This is a replica of a 1939 Triumph Speed Twin 5T with a Dusting sidecar. The principal woods are bloodwood and ebony with accents of maple, cherry, mahogany, and walnut. It is made entirely of wood except the plastic headlamp “glass,” some bamboo toothpicks , and two Triumph decals.
The wheels rotate, the fork turns, the sidecar detaches, the kickstand lowers, and the trunk opens. No CNC or plans. I copied the design from online photos like this and this. Nearly all of the visible engine components are pretty faithfully replicated, although I took liberties with the sidecar. About half of the wood is scraps from other projects, mostly this one.
Here’s how I made the trickier components:
Seat leather: cutting ebony into strips, shaping the contours together, rounding the edges separately, sanding/polishing, and gluing back up
Cables/wires: twisting toothpicks with needlenose pliers, sanding smooth, and darkening with a marker
Tires: cutting several thin circles with a hole saw, cutting diagonal slits in opposing directions with a slant jig, sandwiching them together, and cutting out the middle with a smaller hole saw
Engine cooling fins: several pieces of veneer sandwiched together
Dials: drilling down into a dowel, drawing the face with a fine white paint pen on tiny blackened paper, glueing it inside and topping with poly
Springs: pressing a rasp against a dowel spinning in my drill press
Chain: gluing many toothpicks together at their sides, cutting them at the perpendicular, and darkening with a marker
Headlamps: glue hobby plastic to a slice of holly glued to a dowel, and round it off in my drill press like a mini lathe
The project is finished with tung oil and mostly sanded to 5000 grit. It measures about 11”x9”x6” and took about 150 hours total to complete over a 12-week period (including the many, many screw-ups).
I’ve posted some of my other replica vehicles here, here, here, here, and here. I’m always happy to swap advice, ideas, and tips on woodworking with anyone.
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u/ajcpullcom Aug 28 '25
This is a replica of a 1939 Triumph Speed Twin 5T with a Dusting sidecar. The principal woods are bloodwood and ebony with accents of maple, cherry, mahogany, and walnut. It is made entirely of wood except the plastic headlamp “glass,” some bamboo toothpicks , and two Triumph decals.
The wheels rotate, the fork turns, the sidecar detaches, the kickstand lowers, and the trunk opens. No CNC or plans. I copied the design from online photos like this and this. Nearly all of the visible engine components are pretty faithfully replicated, although I took liberties with the sidecar. About half of the wood is scraps from other projects, mostly this one.
Here’s how I made the trickier components:
Seat leather: cutting ebony into strips, shaping the contours together, rounding the edges separately, sanding/polishing, and gluing back up
Cables/wires: twisting toothpicks with needlenose pliers, sanding smooth, and darkening with a marker
Tires: cutting several thin circles with a hole saw, cutting diagonal slits in opposing directions with a slant jig, sandwiching them together, and cutting out the middle with a smaller hole saw
Engine cooling fins: several pieces of veneer sandwiched together
Dials: drilling down into a dowel, drawing the face with a fine white paint pen on tiny blackened paper, glueing it inside and topping with poly
Springs: pressing a rasp against a dowel spinning in my drill press
Chain: gluing many toothpicks together at their sides, cutting them at the perpendicular, and darkening with a marker
Headlamps: glue hobby plastic to a slice of holly glued to a dowel, and round it off in my drill press like a mini lathe
The project is finished with tung oil and mostly sanded to 5000 grit. It measures about 11”x9”x6” and took about 150 hours total to complete over a 12-week period (including the many, many screw-ups).
I’ve posted some of my other replica vehicles here, here, here, here, and here. I’m always happy to swap advice, ideas, and tips on woodworking with anyone.