Decide And Act

... it's better than dithering endlessly. That's the lesson my MGB electrical project has tried to teach me, but one I'm still struggling to learn.

My first version of a clean-front, fiberglass center console is done. Two coats of fiberglass left it looking marginally adequate, but it was too flimsy to use.

Hey, don't laugh. At least you can tell what I was trying to make.

I dithered for a day or two. Maybe I should just throw it out and start a new one. Instead, I added a third coat to the back which made it strong enough, but left it in terrible aesthetic shape.

Ugh.

Some work with the new Dremel that wife kitteh allowed me to buy* turned it into something vaguely adequate. It even fits in the car.

One look at this and wife kitteh will realize that this is not my midlife crisis car. There's no way I can pick up chicks with it looking like I rescued it from a troop of abusive baboons.

Once I saw that it was sturdy enough to use, it dawned on me that I could use it as a test rig for a couple of other things I needed to try. The first is my controls layout, the second is the wiring behind the console and the third is how to cut holes in fiberglass for switches and meters without making a total hash of the job. Which I will, the first time.

All in all, I needed this to be a usable product so I could take it all the way. In fact, once it's complete and the cockpit wiring harness is installed, the job is effectively done.

I still can't believe I'm writing that.

* - The Chicom Flu layoff has yielded a bountiful harvest of new tools, thanks to the approval of wife kitteh. It's an ill wind that blows no good. Or is that a wind of illness?

Whatever.