I created this blog because I could not find the kind of tutorials I needed for some models and miniatures I wanted to build. I hope it will be a useful source of information for anyone who may experience the same lack of first-hand, step-by-step reports.
I am not an expert by any means, so feel free to comment my posts or to contact me to share your advice.

Friday 6 January 2012

Front wheels

Since they move freely around their axle, the front wheels are not difficult to put into place. I just hope that the stopping parts glued on that axle will be strong enough. I would have prefered them to fit a bit more tightly because the way I see it, only the bead of glue will hold the wheels. Once again, it is not a problem for a static model, but could prove tricky when it is moved from one location to another. The toe angle will have to be adjusted manually too, because of the weight of the wheel vs the softness of the steering links. Finally it looks like the right hand side wheel is a bit more forward than the left hand one.




Front wheel hubs, part 2

The hubs take their proper location easily. The links between the hubs and the steering rod are very small and flexible. Given the weight of the wheels, it will definitely be better to make it a static model. There was no problem fitting the black tubes to the brake calipers and inside the monocoque. I would mention though that it is easier to slide it there before trying to the bal joints in place. One of the glued part of the upper arm deatched itself while I tried to pry and move the tube. It was not broken however, and was soon back where it belongs.



Torsion bar

The torsion bar would have been easier to work on before the rear suspension. There are two attachment points to the engine and the upper suspension arms come in the way. On the other hand, those arms help a bit to keep the attachment points in place. The links between the hubs and the torsion bar must be joined by "hot fix" (flattening the end of the parts with a hot device), a process which I do not enjoy much, but seemingly efficient. This whole assembly looks very fragile anyway.



Thursday 5 January 2012

Rear suspension

There is not much left apart from assembling the remaining parts. The rear suspension is a complex sub-assembly with no less than six contact points to either the monocoque or the engine to fit in one single operation. I always wanted to avoid touching the chromed parts with my dirty fingers, but now it is just impossible to do. I hope there will be no long time stains or blemish developing from that.
I started with the left side, which I figured was to be the most difficult because of the side duct. I chose the following order:
  1. lower triangle attachment. It is the stronger point of the whole assembly and its conception should prevent a total collapse if anything goes wrong afterward.
  2. transmission shaft. It is easy to forget (I forgot it on the right side, fortunately early enough to correct the situation) and cannot be positioned later on.
  3. short upper arm. It slides around a sub-assembly on the engine.
  4. spring. It fits tightly on the shock absorber lower half. It is then easy to compress and slide under the long upper arm.
  5. shock aborber. The upper half slides around the aforementioned sub-assembly once the shaft is placed inside the lower half. At this point, the suspension shows its higher strength if need be.
  6. long upper and lower arms. They fit inside the holes at the end of the monocoque.
There are finally two body panels to cement over the long arm attachment points, with no problem at all. At first sight, the wheel hubs look to follow a vertical axis. None of the parts is cemented, the suspension is meant to be a fully working assembly, but I would never try it as it looks very fragile.

There are a few defects popping out at this stage. The left lower long arm is pushing on the exhaust pipes, even though it looked like the latter were in the right position. It is unfortunately impossible to gauge this before. The left upper attachment hole on the monocoque is not quite aligned with the hole on the left hand cam cover. It is a serious issue since it shows that the engine tilts slightly clockwise. I am afraid that the car will not stay on four wheels but on three... Like the front suspension coil springs, the rear ones are flexed a bit and I do not like the look of it. The ends of the springs sit quite well on the shock absorber parts but the plastic is simply not strong enough for the stiffness of steel.
Even though it is not pictured below, the right rear suspension is quite similar. The only issue to be mentioned is the long upper arm pushing onto the little boxes moulded on the cam cover.


Wednesday 4 January 2012

Side duct

I ran out of white and racing green paint and postponed the side duct. However here it is, stretching fore to aft, properly attached to the rubber tubes and to the side of the cockpit. The multiple paint and clear coats sprayed on the cockpit made it impossible to fit the duct in the holes: the holes were no more at the right size. I preferred to shrink the attachment bits instead of widening the holes because I did not know how brittle the paint job could be. Cracks or other types of damage would make me very sorry at this stage of the assembling... The duct holds by itself, I did not use glue to cement it on the body of the car, I shall see whether it is a long term issue or not.
Painting the duct itself was not much trouble, except that the white paint tended to run a bit, even though I kept the part horizontaly while painting and drying. Consequently, I made several thin layers instead of building thick ones. I sprayed some clear onto it aftewards and applied 3M compound onto the surface in order to give it some shine. I sanded the straps and painted them in their right colours (Red Gore for the "rubber" parts, undercoat of Boltgun Metal then Titanium gold for the metal straps).