. Difficult repair on the Velo's Rt main case - second time this area's stripped out. Geoff & Ed discussed the repair for an hour to decide on the best approach. A milling machine was used as a jig for the critical drilling and tapping part. Ed spent over an hour machining necessary small bits, securely clamping the case in, adjusting and aligning, and aligning and adjusting. Once the drilling started, the bit was periodically ground down so the hole would be square at the bottom. The tap was also ground off as needed, so the tool would would tap all the way to the hole's bottom. To make the actual insert for the repair, a large bolt was slowly center drilled and tapped using a lathe. This morning, Ed machined down that part to the same external dimensions as the original Velocette part. Ed called at lunch to say that he had screwed in the insert, it seems tight and strong, and the alignment was just right. He's started reassembling the engine. Six or seven hours to fix a stripped out hole! It's astonishing to me that folks like Ed have the skill and patience to keep these 60 year old machines running. Rock on, Ed! "

Camera's

I have been capturing images with my phone for so long, I have been looking at getting back to basics and trying my hand at using film. Most of my early photography was with an Olympus OM1 35 mm film camera. I have been digging out the cameras that my grandfather had, and the ones that Dad had. My grandfather Bill Schwab, who had the Buckley Nursury Company, had a large format early film camera that he used to photograph not only family, but also plants etc. around the nursury. Dad used a 35 mm Kodak film camera as his main camera when he was in the service, around the house, and trips to Alaska. But the camera that caught my eye was Dad's first camera. Dad's first camera, from when he was in high school ( 1943 - 1947 ) A ' Vigilant Junior Six-20 Kodak film camera. This is the camera I want to use to get back into shooting with film , as it is a very basic all manual camera, but medium format with large negative so you can get good detail. We even still have some of the gear for at-home film processing, and film is still available for it.

Tidying up the Workshop

Been busy with tidying up the shed - here at the Lakebay Velo Works - Not only for taking progress photos of customers bikes, but a proper background for starting on my quest of doing my own Youtube channel for Velocette service , rebuilding and restoration -