KIT No. 98 BUILD

[mick whittingham]

A little turning job this morning made the rear hub centres to mimic the half shaft flanges.

Turned a brass disc, dished with a form tool, and tapped M3. Bonded a grub screw in place and used it as a bolt to secure the wheel hub in place.

When all is painted up think this will look pretty accurate.

[mick whittingham]

Painted up and looking good.

[mick whittingham]

Made a start on the front wheel hubs, I want to try and replicate the centre boss of the bearing carrier.

I'm turning a brass disc then milling and shaping it to look the way I want.

I will make the bearing dust cap from steel with a threaded bolt to retain the kit hubs on the bearing shaft.

[mick whittingham]

A little more work on the front bearing hubs.

I drilled the star shaped flanges 1mm and machined the hub down to accept this part.

Then made a facsimile grease cap in brass with a M3 stud to screw into the bearing shaft of the model.

Awaiting some 2mm AF hexagon brass rod to make the bolt heads which will sit in each hole on the star plate.

[mick whittingham]

The bolt heads are made up and soldered in place. Bit of paint and they will look smart.

[simon_manning]

very nice, Looks the part, regards simon manning.

[mick whittingham]

I fitted the front axle and this allowed me to fit the front hubs and road wheels.

The false bearing plate and dust caps look pretty neat. This will retain the hub in the same way that the original bolt would do.

Any one had an issues with toe in or out for the steering? I'm not sure if it will make a huge difference to the steering set up.

Mick

[Charles A Stewart]

Hi Mick

Having run mine we didn't find any major issues with the steering set up.

I do have a bit of play in the steering system , but will check it over before next outing.

Nice wheels though.

Charles

[mick whittingham]

Hi Charles.

Thanks for the reply, did you just set the front wheels parallel? I was toying with a little toe in, like we did with 1/8 scale model race cars. Im not sure if it would make a difference given this is a low speed vehicle.

I'm happy with the look of the wheels, but I will make new wheel nuts in steel as the brass ones don't look right painted.

Mick

[Charles A Stewart]

Hi.

Yes, just set them as parallel as possible.

It would be interesting to here what others thing, I know its no big issue and the car runs fine on a hard surface as well as off road.

Cheers

Charles

[mick whittingham]

A rainy and wet Sunday saw me tinkering with a wheel brace and starting handle for the car.

Simple jobs of fabrication but this it the part I find most satisfying.

Quick spray of black paint and the new tools will look smart.

Need to make subminiature terry clips to hold them in the load bay.

[mick whittingham]

Well the chassis and transmission is built and running OK. Bit of a fiddle setting up the steering and universal drive shafts.

I'm looking at the bulkhead assembly now, quite a few bits to sort out if I am to accurately model it on HUE

The transmission tunnel is very different with a more angular sheet metal assembly.

Should be pretty easy to fabricate so I will start with making card patterns for a sheet steel session.

The steering shaft support as Charles has already done needs to be made from sheet metal too.

Various other bits and bobs have caught my eye but more on that later.

Mick

[mick whittingham]

Having looked at the build instructions again I'm going to have to visit the radiator grille assembly before going to town on the bulkhead.

The bonnet hinges need to the aligned before I can filler the fixing holes etc. And to do that I need the bonnet to sit onto the front panel.

As per Charles' build I'm making a new radiator panel complete. Not to change the headlight configuration, but to use thicker material so I can make the flat section look more like the pressed steel original with curved edges. It will make sense when I show photos of the two for comparison.

It's more about getting all my ducks in a row before if do any final assembly. Make sure I have considered all the necessary modifications in advance.

Door hinges are also something I think I can improve upon, the flat plates welded onto the A pillar look simple to fabricate and more accurately reflect the original.

I'm getting in bother with the head of the Home office for neglecting my chores, especially this near the Christmas lol.

[mick whittingham]

I used 2.5mm thick aluminium sheet to copy the front panel, milling the openings rather than chain drill and file.

The obvious modification is the radius applied to the lower cut outs that Charles Stewart identified as an issue.

I also changed the top profile to better match the bonnet shape, so it looks nice when closed.

Finally the thickness of the new metal allowed me to radius the cost out edges to mimic the steel pressing of the original, done to give stiffness to a flat panel.

I can look at how the build the unit now as there are some difficulties around being able to disguise the screws that secure the radiator and headlight brackets.

Enjoying tinkering.

[mick whittingham]

Another daft little modification for my build.

As I'm working on the front grille and radiator I noticed
The horn unit sitting behind the front panel.

Nothing spectacular but a bit of turning and paint came up with a nice little copy of the horn to bolt in place.