Well I’ve started my build in earnest. When I started I thought this isn’t going to take too long, it’s just bolt everything together, but so far I must have built and stripped down the hull 3 or 4 times over the last few months. As others have found some of the panels and fixing holes need some minor filing to get a closer and square fit.
I also found that the Pannier Floors were about 1mm too wide, which resulted in the Pannier Sides not bolting down vertically, as you can see from the uneven gaps in the photos. Following advice given on the forum, I placed the Pannier Floors in a vice and used a hammer to square up the folded edge, which reduced the width and closed the gap.
In between my work on the Hull, I started work on the Engine Deck. After checking out several websites, books and other people’s work on the forum I started on some improvements. The kit parts are great, but lacked some finer details. I also removed material from the Deck Plate that could be seen through the air intake grill, as I thought this was unsightly and would not adversely affect the strength of the Deck Plate.
Both the intake and outlet Grills needed some material removed as the real thing has gaps in the castings + the hook brackets were the wrong shape as the real thing is a welded bracket rather than a part of the casting. I also noticed that the air intake Grills are suppose to be identical rather than mirror images of each other, but decided it would be too much work for me to radically alter or make a new Grill.
I’ll also be adding some welds to the engine deck area, including the hook brackets and catches, although my first attempt was a bit pants. I used milliput for the first time, but it was rock hard when I took it out of the box and I had difficulty rolling it out to form the weld seams. Did I get a duff box or is there a knack in using milliput?
I’m using 3mm magnets (+ 3mm aluminium or brass bar to be sourced) to raise the height of the Engine Cover. I’ve also decided to lower the Rear Engine Cover as I believe this looks correct, although I could find no pictures or plans to back this up. The next stage is to cut down the Engine Cover Hinges, but I’m just building up the courage to do this.
To lower the square headed bolts, I decided to counter bore the bolt holes to the Air Outlet Grills, Radiator Covers and the Rear Engine Cover. Then I went a bit mad by only counter boring the those holes I felt were absolutely necessary for securing these parts down to the Deck Panel. All the remaining holes were drilled straight through so the bolts are only fixed to the Deck. The plan is to file down the heads of those bolts still sitting proud in the counter bored holes. I’m hoping that the filed down bolt heads will not be noticed without a close up inspection.
