29 July 2005:
I did not like
the gap at the A-post shown. So I fixed the door and the back of the
gap
with masking tapes, protected the A-post with Maskol and
filled the
gap with 5-minute epoxy glue. |
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Here is the finished
shape after cure and cleanup. |
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And after painting,
the fit is flush. |
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Now is the worst
point of the kit in my opinion. We are expected to join the two halves
of the wheel like this and paint the inside flat black. Whereas, in
real,
the brake discs and calipers are clearly seen. This is bad kit design.
So I went for some design change and scratchbuilding. |
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First I drilled
a hole of 1.5 mm dia. through the axle pins of the front struts. |
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Followed
by the same treatment for the rear.... |
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In my parts box,
I had a set of discs suitable in size with the Mini. I enlarged the
center
hole to fit the Mini's axles as at the right. |
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I drilled carefully,
without going to the outside, the centers of the wheels, to take in the
1.5 mm dia. brass wire that I would install. |
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I also prepared
a stiffening styrene part for the assembly, as in the right, and fixed
the 1.5 mm brass axle with CA glue. I did this for all 4 wheels. |
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Next step was
to cut out the back side of the inner wheel half, to have it as a ring
to be fixed to the outer wheel half. |
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A test fit shows
the progression is OK. |
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30 July 2005:
I painted the
discs and glued on the calipers that I cut from styrene sheet. I took
care
that the rear calipers were smaller than the fronts. |
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I assembled the
strut, disc and wheel. Now it looked OK. |
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