Hasegawa Ferrari 250 TR final assembly - help requested

Hi, all... I'm just about ready to bring together the chassis and body of the 250 TR, and I'm looking for tips from those of you that have done it. With a nice shiny and decalled body, the last thing I want is to hear a loud "snap" as I flex it outwards to slip the chassis in...

The instructions, despite having numbered sequences for several other stages, aren't at all clear about how exactly the chassis goes in. I'm assuming you slide the radiator end into the nose, then swing up the back end into place, flexing the "wings" outward so it'll go in. It's not obvious (to me at any rate) where the location points are, and the shape makes it almost impossible to "dry fit" to check everything - once it's in, it's staying in!

Soo... any ideas, anyone?

bestest,
M.

I did snap the bodywork on my first TR; I used large Scuderia shields to cover them up. And learned my lesson (try another way of final assembly, don't use superglue to glue the body together)...this is the only difficult part of the assembly. You should install the chassis from behind first, and it rotates the entire assembly so the last part to come together is the front of the chassis behind the nose cone; just a small amount of glue is needed there to hold it all together.

I started working on my second TR this past weekend, I used Tamiya extra thin styrene cement and the body feels strong enough now that it might survive the stretch (the fit of the body pieces isn't great, I had to do some careful filing/sanding and I beveled the open edges of the doors and rescribed ever panel line on the car as they are all a bit weak). If you have not glued the rear bulkhead in place, nor the seats, you could leave them separate, turn the body over, lay the rear bulkhead in place, then install the chassis/interior, and carefully glue the seats in place which will hold the bulkhead. This allows you to do almost no stretching of the body over the chassis, just a small amount of drama getting the rear wheel housings rotated inside the body and the back of the chassis snapped into the slot on the body. I did a dry run and it seemed to work, and I've heard from others that it does work...so little or no stretching required. Hope this helps.

I couldn´t have given you a better advice. From my experience with this kit the loose interior helps quite a lot. And bending the chassis just a little might help, too.

Besides that the way to go is from the rear. And take your time. If you feel the approach you are taking will not work - better stop - and retry.

Good luck and keep us posted.


Robert

Thanks, gentlemen - the advice was just what I needed:

http://gallery.me.com/cmatthewbacon/100246/nearly-done-top-view/web.jpg

...nearly there, now...

best regards,
Matt