Even though I was happy with how the panels turned out I was convinced I could do it better, so I did a bit more "design" work and made them a bit smaller. Happier with them now, I think I'm getting close to the final design, I have a few ideas on how to make the finish a bit nicer, I have plenty of spare MDF laying about so I can try a few more things.
 
  

Mark, what you should do now is take a leaf out of Marty's book and use those crafty MFD boxes as molds for fibreglass versions. More durable especially as our Escorts probably should have been called 'colanders'.
Probably a bit of a market out there?

Between going away for the long weekend and work I haven't had a lot of progress on the car. I have started revision 7389 of the boot, I agree with you MarkA in regards to leaks, I will try and grab an oil based sealer to protect the wood as much as possible, should stop any water damage. 

So revision 7389.... it involves plywood and kerf bends.
 

 

 
I just need to template the MDF panel cuts on this piece and it will be good to go, Im also going to strengthen it with two thin metal strips on the back.
 
I also picked up a bargain on a new welding helmet, there are still a few left if anyone is interested, it's a great piece of kit for a hack like me .

https://www.totaltools.com.au/safety/welding-protection/154775-cigweld-prolite-auto-darkening-welding-helmet-striker-2-0-454345
 
 

Mark you could try some Feast Watson clear polyurethane from the Big green shed, which would give you a really good plastticky coating, and dries tough and glossy. It was my goto on the other boat for any outdoor wood, and gives instant ,hard drying gloss.
Just stinks to buggary.
+1 on the welding helmet!

Good call, I can get that stuff for a deep discount too. Perks of working for the maker of it I suppose . 

The curve looks so much better than the boxes you had before, maybe create the radius only and cut it into the boxes if you know what I mean, once that's done so it to the sides and roll to the top, it won't look like a sub box then lol .
My last welding helmet cost a whopping $17 with a light ! Another cost $21 with a huge real colour screen. I seem to go thru them at a rapid rate, dropping them etc so I don't buy expensive ones, tho that $99 jobbie is dang good price and quality..

too late now, but maybe for something else in the future:
 
Len (FNQRS) did an underparcel shelf cover in his white RS to hide the underside of his speakers etc, using old parcel shelf/hatchback covers from the scrappers.
 
I thought it was a cunning thing at the time, lightweight, thin, and already carpeted, so was going to have a play with that inside the back of the van.Perhaps incorporating a map pocket or recess with netting.
I wonder if it would respond to soaking and reheating to allow reshaping or bending?
 
Virtually anything at our place that used to be a tree is covered in FW varnish, great stuff.

Thats a pretty awesome idea actually, especially if they were moldable. Maybe for the next project car because this was more of a pain in the arse than i thought it was going to be.

But as they say perfection is the enemy of done, so I cracked on a bit more today. The boot panels are getting close to done now, I can almost taste it. I wont be upholstering them though until the car is back from the panel shop and I've finished the deadening and electrical, cause I want to add a boot light somehow, I already have a hole in the channel from where they fitted the alarm boot switch so I'll probably use that since it's there, you can actually see it in the first photo up next to the drivers side hinge. The drivers side panel will have a battery kill switch mounted to it and the deadening will probably change a few of the measurements so a final adjustment to the panels will be required before carpet goes on.

I'll more than likely mount an extinguisher to the back panel and it will have an "access" hatch cut into it for hiding all the totally legit and legal things....  
 
Here is the back panel in place, there will be a floor panel too, that will be fabbed up last.


 
I marked everything up and took it all back out to mock up and fit the top panels.


 

 
Both sides are bolted up and glued, I've left enough wiggle room on both panels to trim as needed. Once the glue is dried tomorrow I'll mark up the top section relief for the boot hinges and cut them to size.
 
Oh and I know it's not a Escort but I bought a GTI as a run around, the Tiguan diesel I was driving was a good car but it was putting me to sleep. The thing is in great condition for its age, full dealer service history which blew me away . I can't imagine how much that would have cost them over the 200km its done.

I forgot to download the snaps of the car from the advert so I just grabbed a picture online of one in very similar condition and color so you can get an idea. The only thing i'll have to fix up is a bit of curb rash on one of the wheels and polish the headlights.



I pick it up Monday, Oh and it's a manual - NO WAY I was getting one with a DSG 

Bolksy Golf GTI, nice car..a mate of mine has a mk6 5dr and does some track days with it, the turbo is getting a rattle from the wastegate spindle, he's wanting to swap out the turbo with a R spec unit. DSG, best to keep away from all that digital jargon and their costly repairs when (not if) they burst. My mates is DSG and I've warned him of their failure rate of nearly 100% !! My Focus ST225 5 cyl (xr5) is more quicker and sounds better too . I've had it for about 12yrs and done about 60k , it's never let me down apart from regular maintaining and wear parts . Volvo got the motor spot on with these Focuses . It took my a long time to persuade myself to get one even tho Ford bunged on the rubbish xr5 stickers for some unknown reason, I asked Ford to import me a 3dr with the reply of a stern NO. .
Anyways I hope you have years of trouble free and fun motoring in your new GTI , enjoy 👍

I was thinking about an XR5 as an option too, I ultimately decided on the Golf though because I know them inside and out. First order of business will be to strip the inlet manifold off, clean the carbon deposits on the backs of the valves and replace the high pressure fuel pump cam follower. 

That alone will turn back the clock on the motor a fair bit, the carbon gets so bad due to no fuel washing the valves and the cam follower is a known point of failure. But enough on the GTI!

THE BOOT IS DONE!!!! Well..... not really but holy moly the hard part is! I needed to do ANOTHER revision of the side panels due to the god dang thicker ply top panel, the boot was fouling on them when closing. So i recessed them 10mm into the panels and I think it made for a much neater finish anyhow.


 
Every bolt you currently can see will be countersunk M6 black screws so they will be really neat, I need to chamfer the edges of the panels for a nicer finish but that's easy enough, i'll do it all by hand with one of those little tools that you can set the depth.


 
Ill get one of those 25mm thick black foam strips to stick on the quarter panel to take up the gap at the top, that way i don't have to worry about making the wood panel have a "edge" to take up the gap, it's really solid the way it is now so it wont actually need securing to the guard. I may change my mind though .


 
There are a few things I still need to do but for the most part the hard part is done. I have plans on the way the rest will shake out.


 
I am going to weld a few strap mounting points back here so I can strap whatever I place back here down, probably the jack and a tool kit.


 
Tell you what though, I never want to do something like that again - give me a engine rebuild any day of the week!