Page 70 - TPM Issue2
P. 70
lubricated. I have to admit that the engineering
of the individual track links is clever, and very
effective with each link locking into place while
still being movable. A diagram on page 19
shows that once the tracks have been added,
there should be a little slack in the chain
however on the sample, it was actually quite
tight and this had a consequence once the
model was finished.
One tricky operation was the fitting of all the
internal gears which are first inserted into one
side of the body before the other body panel
is used to secure everything in place and it
Above: is a little fiddly to get all the gears to stay in
Each of the different sets of gears and cogs needs to be aligned place, so a little care is needed. The remaining
in one side of the main body part, before the opposite body part
is used to secure everything in place assembly steps are straightforward and once
finished, it is time to wind up the spring are
hey presto – nothing happens. It is at this stage
that the tightness of the tracks highlights an
issue, although by using my hands to move the
tracks, they do start to move. I suspect that
I have not lubricated the parts sufficiently for
the tracks to rotate smoothly and one thing
I am tempted to try is some silicone grease
which could get the tracks spinning.
Overall, this is an interesting kit to put together
and the engineering is impressive. For anyone
worrying about damaging the parts, there is
a subset of the more delicate parts that are
Right:
Once fully assembled, the tracks should spare although once you have taken the first
rotate and have a little bit of flex in them. couple of parts from the panel, you know how
Lubrication is vital to ensure everything
runs smoothly much force to use so damage should not be
an issue.
Below:
The finished model without the blade fitted. All that is Right:
needed is to wind up the spring, set the speed control A section of one of the panels contains a
and pull back on the drive lever and away she goes number of the more fragile spare parts in
case parts are damaged when removing
them from the panel
70 TPMMW Magazine - Autumn 2019
