Issue 56 - Contains the steering column, guides, crank support & screws., and has instructions for Stage 3 of the steering assembly - preparing the steering column, mounting the pedals, building the cockpit front, assembling the steering gear unit and fitting the steering column.

Preparing the steering column - Remove the steering column from its sprue by cutting through the two attached points.
Test-fit the steering column into the boss on the back of the steering wheel - DO NOT glue the steering wheel in place.

Mounting the pedals - Take the underbody you assembled in issue 46, plus the pedal unit from issue 6.
Test-fit the pedal unit near the front of the underbody, locating the front of the pedal unit against the shaped projection.
Apply superlgue to the underside of the pedal unit and press it firmly into position, and hold in place with a piece of masking tape.

Building the cockpit front - Take the cockpit frame from issue 48, plus the cockpit under panel and two switch panels from issue 47.
Test-fit the cockpit under panel at the front of the underbody, matching up the V-shaped area on the underside with the V on the underbody. Apply ABS glue at the indicated contact points and press the part in place.
Test-fit the cockpit frame in the position indicated, noting the contact areas. Apply ABS glue to the contact points and press the parts together, ensuring that it mounts onto both lugs of the underbody.

Test-fit the left switch panel to the cockpit frame, then apply glue and align as shown. Then repeat with the right-hand switch panel at the opposite side.

Assembling the steering gear unit - Inspect the gears supplied in issue 55 for moulding flash, and remove the flash with a sharp knife (taking care not to damage any of the gear teeth). Note that both gears have differing centre holes.

Test-fit the corresponding gear onto the front crank (supplied in issue 55), sliding the slot of the gear onto the spline if the shaft. Apply a little ABS glue to the contact areas, then reassemble.
Take the end stop supplied with issue 55. Insert a type 'A' screw from the flat side and screw it into the crank, on the opposite side to the gear. Stop about 1mm short as this is only a temporary fixing.

Fit the shaft of the rear steering crank into the hole in the crank support, fitting the end between the two guides. The square end should go right through the support. Fit the upper gear over it and check that you can turn it from side to side using the crank.
Remove the gear, and apply a little ABS glue to the square end of the shaft and refit the gear. Be very careful not to get glue onto the shaft - rotate it gain using the crank to ensure it is still free to move after assembly.

Fit the projecting shaft of the front crank into the hole, meshing the gears as you do so.

Fit the front steering crank guide over the moulding at the front of the underbody. Insert a type 'A' screw and gently tighten to lock the block into position.
Take the crank assembly and fit the pin into the hole in the front crank guide, and fit the two feet into the sockets. This will align the mounting holes for the next step.
Insert two 'E' type screws through the base of the crank support. Carefully tighten the screws to secure the crank support, but take care not to overtighten them.

Fitting the steering column - Place the steering column onto the cockpit frame, lining up the thinner section with the grooves. Ensure that the hooked end is at the front facing downwards, and that it fits into the slot in the crank.
Take the front steering column guide (the longer of the two guides). Note that the holes are offset to one end. the longer end of the moulding goes at the front. Insert two 'C' type screws and tighten, making sure that you do not over tighten them.
Fit the rear steering column guide in a similar way, matching up the holes and noting that the shorter end of the moulding goes to the front.
Make sure that the steering column is free to move, and that it turns the gear/crank assembly by gently rotating the steering wheel end of the shaft.

Carefully store the steering wheel and underbody.

Future issues:

Issue 57 - Contains the drivers seat, double sided tape and lift strap webbing., and has instructions for attaching the double sided-tape to the straps and attaching the lift straps to the seat base.

Issue 58 - Contains driver's harness parts., and has instructions for fitting the turnbuckle & mountings, and assembling the belts.

Issue 59 - Contains the left-hand exhaust pipes & manifold., and has instructions for attaching the drivers harness and preparing the exhaust pipes.

Issue 60 - Contains the right-hand exhaust pipes and manifold., and has instructions for preparing and fitting the exhaust pipes and attaching the manifolds to the exhaust pipes.

Issue 58 - Contains parts for the driver's six-point harness., and has instructions for fitting the turnbuckle release and assembling the harness belts.

Fitting the turnbuckle and mountings - Test-fit the turnbuckle release onto the mounting plate. Note contact area as shown in the steps, and that the release buckle will only fit into the holes on the mounting plate from one side.
Apply a small amount of superglue to the contact area, then press the parts together and hold until the glue bonds.

Assembling the belts - Cut eight rectangles from the 5mm double-sided tape: four about 5×5mm (A), two about 10×5mm (B), and two about 10×2.5mm (C). (Slice a 10mm strip of tape lengthways to make the latter.) Stick them near to the ends of the straps as shown in the steps, and make sure that pieces (B) are on the back of the main belt assembly.
Do not remove any of the backing paper from the double-sided tape as yet.
Slide the adjuster buckle on a shoulder strap over one short strap on the main belt assembly, noting which way up the strap goes.
Double the end of the belt back through the buckle so that the bar on the buckle is about 10mm from the end of the strap. Remove the backing from the tape and press the end of the strap down to secure it.

Repeat for the other shoulder strap.

Take a crotch strap, and slip its looped strap over the end of a shoulder strap and slide it down to the buckle. Then slide the buckle of a retaining strap up the crotch strap until it lies on top of the pelvic strap.
Remove the backing from the double-sided tape and press the end of the strap down to secure it in this position.

Repeat for the other crotch strap.

Thats's it for this week, carefully store the six-point harness laid out flat until you fit it to the driver’s seat.

Future issues:

Issue 59 - Contains the left-hand exhaust pipes & manifold., and has instructions for preparing the exhaust pipes and attaching the drivers harness to the seat.

Issue 60 - Contains the right-hand exhaust pipes & manifold., and has instructions for preparing the exhaust pipes, fitting left & right exhaust pipes to the engine, and attaching the manifolds.

Issue 61 - Contains the lower engine cowl., and has instructions for preparing the engine cowl.

Issue 62 - Contains the left rear fairing fence and left flip-up., and has instructions for Stage 1 of assembling the engine cowls - Preparing the parts, joining the flip-up and fence.

Issue 60 - Contains the right-hand exhaust pipes & manifold., and has instructions for preparing the right-hand exhaust pipes, attaching the pipes to the engine, and attaching the manifolds to the pipes.

Preparing the exhaust pipes - Prepare the right-hand exhaust pipes in the same way as you did with the left-hand set on page 15 of issue 59. These pipes are a mirror image of that set, lay them out of a sheet of paper or card and then number them from 5 to 8.

Attaching the pipes to the engine - Take the engine/gearbox unit that you assembled in issue 51. There are four holes for mounting the exhaust pipes on each side of the engine. The steps show the left-hand side and the numbered in order.
Test-fit the left-hand pipes in the order 2, 4, 1, 3. If one is a tight fit, you may need to scrape a little paint off its mounting pin.
The four outer ends must form a square to ­fit the manifold, as shown in the photo.

When you are confident that the assembly goes together properly and that you can fit the manifold as shown, take off each pipe in reverse order, returning them to the marked paper so you don’t mix them up.

Apply a little superglue to each pipe in turn and reassemble them in the same sequence, ensuring that the ends align as before. (You might want to use superglue gel to avoid it running along the pipes and damging the surface finish).

Repeat the process on the right-hand side of the engine, fitting the pipes in the order 6, 8, 5, 7 to ensure that they interlock properly and form a square that corresponds to the end of the right-hand manifold.

Attaching the manifolds to the pipes - Starting on the left-hand side, take the left-hand manifold and ensure that the two fixing bosses are facing downwards. Match up the sockets in the end of the manifold to the ends of the pipes ensuring that it will fit as shown in the steps.
Carefully apply a small amount of adhesive to the sockets in the end of the manifold, then match up the pipes and press the manifold into place, holding it for a minute or two until the glue bonds, then secure the pipes and manifold with a couple of strips of masking tape.

Now repeat the process on the right-hand side of the engine using the remaining manifold.
Leave the exhausts taped up until the adhesive has fully bonded and the exhaust assembly is set.

The engine block design of all V-engines means that the cylinders on one side cannot be perfectly parallel to cylinders on the opposite side, and in real life the length of overall pipework needs to be the same length to obtain optimum performance.
Since the exhaust outlets of the left cylinders are offset towards the rear, it means that the left manifold naturally looks slightly longer than the right-hand manifold when mounted on the engine, which is how it should look.

That's it for this week, carefully store the engine/gearbox unit.

Future issues:

Issue 61 - Contains the lower engine cowl., and has instructions for preparing it.

Issue 62 - Contains the left rear fairing fence and left flip-up., and has instructions for Stage 1 of assembling the engine cowls - Preparing the parts and joining the flip-up and fence.

Issue 63 - Contains the lower right engine panel., and has instructions for Stage 2 of preparing the engine cowl.

Issue 64 - Contains the right rear fairing fence and right flip-up., and has instructions for Stage 3 of assembling the engine cowls - Preparing the parts and joining the flip-up and fence.