OK, I think I have changed my mind over the heat paint on the exhausts. My next delivery has arrived, so I'm now looking at getting a rolling chassis built by the end of the weekend and pictures up sometime on Monday.

See you soon!

Rear axle.



This stage builds the rear axle and the rear brake drums.



Two nice, chunky, metal pieces.



Screwed together, only two screws but it's not really a structural piece, and the connection is improved shortly.



A small plastic dome piece for the rearward side of the differential.



Screwed in from the inside.



The metal front of the differential. I don't know if there is any structural difference so far as the model goes, but this is the orientation in the instructions. The other side of this piece does not have the raised section visible here.



So this is the orientation the instructions tell you to fit it.



We then take the parts for the rear brake drums



and assemble like this. This is the end of issue 9. Next issue we end up with a full rolling chassis.

Issue 10 - Left suspension



This stage we build the first set of rear suspension, connect it to the rear axle, and install the suspension and drive shaft.



NOTE: The leaf spring is NOT symmetrical. The first connector, where there is only one part to the connector, goes on the end of the leaf spring that has the shorter first leaf - to the right in this picture.



I drove the two screws through the connector first. This gives me better control and I can get the screws in at the correct angle easier than trying to do so whilst balancing this part and the leaf spring. I then backed the screws out again until they are flush with the inside so that I can pass the leaf spring through the gap easily. I then tighten the screws and form the joint.





The joint on the other end is made with two components and a single long screw. I am not sure if there is a difference between these two components, but I could just about make out the stamped identification on the instructions and married this up to the ID on the parts.



The leaf spring is then placed on the rear axle with the single part connector forwards.



This part is placed on top



and both leaf spring and this part are screwed to the axle.



These two parts and spring are connected together. The peg of the piston fits inside the spring, and is then compressed into the other part. They are held together with a screw through the slot in the side. Unfortunately, the hole in the piston is only visible when the unit is compressed to a certain degree, and I couldn't find a clamp suitable.

[soft, soothing music to cover the sound of swearing when my screwdriver slips and goes into my thumb.]



So the screw now both limits the up/down travel, but stops the piston twisting.



The unit we have just built will sit here. The piston has a keyed area to stop it twisting whilst we install it and also to prevent it twisting and loosening the screw.



With the new unit installed, I uncrossed the two rods we installed a while ago so they are now ready to be placed in the correct side of the suspension.



Despite the instructions telling you to install the suspension/axle, then pull on it to install the drive shaft, I put the drive shaft in first, then sat the suspension/axle in place. I have no idea why they want you to stress the connections when you don't have to, but hey I have HFA and ADHD, what do I know!



Ensure that the pin in the suspension rod goes through this hole in the suspension connector.



and the connector is screwed to the spring loaded piston unit.



The front leaf spring connector gets screwed in from above through here, by the speaker location.



and the rear connectors get attached here with another long screw. To get at this, you will need to move the exhaust slightly and this is why we did not finish screwing it in last issue.



The end of the exhaust is then screwed in from above in one last place, and this final clamp added.

final leaf spring.

The final leaf spring is basically the same as the previous one, just with mirrored left/right parts. The single leaf spring connector still goes on the side with the shorter first leaf and at the front.



The two pipes going through the clamp in the middle of the body now connect to the other side. I checked which pipe was which and connected the lower connection to the lower connection, but this is purely me. I doubt anyone would even know just looking at them. Again, I shortened my pipes a fraction, just to tidy them up and not have obvious excess.



The final brake disc is slid on the axle, and the brake pipes fed through.



The shorter one is connected to the closer distributor, the long one to the furthest away. Funnily enough, these pipes didn't seem to need adjustment This lends weight to the idea that I got five long and one short pipes.

Install the final wheel, same as the other three, ensuring the brake disc is in the correct orientation.



And there we have it, a full, rolling chassis!

Despite a certain setback, I'm still in a good mood. Not only am I confident I can effect repair on that, I received a delivery which I am certain you won't mind me sharing in this thread even though it has nothing to do with the subject matter.



ECV-197, the "Orville" XL diecast from EM. I just love the series, and it has totally taken over from ST in my life.

From here on in, so far as I am concerned, this issue gets a little silly. I'll let you make up your own minds.



The parts for this stage. Steering wheel, wheel boss, two indicator stalks (One is the gear shift I believe), fuel pipe, and two screws.





Take the two stalks, and slide one inside the other. There is a 'D' shape to the connectors, so they can only go one way round - although they are somewhat loose, so some movement is possible.



Fit the fuel pipe. There is a connector to go into the fuel tank, and the other end is screwed to the chassis from the top.



The screw nearest the edge, behind the switch.

And that's it! Nothing more to do here.

I separated the two stalks, and put them and the unused parts back in the packaging and stored it. They are not used in this issue, presumably waiting until the dashboard is finished and are the last parts to complete that,

Final pack for issue 11

Although the amount we are saving for later, it might as well have been issue 13!



This pack contains a number of differing designs of switches, and a set of LED lights.



Remove this one from the pack, and save all the rest for another time. This is the brake light switch, and we are going to use if now.



The end of it is very similar to the one from the Delorean.



Screw it into position here. Note that there is a peg under the moulded section of the switch. This goes into the hole closest to the pedal mount.



The pedal is installed so that the detailed surface of the pedal is towards the dash unit. It may help to know that the flat section of the dash is the horizontal bottom face of the dash, and to activate the brakes you push the pedal forward.



The bracket is an 'L' shape, covering the top and back of the mounting. Make sure after this is installed that the switch is open normally, and only closes when you press the brake pedal. It is also noteworthy that there is no spring return on the pedal. The only spring is the natural spring of the switch itself, so any damage to the switch may result in the brakes being permanently on or off, depending on the damage.

Store the dash carefully to prevent damage to the pedal or switch.

That's it for this month.

Looking good.

One very small change I made to the trap, was to score a line with a very sharp knife blade down the centre of the black and yellow sticker, where the moulding of the trap doors show a separation line underneath the sticker.

I did say it was a small change.

Keep up the good work.


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

That is coming on very nicely.

No idea Mick.

To tell the truth, I selected the switch I used based on the fact that it's almost identical to the switch used for the Delorean, and matched what was shown in the instructions. All the other switches are push button types, so I didn't look.

Given that all the work this month could have been put into a maximum of 2 stages, it wouldn't surprise me though. How do you tell what the numbers should be when we don't have instructions for them at this stage? Or is it a difference between what they are labelled and what the parts list says they are? 'cos I don't normally spend any time looking at that unless I need to let them kn ow that I don't have a part - and as I've just found out, all I need to do as a subscriber is call them up and let them know what stage I need a replacement for and they'll send it out. (So I might just be cheeky tomorrow and look up what stage all the HT leads are in and ask for a stage for them too!)

Hi,

I have just received the latest pack for the Ecto1.

I`ve had a good look at the wiring in issue 38 and the problem is that the instructions use notation A to G and the labels on the parts are B to H.

Wire A is the labelled wire from the battery box, so the wiring parts supplied in issue 38 are labelled correctly, its the notation in the instructions that is wrong.

So where in issue 38 it says use 38F it should read 38G.

My guess is that all the other wires will have to move up the alphabet by one letter also unless the typo error is only in this pack. We`ll have to wait and see.


Here`s hoping the next pack has some more work to do, but that`s the nature of partworks.

Happy building


Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)